By Tim Parry, CEO at CCB

In June, the Government made an announcement setting out how it will ‘unleash rural opportunity’. Their publication sets out a series of cross-departmental ambitions to grow the rural economy, improve digital communications, increase the supply of affordable housing, improve access to health and social care services and tackle rural crime.

Generally speaking, the announcement has been welcomed. Much of the report serves as a reminder of the already significant investment made by government into the rural economy, for example in farming, broadband and the Rural England Prosperity Fund. However, the announcement includes new initiatives and investment, not least in rural affordable housing.

Both Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the Rural Services Network (albeit cautiously) welcomed the news of new investment in increasing the supply of affordable housing in rural areas. Richard Quallington, ACRE’s Executive Director highlights the importance of communities having a proper say in the homes that are built. The new funding from Government promises investment in a network of Rural Housing Enablers who will fulfill the essential role of ‘honest brokers’ helping to unlock small sites and bring forward developments where truly affordable homes can be built for people with a local connection to their community.  

As always though, the devil is in the detail. Many of the ambitions in the publication are subject to future consultations and as-yet unpublished reports to reveal how they will be implemented. A big question for us locally is how will communities in Berkshire benefit?

The Unleashing Rural Opportunity publication identifies jobs and skills as key to growing the rural economy. The document includes details of employment and pay, highlighting Berkshire and much of the South East as having high levels of both. However, we know that many families in Berkshire struggle on low incomes and could really benefit from intensive support, but will perceptions of general affluence get in the way of this?

A critical ambition in the publication is to Review and build understanding of how deprivation in rural areas is measured so that policies can be better designed to tackle it. This may be the most important ambition of all, as, without a much-improved process for measuring actual numbers of people impacted by deprivation rather than proportions or percentages, the often dispersed nature of rural deprivation will remain hidden from view.