Image of rural england. houses on a hill. green fields.

Table of contents

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

This briefing has been prepared in advance of the 15 October 2024 House of Lords debate:

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative) to ask His Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for rural communities over the next two years.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) defines rural areas as those falling outside settlements of more than 10,000 residents.[1] This briefing focuses primarily on rural communities in England.

1. Issues facing rural communities

According to Defra, as of July 2023, around 10 million people lived in rural areas in England.[2] This amounts to around 19% of England’s population. Defra also reported that the population in rural communities is growing at a slower rate compared to urban communities and also tends to be older (particularly in the most rural of areas).

A number of issues have been raised affecting rural communities. These include:

  • Internet and mobile phone coverage: Although improving, rural areas tend to have poorer access to internet and phone coverage than urban areas. As at January 2024, the proportion of rural premises with access to gigabit-capable broadband was 47% (1.6mn premises), up from 44% since September 2023. This compared with 84% of premises in urban areas. Around 5% of premises in rural areas were not able to access a decent broadband service (at least 10mbps download speed), compared with just 1% in urban areas.[3]
  • Transport and access to services: Access to services and employment opportunities is harder for people living in rural areas, particularly for those without a car. For example, there may be less choice in educational institutions or longer journey times to get to employment hubs. Defra stated that “50% of the rural population are living in areas that have the poorest accessibility to services (lowest 10%/decile 1) based on minimum travel times when travelling by public transport/walking, compared with 2% of the urban population”.[4]
  • Health and wellbeing: Overall, Defra presented a more positive picture of health and wellbeing in rural communities, with higher levels of life expectancy and self-reported wellbeing than in urban areas.[5] In addition, there was a slightly higher ratio of GPs per person. However, Defra did highlight a higher suicide rate in rural communities. In addition, Healthwatch (the statutory independent health and social care champion) has reported difficulties accessing NHS dentistry, long, challenging and costly travel times for medical appointments (particularly for hospital appointments), and difficulty accessing online services.[6]
  • Youth migration: Recent surveys have shown that many younger people feel they need to leave rural areas due to issues over connectivity, the cost of housing, transport and opportunities.[7] According to the survey results published by Virgin Media O2 in July 2024, over a third of rural residents said they were “likely to consider” moving away to an urban area in the next 12 months, with around 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds considering leaving. It also reported that 57% of people were concerned that this exodus could make areas less desirable to people and businesses.

However, despite these challenges, Defra reported a number of overarching positives in terms of employment levels, housing provision, educational attainment, and poverty and disposable income levels compared to urban areas.[8] For example, it stated:

  • the proportions of individuals and households living in poverty is lower in rural areas than in urban areas
  • house completions in 2021/22 in predominantly rural areas were much higher than in predominantly urban areas
  • employment rates have been “consistently higher” in rural areas compared to urban areas since 2007, while rates for unemployment and economic inactivity have been consistently lower

In addition, the Conservative government’s June 2023 report ‘Unleashing rural opportunity’ said that, despite some of the challenges outlined above, rural areas are “rich in human, economic and natural potential with strong communities and entrepreneurial businesses”.[9] It also praised the farming industry and said this was key to ensuring rural areas prosper.

Further details from Defra relating to the experiences of rural communities can be found in its suite of statistical publications, covering:

2. Government policy to aid rural communities

As noted above, Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government published a policy paper on how to support rural areas and provide opportunities for growth.[10] It set out four areas of focus:

  • Growing the rural economy—we will support rural areas so they can prosper, including by boosting opportunity through jobs and skills.
  • Connectivity—we will continue to deliver gigabit broadband and mobile coverage in rural areas and increase access to public transport.
  • Home energy—we will facilitate the building of more homes for local people to buy where local communities want them, powered by secure and resilient energy supplies.
  • Communities—we want rural communities to continue to be places where people want to live and work. We will improve access to high quality health and social care and take further action to tackle rural crime.[11]

It also pledged support for farming:

With £3.2bn a year in support for farmers across the UK, in England the government is investing £2.4bn a year to enhance the environment and improve productivity. By investing in the foundations of food security, we will enable thriving businesses, resilient food production, and will support farmers—the original friends of the earth.[12]

In March 2024 the then government published a progress report on the measures it was taking to support rural communities.[13] This included:

  • Growing the rural economy: The government highlighted investment via the UK shared prosperity fund, alongside additional funding of £110mn through a rural England prosperity fund focused on rural businesses and infrastructure.
  • Connectivity: The government listed initiatives and investment focused on improving broadband and 4G and 5G coverage in rural and other hard-to-reach areas. For example, this included £5bn invested in Project Gigabit (aimed at enabling access to gigabit-capable broadband) and £1bn in the Shared Rural Network looking to extend 4G access to 95% of the UK’s landmass. It also outlined schemes and funding to improve or protect transport provision, particularly buses.
  • Housing and home energy: Noting some concerns over the cost of rural housing, the government said it was adapting planning laws and providing funding to improve the provision of affordable housing in rural areas. In addition, it said its November 2023 transmission acceleration action plan provided measures to accelerate the construction of electricity transmission network infrastructure.
  • Communities: The government listed funding support for local infrastructure in rural communities, including a £150mn community ownership fund to support community ownership of pubs and shops and £110mn through the rural services delivery grant. On health, it said it was “rolling out 160 community diagnostic centres” to reduce travel needs for health services and was implementing plans to improve access to dentistry and mental health support.

Although the 2024 Labour manifesto did not specifically mention rural communities, it did include commitments to:

  • support farming through public sector targets to source locally-produced food and the use of land management frameworks and schemes to help farmers and protect the environment[14]
  • make a “renewed push” to maximise 5G and gigabit broadband coverage by 2030[15]
  • devolve more powers to local communities and local leadership to improve bus and other local transport provision[16]
  • improve access to health services via measures such as neighbourhood health centres and community pharmacists[17]
  • adapt the planning system to remove local barriers to housebuilding and to better incentivise the building of affordable homes[18]

In addition, replying to a written question about support for rural businesses in September 2024, the minister for food security and rural affairs, Daniel Zeichner, stressed Labour’s commitment to support rural people and the rural economy:

Rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. Over half a million business[es] are registered in rural areas, with the rural economy contributing over £315bn a year to England alone.

The government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking.[19]

3. Read more

Cover image by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

References

  1. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Defining rural areas’, March 2017. Return to text
  2. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Key findings, statistical digest of rural England’, 10 September 2024. Return to text
  3. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Statistical digest of rural England: 5—connectivity and accessibility’, June 2024, p 13. Return to text
  4. As above, p 56. Return to text
  5. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Key findings, statistical digest of rural England’, 10 September 2024. Return to text
  6. Healthwatch, ‘What people living rurally have told us about their healthcare’, 16 April 2024. Return to text
  7. Campaign to Protect Rural England, ‘Outpriced and overlooked: Survey on why young people feel forced to leave rural areas’, October 2021; and Virgin Media O2, ‘Countryside in crisis: Rural areas could lose over a third of residents in the next twelve months’, 31 July 2024. Return to text
  8. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Key findings, statistical digest of rural England’, 10 September 2024. Return to text
  9. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs et al, ‘Unleashing rural opportunity’, 6 June 2023. Return to text
  10. As above. Return to text
  11. As above. Return to text
  12. As above. Return to text
  13. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Delivering rural opportunity: Third report on rural proofing’, 18 March 2024. Return to text
  14. Labour Party, ‘Labour Party manifesto 2024’, June 2024, p 59. Return to text
  15. As above, p 32. Return to text
  16. As above, p 34. See also: Department for Transport, ‘Transport secretary sets the wheels in motion on “biggest overhaul to buses in a generation”’, 9 September 2024. Return to text
  17. As above, pp 98–9. Return to text
  18. As above, p 39. Return to text
  19. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Business: Rural areas (900191)’, 17 September 2024. Return to text