The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published its National Rural Proofing Guidelines. For people living and working in rural areas there can be challenges and barriers for their businesses, the services they receive and their quality of life.
The rural proofing guidelines help policy makers to minimise such challenges including:
Economic
- Lack of access to markets due to distance & costs
- Lack of fast internet
- Variable mobile phone services
- Lack of access to business skills development & training opportunities
- Lack of access to research & development
- Lack of access to finance
Access to services
- Public transport can be limited (only 42% of households in the most rural areas have a regular bus)
- GP surgeries (21% of rural households have to go 2.5 miles or more) & other health services can be several miles away
- There are disproportionately more older people (the average age is 6 years older than in urban areas), with associated demands on health services
- Demand for health services is growing
- Health, waste collection and other services can be more difficult and costly to provide
Quality of life
- [Nationally] Over 1.3m people live in poverty but are spread across small pockets of deprivation which can make them difficult to identify and help
- Household incomes can be lower due to part time or seasonal working
- The Job Centre can be many miles away, and lack of public transport makes it difficult for the unemployed to access new jobs
- Disproportionately more households are in fuel poverty
- Two in five homes are off the gas grid and many will depend on more expensive fuel
- House prices tend to be higher in rural areas (on average £19,000 more than in urban areas)
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