Poverty and affordable housing 'major challenges' facing rural England

The number of households living in poverty in rural England is on the increase, according to the 2008 State of the Countryside report published this week.

Whilst there are many advantages to living and working in rural England, there remain some significant challenges, claims the report published by the Commission for Rural Communities.

The quality of life may often be better in rural areas but this is not the case everywhere and for everyone.

The latest report highlights a rise in households living in poverty in rural England and a growing inequality between remote rural areas and other parts of the countryside. 

Dr Stuart Burgess, Chairman of the CRC, said: “The series of State of the countryside reports provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the changes taking place in rural England, look forward to what the future might hold for rural communities, and to reflect on what aspects have remained important since the report was first published in 1999.

“The decline in services in rural areas continues to concern rural communities. Each year we have found there are fewer outlets for many services and poorer accessibility to services for people without cars."

Use of the internet has risen markedly in rural areas (from 44% in 2002 to 62% in 2007), and rural internet users are more likely to use it for accessing services, but the availability of high-speed broadband remains low in sparsely populated areas.

Meeting affordable housing needs in rural areas remains a dominant challenge, with demand being heightened because of people seeking to relocate to the countryside. Housing affordability continues to be worse in rural areas ─ in 2007 the average rural house price was £257,600 compared with £212,823 in urban areas, with rural house prices 6.8 times annual household income, compared to 5.8 times in urban areas.

In some more sparsely populated rural areas, however, house prices can be up to 9.7 times annual household income. The number of second homes in rural areas is estimated at 94,000.

Rural economies continue to show inherent strengths ─ higher rate of business start-ups than urban areas and overall growth in the number of businesses compared to a net decline in the urban business base.

However, wages for people working in rural areas continue to be low and for many work is not a secure route out of poverty. Between 1998 and 2007 rural economies have seen an increase of 291,000 in those working in knowledge-based industries, a growth of 46% compared with 21% in urban areas.

The series of reports has highlighted a continuing decline in the number of people working in agriculture.

The character of large parts of England’s countryside is changing as a result of built development; demand for new development is significantly higher (per household) in rural areas than urban areas and the countryside has seen a greater number of new houses than in the urban fringe in recent years.

Consequently, concerns about the quality of the countryside have remained important although environmental regulation has stabilised and in some case improved the quality of water, air and landscape in many areas. Rural areas have a higher carbon production rate per person than urban areas, principally higher emissions from heating of homes and car use. 

Over the last year there has been a rise in rural households living in poverty, and this year the official ‘Households Below Average Income’ data for rural areas has been used to show this increase.

These data show that between 2004/05 and 2006/07 poverty is increasing faster in rural households than urban households ─ by 3% compared with 1%. Around 1 in 5 rural households now live below the poverty line and there are also indications of increasing inequality within rural areas themselves, with a widening gap between less and more sparsely populated rural areas.

In the poorest fifth of rural households 50% of weekly income goes on essentials (food, housing, energy and transport) compared with 39% in the highest income rural households and 47% in the poorest urban households.

People in rural areas generally enjoy healthier lifestyles and a better quality of life, generally the incidence of crime is lower. Most households moving into rural England are now families with people aged from about 44 to 64 with young children.
This contrasts with a more general pattern of slowing internal (within UK) migration over the last two years and a slowing in overseas migration in the last year, following a sharp increase from 2004.

There have been distinct changes in farming over the last ten years with recently a sharp fall in un-cropped land that was previously set aside and fallow, this is mainly due to increase in crop prices and the removal of the requirement for farmers to set-aside land under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.

The value of agricultural land rose sharply during 2007, mainly due to increases in the prices of agricultural commodities and to high demand for land for ‘lifestyle’ rural properties. There are signs of a renewed sense of optimism amongst farmers but these trends could increase pressures on environmental quality once more.

New issues are coming to the fore that were not considered significant for rural areas in the past. These largely flow from global and long-term challenges, including climate change or developments in the global economy such as growing consumption in developed countries.

Changing use and the demand for land, such as the possibility of diverting land from food to energy production, are occurring due to such trends. With changes in the world economy and international security, food security is likely to, once again, drive policy.

These factors, and rising food and fuel prices, all imply challenges for policy makers to make sure that the changes that will be needed provide benefits to all communities, including those in rural areas. 

The State of the countryside reports have continued to pinpoint some critical issues for Government and whilst rural England has some major strengths and much to celebrate, significant ongoing challenges remain.

The Commission for Rural Communities will continue to fulfil its role in advising Government and others so that the needs and circumstances of rural communities are represented more fully and rural people are not disadvantaged by where they live.