Rural Suffolk should be top of the list for levelling up cash, report says

Research published today by the Rural Services Network, which represents local councils, says the measures the government uses to assign levelling up funds do not account for deprivation in rural areas.

The report's authors say that if all the rural parts of the country – including all of Suffolk bar Ipswich – are looked at as a whole they should be top of the list for the levelling up cash.

A government spokesman said rural areas are at the heart of its agenda and it had designed funds to ensure the government reached places in most need.

The report comes after this newspaper launched its manifesto for rural communities, in part based upon input from the Rural Services Network.

The manifesto focuses on several key problem areas that are identified in the report. Among these are targeting help more accurately than just giving it to a region, improving infrastructure like broadband and transport systems, and making homes truly affordable to local people.

Graham Biggs, chief executive of the Rural Services Network, which commissioned the report, said: “Currently, the metrics used are failing to identify the most disadvantaged areas where government action is needed to properly level up the nation.

"Differences within regions are greater than the differences between regions, and targeting improvement at a regional level risks leaving this hidden region and these communities and rural businesses behind.

“Levelling up should take place at a community level. On some metrics, rural authorities appear to be performing well compared to their urban counterparts. But this is because the metrics chosen fail to capture the realities of rural disadvantage.

"For example, employment rate tends to show higher levels of employment in rural areas, but what this metric fails to account for is the quality of employment.

“Rural areas would be better represented as a part of the levelling up agenda by the inclusion of additional metrics which demonstrate some of the underlying causes of disadvantage. Without taking these into account, levelling up support may end up widening the gap between rural communities and their urban counterparts.

"The government’s levelling up objectives will not be met if it further increases the gap between areas within the region.”

A spokesman for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Rural areas are at the heart of our levelling up agenda. Our White Paper is a plan for everyone, including rural communities, who rightly expect and deserve access to better services, quicker transport and quality education.

“We've designed our funds to ensure we reach places most in need and we continue to keep them under review as we develop each levelling up mission.”

The EADT's manifesto for rural communities

This newspaper's manifesto was developed with input from experts such as Janet Dwyer, professor of rural policy at the University of Gloucestershire, chiefs from the Rural Services Network and Rural England, and people working on the ground in Suffolk throughout the cost-of-living crisis.

Target help to households, not regions

In villages, millionaires can live next door to people on the bread line.

This skews data to make areas appear wealthy when some people there are struggling.

Prof Dwyer said: "The total proportion of people who are poor in rural areas is really quite significant, but they never get picked up in the statistics because they're living cheek by jowl with people on very, very high incomes."

She added: "The rural poverty trap may not show up in statistics, but there are people who are in need of support.

"Targeting financial help for people on low incomes needs to be done at the level of the individual household – not just by looking at a map."

Strengthen digital infrastructure

"There's a need for strengthening infrastructure," Prof Dwyer said.

"You can do a lot more if you are connected online, than you can if you don't have decent broadband.

"A really universal investment that would be worthwhile would be making sure that everyone in rural areas has better online access."

Fix the rural funding gap

According to research by the Rural Services Network, this year predominantly rural areas will have around 40% less government cash to spend per head when compared to predominantly urban areas.

Prof Dwyer said: "Local authorities with large rural hinterlands actually lose out in respect of service provision from the central government taxation for running local services for people.

"The system is biased against rural and you need to accept that certain things cost more in rural areas to get the same level of provisions and that needs to be built into the calculations."

Improve transport – but not just buses

"Transport is a major issue for the quality of life for people living in rural areas," Prof Dwyer said.

"It's about thinking much more about basic provision for people in areas which don't have it now."

Prof Dwyer cited some simple improvements, such as the dualling of stretches of railway tracks as making "a huge difference to the usability of transport", but said imagination was necessary.

She said: "I think that there have to be more imaginative solutions than just the subsidised main bus services – they're useful, but they're not flexible enough, and they're not meeting people's needs enough for being able to get around."

Build more homes that are truly affordable to people on local salaries

House prices being out of kilter with the local people's wages is a concern frequently cited by people in Suffolk.

Graham Biggs, chief executive of the Rural Services Network, said the government needs to subsidise either building costs or rents to help people find a home they can afford.

He said: "We're talking here of six to 10 houses in a village. We're not talking about the need for a huge housing estate of 100-200 houses.

"We are just talking about small-scale development that would aid the population balance in rural areas."

He added: "There are no economies of scale in rural areas.

"If you are going to be only able to charge a rent which is affordable to people on local wages, then the government needs to subsidise that rent or subsidise the build cost."

Improve access to healthcare

Mr Biggs said: "Accessing healthcare at main hospitals, is a tremendous journey that sometimes simply cannot be made by public transport – or if it can it takes hours."