Regenerating the region's rural economy

Public agencies across Yorkshire and Humber need to work more closely together to help regenerate the region’s rural areas, a key new report has recommended.

And economic development and regeneration priorities need to increasingly reflect local needs, rather than “one size fits all’’ policies covering urban and rural areas, says the report into the region’s Rural Economy published by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly.

The future of Yorkshire and Humber’s multi-billion rural economy has been latest issue examined by the Assembly, in its scrutiny role looking at how Yorkshire Forward is working with partners to deliver the Regional Economic Strategy.

Key recommendations from the report, drawn together following evidence gathered from organisations across Yorkshire and Humber, include:

• A need for Yorkshire Forward to investigate helping rural businesses better access face-to-face support locally through a single contact point;
• A need for agencies including Natural England, the Environment Agency, DEFRA, Commission for Rural Communities and Yorkshire Forward to better utilise their expertise and resource;
• Yorkshire Forward should increase the involvement of local authorities, established partnerships and the third sector in delivering future regeneration programmes in rural areas.

Scrutiny Board Chair Paul Jagger said changes brought about by outbreaks of foot and mouth, floods, population movement and changes in funding regimes meant a number of new challenges for those in farming and related industries.

“This review has explored a range of initiatives aimed at making rural areas more enterprising and revitalising rural town centres, many of which have reaped benefits for those communities,’’ he added.

“But with the help of people and organisations living in and involved with rural areas, we’ve also looked at what needs to be built on and developed to ensure this regeneration continues.

“Making sure we have sustainable rural communities by ensuring economic prosperity and diversity is essential for the region’s economy as a whole.’’

Recent data shows:

• 86% of the region is classified as rural and accounts for 20% of the population. Most districts in Yorkshire and Humber region have both rural and urban parts to them.
• Agricultural businesses dominate the landscape, representing 76% of the region’s land mass, but these business actually only employ 1% of region’s workforce. Public services account for 6.1% of businesses in rural areas but over 30% of employment. Distribution, hotels and catering and other (mainly public) services together account for over 50% of employment in rural districts.
• In terms of access to facilities, both rural and urban areas in the region have seen a decline in a number of service outlets. GP surgeries have declined by 0.8%. The number of primary schools in the region’s rural and urban areas has reduced at a lesser rate than the England average, however the region has lost more secondary schools than the England average (a loss of 1.82% in rural areas).

The Rural Economy is the latest issue to come under the spotlight of the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly’s “scrutiny” role required by Government to ensure money spent on economic development is well targeted.

Download the report below, or contact us for more information.