100 signatures reached
To: Eric Pickles MP Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
A Fair Deal for the Rural Communities of the UK
Amanda (our cartoon runner) is "running" through Rural Britain to raise awareness that without serious investment from Government the rural areas of the UK will just be a place for rich people to play! We are losing our essential services - buses, street lights, health care, local education and more. Rural areas have a right to as much of a Fair Deal as the cities and towns of the south of England. Please keep her running by signing and sharing this petition.
The importance of rural areas for the economy is increasingly recognised (e.g. in the EU Rural 2020 Strategy). We therefore call upon the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to examine and amend government policy and practice to ensure that adequate investment and support is provided to enable the UK’s rural areas to thrive.
Why is this important?
1. Rural areas are liable to decline if their infrastructure and services – public transport, education, GP practices, cottage hospitals, street lighting, etc – are not effectively funded and supported. Unless these are of a good standard and accessibility, businesses will not be established in rural areas, those already there will be unable to attract workers, and this will run counter to the government’s own policy (see Truss, E., 2014, “Stimulating Economic Growth in Rural Areas”, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
2. Those who live in rural areas are entitled to a reasonable standard of services and national infrastructure. The cuts in grant to local authorities have made it impossible for rural counties to maintain services and infrastructure at a level anywhere near comparable to that provided in metropolitan areas.
3. Some government policies have been implemented without consideration for the impact on rural areas – e.g. the raising of the school/training leaving age to 18, requiring all young people to reach centres of population on a daily basis, while councils are forced to remove subsidy for buses that could get them there and no government provision has been made for this.
Thanks to LM and AB
