Rural Futures – seeing rural areas as part of the solution
A new report Rural Futures published by CPRE and the Fabian Society challenges policymakers to stop viewing rural areas as obstacles to growth and start recognising their potential to drive prosperity, sustainability and wellbeing across the country. It argues that if Government wants to deliver a fairer, greener Britain, rural communities must be central to the plan.
Too often rural areas are seen through the lens of restriction, places where development is resisted, where services are expensive to deliver or where infrastructure is difficult to plan. Rural Futures turns this idea on its head. It shows that rural areas are not barriers but opportunities. With the right investment and a joined up approach to housing, transport, farming, nature and local economies they can be key to tackling some of our biggest national challenges.
Joined up thinking for rural places
One of the report’s strongest messages is the need for joined up thinking. Decisions about land use, housing, energy, transport and farming are too often made in isolation. The result is conflicting policies and missed opportunities to link priorities, for example between food production, flood management, renewable energy and biodiversity.
A national land use framework, as recommended in Rural Futures, would help balance these priorities and ensure that rural communities are not left to absorb the consequences of disconnected policy decisions. Here in Cambridgeshire where the pressures on land are intense and competing interests are strong, such a framework could be transformative.
It would allow us to plan more intelligently for the future, protecting high quality farmland, supporting nature recovery and tackling flooding while still meeting housing need. Cambridgeshire ACRE believes this type of joined up approach is essential if we are to make the most of our rural assets and create thriving communities.
Empowering local and rural communities
Another vital theme in the report is empowerment. Too often decisions about rural areas are made without the people who live there. Rural Futures calls for communities to be given more power and resources to shape their own futures, whether through neighbourhood planning, community led housing or local enterprise.
In Cambridgeshire we see every day how much energy and expertise exists within villages and market towns. Community groups are already leading projects on affordable housing, biodiversity, flood resilience and local transport. What they need is more support and recognition from those who hold the levers of power.
Empowerment is not about transferring responsibility without resources. It means giving rural people real influence over decisions, funding streams that reflect local priorities and the ability to innovate. National and local government must see communities as active partners, not passive recipients of policy.
What next
The challenge now is to turn the vision of Rural Futures into action. CPRE has set out the direction. The next step is for Government and local authorities to listen and to embed rural thinking across all departments, not just those with “rural” in their title.
Cambridgeshire ACRE will continue to support this by promoting rural proofing across local strategies and by helping ensure that decisions in Cambridgeshire work for rural communities as well as urban ones. We will also keep working with partners and networks to show how joined up community led approaches can deliver better outcomes on the ground.
If rural areas are to play their full part in tackling the challenges of housing, climate change and economic inequality their potential must be unlocked, not overlooked. Rural Futures is a reminder that the countryside is not a problem to be solved but a vital part of the solution.
