Releasing the Potential of your Rural Economy

Releasing the potential cover imageThe University of Lincoln Schools of Geography and Business have teamed up with Roger Turner of Rural Enterprise UK to launch a guide for economic policy-makers to ensure that rural areas are properly recognised within new Local Industrial Strategies.  A PDF version of the guide can be downloaded here:

Releasing the Potential

Capturing the diversity of rural economies within strategic policy thinking is not straightforward but we believe that devolving Local Industrial Strategies to LEPs allows local areas to think more imaginatively about the potential of rural economies to be drivers of new forms of growth and innovation.

 

 

Challenges for delivering rural broadband

On Tuesday 23rd January, Dr Gary Bosworth is representing the University of Lincoln at the Scottish Affairs select committee where he will draw on a range of past research projects to offer advise on the best ways to deliver better broadband to more remote rural areas.  The initial submission of evidence is available here:  Rural Broadband Call for Evidence – University of Lincoln

In particular, we highlight the need for policymakers to help to bring together enough demand to build an attractive package for private sector providers.  This requires significant engagement to highlight the potent opportunities that better broadband can provide to communities and businesses in rural areas.  To enable businesses to take advantage of the technology, any roll-out of improved technology must also be accompanied by training programmes, effective communication and opportunities for firms to try out new technology before making significant investments.  We also warn against approaches that assume “digital is best” which can risk marginalising people who are less comfortable with new technology whilst promoting opportunities for universities as well as the public sector to act as key facilitators in delivering the skills needed for rural areas to take advantage of increased digital connectivity.

The progress of the Select Committee can be viewed here: Scottish Affairs Committee and the panel can be viewed at: http://parliamentlive.tv/

“Liveability” for rural development policy

Following a presentation to the CPRE‘s event on Lincolnshire’s rural economy on 1st March 2016, it was evident that there was some discontent with the way that “sustainable development” is being applied in local planning matter. Instead, this note offers some thoughts about the prospect for applying “liveability” as an alternative viewpoint.

A note on LivabilityCPRE event at Sleaford

 

I also attach the slides that I presented

at the event here:

CPRE Sleaford 

CLA report on the diversity of rural economies

The CLA has produced a document entitled “standing up for rural businesses” that both highlights diversity of today’s rural economy and identifies opportunities for growth.  To fulfil the potential of our rural economies they call for universal broadband and mobile services, a planning system that unlocks investment, urgent steps to address the “housing crisis” in rural areas and an effective framework or rural development, which is currently very fragmented from the EU down to local policy levels.  A full report is due soon, but the summary report can be accessed here: https://www.cla.org.uk/node/7738

CLA rural business

Moving to the countryside

rural wordle
What does the countryside mean to you?

Now that our initial pilot survey has finished, with thanks once again to Pygott and Crone for helping us with our survey,  we are seeking funding for a larger study.  Preliminary findings suggest that the attractiveness of the countryside has more to do with what is NOT there, rather than what is there.  This raises concerns over the vitality of local services and local businesses given that the survey answers indicated that accessibility to other places was also among the most important features that people sought in a new rural home.  While we might think we aspire to enjoy the traditional rural way of life, we are all discerning consumers exposed to increasing choices that makes “rural” just one of many attributes competing for our attention.

If the village shop does not have the range or quality of products that we expect, we can go somewhere else. If the village hall does not offer the precise craft or martial art class that we want, our personal preferences increasingly outweigh any community loyalty.  This may sound like a lament for the good old days of everyone knowing everybody else in their village but quite the opposite – it is a call for us to move on from this perception which hasn’t been true for decades and maybe never was.  In moving on, however, we need to think about what the countryside really means as a place for people to live and in turn what this means for rural business opportunities.