Monthly Archives: August 2015

What’s (not) in the rural productivity plan

The government says its Rural Productivity Plan reaffirms its commitment to rural communities. But is it focusing on the right issues? And will it be supporting all rural communities? Jessica Sellick investigates.

Back in September 2012 and under the strap line ‘new contract to give rural communities power to hold Government to account on rural growth’, the Rural Statement 2012 was launched by then Environment Secretary Owen Paterson. This eagerly awaited document was intended to reaffirm a then Coalition Government commitment to rural England. Positioned as the ‘Government’s Rural Statement’ not ‘Defra’s Rural Statement’, it described existing projects and policy commitments (with some new initiatives too). However, the ‘rural contract’ in it was never binding; it was unclear where responsibility would lay for its implementation and evidence submitted to the EFRA Select Committee revealed there was no intention to update it.

During summer recess 2015 two documents have been published which again seek to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to rural communities: (1) the Rural Productivity Plan and (2) ‘what will rural communities look like in the future’ roundtable paper.

On 20 August, the Rural Productivity Plan was launched. This sets out government action for strengthening productivity in England’s rural areas. Described by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as “focusing on ten specific areas we believe could make a real difference to productivity. It is wide-ranging and will require efforts across government, as well as close working with others outside of government, to deliver. It is central to our offer and ambition for England’s rural areas. We will monitor progress closely”. The ten points cover broadband, mobile communications, transport, education and training, apprenticeships, enterprise zones, planning, housing, availability of childcare and devolution.

In a previous analysis examining how a productivity plan might invest in all rural places, I signalled the need to take a broader economic development agenda: one that helps people to find a job where they live (retaining rather than losing young people, provides local opportunities to undertake training and skills development); improves access to services (health, adult social care, transport, leisure and entertainment) and leads to 100% mobile and broadband connectivity. While the ten points touch upon these issues, in many instances the Plan re-presents existing announcements and initiatives – schools becoming academies, neighbourhood plans etc. While the Plan recognises the role rural areas play in the national economy, and how rural and urban England have a similar sectoral structure, it does not explore the impact of place on the operation of rural businesses. Indeed, some of the ten points hinge on decisions to be taken in the Spending Review (due in November).

The Plan has certainly opened up dialogue and debate among rural dwellers and organisations. On housing, there is uncertainty if the Plan will help provide homes for all who need them in rural places. How many landowners, for example, will actually sell their land to provide affordable rented housing at £10,000 a plot when they can achieve much higher values at 80% of open market value? How many young rural residents will be able to buy a home at 80% of open market value?

The RSN is calling upon the Government to consider the wider implications of its housing proposals. Starter Homes, for example, could be built on rural ‘exception sites’ – sites which are usually used to provide social housing rather than houses that can be sold on the open market. Given local government’s role as local housing, planning, social care and public health authorities, is the Productivity Plan – and the spending cuts yet to come – are we limiting the ability of Local Authorities to provide social housing?

On transport, the Plan sets out a £15 billion Road Investment Strategy which includes four schemes that will better connect rural areas: the A303 expressway in the South West, upgrading of the A1, dualling sections of the A453 near Nottingham and improving traffic flow on the A11 in the East. The Department of Transport will be publishing a list of fifteen proposals for newly supported passenger air routes as part of its Regional Air Connectivity Fund (citing improvements already made to the Newquay-London route). Small airports/regional air routes aside, will the Plan help address concerns voiced by RSN members around reductions in bus services, households running a car (sometimes 2 cars) out of necessity not choice (and the associated fuel costs) and the future of initiatives such as Wheels To Work? With improvements to public transport viewed as an ‘absolute’ priority by many RSN members, does the Plan help identify transport solutions for rural communities (including buses, community transport) and make decisions about whether we should take people to services, services to people, or both?

On mobile connections, will superfast broadband of at least 24Mbps be delivered to 95% of UK households and businesses by 2017? And will access to what the Plan calls “standard broadband” (i.e., at least 2Mbps) be available to everyone by the end of 2015 through the option of satellite broadband? The Plan also states the Government will work closely with industry to support further improvement to mobile coverage, and extend permitted development rights to taller mobile masts. Given previous Governments have failed to meet broadband targets and much of the work of the Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) is archived, will the Plan “fully connect” rural areas to the wider economy? It would have been good to highlight examples where communities have successfully taken action themselves and delivered broadband in their area, with the Plan then setting out what Government will do (finance, technical skills and resources) to help other communities take action.

The second document to emerge from Government during recess is ‘what will rural communities look like in the future?’ This paper was prepared following a Cabinet Office roundtable which took place under Chatham House rules. Defra has therefore been unable to provide the names/organisations of those “leading industry, academic, voluntary sector, permanent secretaries and chief scientific advisors” in attendance. The ‘visions for rural communities’ put forward by attendees include: how rural areas are simply the commuter belt for cities; that rural areas should focus on environmental sustainability and/or that rural areas ought to be competitive and diverse economies. RSN members have individually contacted Defra querying the research from which this short paper and visions were drawn with one practitioner-researcher describing it as having “one saving grace: that it is not a statement of Government policy”.

In terms of where next for Government rural policy, Defra has appointed a global financial advisory firm to look at where/how they can make 25-40% cuts called for by the Treasury. This work will include proposals to consolidate several executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by Defra into the Department itself. At its most extreme this could be a wider reaching consolidation than that in Wales where a single and separate body to manage natural resources was established to replace the Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission for Wales. Defra is also currently working on the Government’s response to Lord Cameron’s review on rural proofing, which they are aiming to publish in September 2015.

What do the Plan, Roundtable, 25-40% cuts and rural proofing response mean for rural communities?

Firstly, I wonder if the OECD Rural Policy Review of England and associated New Rural Paradigm (NRP) are more relevant than ever. The Review was carried out by Professor David Freshwater (University of Kentucky) back in 2011. He found England had a highly centralised government structure and had adopted ‘evidence based policy making’ where quantitative data was favoured but not readily available at a local level for rural communities to use. Freshwater identified policy implementation issues around defining the role of Defra, unpacking the relationship between mainstreaming and rural proofing, and persuading other Government departments to “follow through” on their responsibilities. In 2011 the OECD Review suggested Defra had too few staff and too limited a budget to monitor agencies and influence decision making. The Review contained five main recommendations: (1) introduce a distinct rural component to the Regional Cities strategy, (2) enhance mainstreaming to ensure better service delivery, (3) strengthen the rural economy by joining up housing, planning and economic strategies, (4) expand rural connectivity by strengthening networks, and (5) continue efforts to strengthen governance networks. How can the Rural Productivity Plan and Cabinet Office horizon scanning take up these recommendations?

Secondly, all of these documents in some way speak to transparency. If the Government want the public to assess the effects of policies and reforms, how can we ensure communities and their views inform their development? For the measurable points in the Rural Productivity Plan, how will implementation be monitored, when and by whom?

Thirdly, Government priorities mean that Defra is not alone in relooking at where/how it spends its money. Asked for savings of 25-40% will undoubtedly present challenges for rural people and places: will future cuts lead to rurally considered policies and championing or centralised policies imposed from Whitehall?

Above all, I wonder if there is enough “thinking rurally” among policy and decision makers. If we want the countryside to be somewhere people can live and work is a positive ‘new’ agenda for change emerging or are we failing to address the opportunities, barriers and priorities that rural communities face? Reading the OECD Review back in 2011 left me with a sense that England was lacking a long term coherent rural strategy, four years on perhaps it is time to address this and make rural voices heard.

Jessica is a researcher/project manager at Rose Regeneration; an economic development business working with communities, Government and business to help them achieve their full potential. She is currently preparing an economic baseline for a Local Authority; supporting the Big Lottery Fund to deliver Village SOS; involved in projects to help older people remain independent and in their homes for as long as possible; and completing a European project on ‘social value’. Jessica’s public services work includes research for Defra on alternative service delivery and local level rural proofing. She can be contacted by email jessica.sellick@roseregeneration.co.uk or telephone 01522 521211. Website: http://www.roseregeneration.co.uk/ Twitter: @RoseRegen

What future for coastal communities?

We are an island nation. None of us apparently lives more than seventy-five miles from the sea. Many people feel a strong connection to the coast – as a place for leisure and fishing or for trade, industry and power generation. Others recognise it as a place where the powerful force of nature is never far away.

This leads both Government and Local Authorities grappling with how best to provide financial assistance and infrastructure. Our coastline is constantly changing and evolving. So how are we adapting to this changing shoreline and are we delivering benefits for communities and nature as we do so? Jessica Sellick investigates.

The UK experienced spells of extreme weather between mid-December 2013 to early January 2014 and again from late January to mid-February in 2014. A succession of major storms led to strong winds and huge waves making conditions extremely dangerous around coastlines and causing flooding inland. There was widespread disruption – who can forget images of the railway line in Dawlish hanging in mid-air or farmer James Winslade frantically saving his cattle from the rising floodwaters in Somerset? Debates once again opened up about how we manage and fund flood risk as well as support affected households and businesses. What have we learnt from these events? And how are we supporting coastal communities? I offer three points.

First, who or what is at risk from flooding and how is our coastline changing?

In England, responsibility for flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) rests with the Environment Agency, lead local flood authorities, district councils (if there isn’t a unitary authority), internal drainage boards, water and sewerage companies and Highways England.

The Cabinet Office’s ‘National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 2015’ (NRR) lists coastal flooding as one of the highest priority risks, on a par with pandemic influenza, widespread electricity failure and terrorist attacks.

The Environment Agency (EA) currently estimates 2.4 million residential and commercial properties to be in areas at risk of flooding from rivers and sea. This includes 247,000 properties (of which 155,000 are residential) to be at ‘high risk’, i.e., they have a greater than 1 in 30 chance of flooding in any given year. Of those areas affected by the winter storms 2013-2014, the EA identified 890 projects requiring urgent attention. Between 2014 and early 2015, 111 new flood and coastal risk capital management schemes were completed thus reducing flood risk for 31,700 households and coastal erosion risk for a further 1,000 households. The EA estimates 700 properties could be lost to coastal erosion by 2030, and over 2,000 could be lost by 2060. And these figures already take into account the interventions proposed in Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs).

Back in December 2014, the EA published its six-year capital programme of works. This sets out how £2.3 billion of Government funding will be invested between 2015 and 2021, supplemented by £345 billion of partnership funding, to offer better protection to 300,000 households.

During 2014 and early 2015, 2,446 people used the Property Protection Advisor – a tool on the National Flood Forum’s website to find advice on the cost and range of property protection measures they could use to the protect their homes. And between 2013 and March 2015 Defra spent £4 million through a ‘Flood Risk Community Pathfinder Scheme’ to support 13 local community partnership projects.

These were in Blackburn, Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, Cornwall, Devon, Liverpool, Northamptonshire, Rochdale, Slough, Southampton, Swindon, Warwickshire and West Sussex. These were individual projects developed by the Local Authorities to meet local needs. A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) of the scheme by Defra in 2014 sought to understand the meaning of the term ‘resilience’ and its role in building resilience to flood risk management.

Following the winter floods a range of data studies are being carried out. The EA is analysing the costs of the 2013-2014 flooding and is due to publish an updated Flood Cost Calculator. The EA is also working with Met Office, National Oceanography Centre and other bodies to review coastal flood forecasting in the UK and abroad so as to design a support tool to measure the reliability of new national performance targets and guide investment planning (due to be published in November 2015). The Multi Coloured Manual and Handbook have been revised for 2015.

These documents contain data on the benefits and costs of investment decisions for FCERM. The EA, Local Authorities or Drainage Boards are carrying out a variety of capital schemes and maintenance works. At a policy level, Defra is undertaking a post-implementation review of parts of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to assess whether Sir Michael Pitt’s ambitions for better local flood risk management are being realised (due to report in November 2015).

While the EA’s six-year programme has been positioned around providing “visibility, stability and opportunity” in flood risk management and funding, it is predicated on efficiency savings of at least 10% from the EA over the programme period as well as securing at least 15% of the total investment from partners. With Spending Review 2015 taking place and Defra being asked to plan for cuts of between 25% and 40% over the next four years, how can we ensure continued flood protection for coastal areas and/or new protection? Will any reductions in investment be ‘coastal proofed’?

This is important because capital scheme funding is often dependent on the number of houses protected, the damages prevented and other benefits a project would deliver which can sometimes favour urban areas. Going forward, where/if there is a shortfall in funding; will local contributions be made available to supplement Government funding? And if more accurate data and information is emerging who and how will it be used to help those living and working on the coast?

Secondly, what should not be forgotten in the modelling and forecasting is local knowledge: people who live on the coast where these physical processes and flooding events are experienced first-hand. How are/can communities make an active contribution to the studies outlined above?

When the Prime Minister Back launched the ‘Big Society’ to herald a culture change where people in their everyday lives would no longer always turn to Local Authorities or central Government for answers to the problems they faced, it is clear this reform agenda set in train in 2010 now pervades coastal management. In May 2015 the EA published four reports to evaluate the benefits of working with partners in FCERM activities.

Examples cited include: The Lincolnshire Flood Warden Scheme, Cornwall Community Flood Forum, the River Stewardship Company in Sheffield and the Bodenham Flood Protection Group in Herefordshire. Here volunteers were seen as adding value by building community resilience and preparedness and helping to make people more self-reliant.

The National Trust looks after 775 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – making it the largest coastal landowner: did you know a small cliff top perched high above Barmouth in North Wales was the first site acquired by the National Trust? The Trust’s vision of our ever changing shoreline and shifting shores pamphlet seeks to outline a new approach to planning and managing the future coast.

In particular, the Trust is opening up a dialogue between ‘hard choices’ (the use of rock and concrete, traditional responses to coastal change) versus ‘making space for change’ (working with natural processes not against them: including making decisions about not to protect, or whether to buy time or relocate assets).

The National Trust has designated 2015 ‘the year of the coast’. To coincide with #lovethecoast, a soundmap project has been organised by the British Library, the National Trust, the National Trust for Scotland and audioBoom Ltd. What does the UK coastline sound like during the summer of 2015? The public can upload their favourite seaside sounds to help build a permanent digital resource of UK coastal recordings.

On 20 July 2015, Fan Bay Deep Shelter opened to the public. Lying some 75ft below Dover’s chalk cliffs, the shelter was built in 1941 by the Royal Engineers as part of a chain of gun batteries along the English coast. The National Trust has worked with volunteers to clear and conserve the tunnels and it is volunteers who are providing guided tours.

The Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network (CITiZAN) was established in August 2015 in response to these physical and human processes affecting our island heritage. This community archaeology project is working in the areas of England exposed at low tide but covered at high tide to actively promoting site recording and long-term monitoring programmes. The recording and monitoring is led by volunteers who highlight significant, fragile and threatened archaeological sites around England’s coast and on the foreshores of our tidal estuaries.

These initiatives highlight the shift away from traditional direct management by the EA or landowners to an evolution in partnership working and the importance of volunteers.

Thirdly, our coastline is also seen as a place for creating jobs, prosperity and growth.

Data from Savills shows house prices are rising in sailing towns – with many enjoying a revival as young families eschew urban life to raise children in the bracing sea air within sight of a marina.

In July 2015 the Government provided more than £1 million to fund 104 further Coastal Community Teams (CCTs), on top of 12 existing pilots, to help bring jobs, growth and prosperity back to beach towns and cities. The teams – bringing together local business, councils and people – will help coordinate regeneration projects in their area.

CCTs can apply for Coastal Revival Fund monies (the deadline is 14 September) and help shape the next tranche of the Coastal Communities Fund. While many Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) main programmes now closed to new funding applications and due to end their operations in December 2015, how will the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) be developed? Will it place a greater role on protecting the marine environment and/or aspire to maintain a close relationship between the fishing industry and local communities?

While these announcements and funding streams are welcome, they should not overshadow the very real and significant social and economic issues many coastal communities face (e.g. low wage, low skills, seasonal jobs, high levels of benefits, ageing and transient populations) which are well rehearsed and taken up by organisations including the Rural Services Network and the Coastal Communities Alliance.

How, then, can we protect coastal ecosystems as well as consider these issues around the economy and access to services? How can we ensure that initiatives are not undertaken in isolation (i.e., targeted at physical processes or jobs and growth)?

The ‘Anthropocene’ has captured the public imagination. The idea that humans have created a qualitatively different planet from the one we inherited has been advancing new projects, agendas and critiques (will a new geologic epoch be declared?). How will this Anthropocene proceed on our coastline? I am sure there will be some difficult decisions ahead about where the boundaries lie between natural/physical processes and human lives/uses.

Jessica is a researcher/project manager at Rose Regeneration; an economic development business working with communities, Government and business to help them achieve their full potential. She has particular empathy and enthusiasm for coastal issues; believing this to be a frequently neglected area of public policy with an often misunderstood context.

Jessica’s work in coastal places includes the development of a strategy for the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Fisheries Local Action Group and various business and community led regeneration initiatives on the East Coast. She can be contacted by email jessica.sellick@roseregeneration.co.uk or telephone 01522 521211. Website: http://www.roseregeneration.co.uk/ Twitter: @RoseRegen