In Hinterland this week – challenged rural radio, a policy agenda with some key thinking about rural social care, challenges facing rural churches, the ongoing tragedy of bird flu, rising energy prices all topped off with buried treasure!

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BBC local radio: Shropshire Council leader urges rethink over cuts

Over the last decade or so of writing Hinterland we have drawn attention several times to the seminal role of local radio in underpinning the sustainability of rural settlements. This article returns us to that theme, it tells us:

A council leader has urged the BBC's director general to rethink planned cuts to local radio output.

Lezley Pickton, of Shropshire Council, said the local service was a "lifeline" in the large rural county.

The Conservative leader wrote to Tim Davie: "Please save BBC Radio Shropshire for the sake of the county's most vulnerable and isolated people."

The BBC said it was making some changes to plans aimed at modernising local services in England after feedback.

The proposals, announced in October, would prioritise digital content and "grow the value we deliver to local audiences everywhere", it said.

Under the plans, the 39 local radio stations in the country will share more shows.

Ms Pickton said sharing some output with stations such as in Stoke and Hereford and Worcester would "dramatically reduce" Shropshire-based programming.

In a letter, which the local authority published online, Ms Pickton said: "You're a busy man so I'll get straight to the point: the people of Shropshire need you to reverse the proposals to effectively merge BBC Radio Shropshire with other local West Midlands radio."

The county had a "disproportionately older" population and was an area where about 25% of people were "digitally excluded", the councillor said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-64530338

Lib Dems call for higher pay for social care staff

Bearing in mind the disproportionate number of people who require domiciliary support in rural settings this article tells us:

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a higher minimum wage for social care workers to help tackle staff shortages.

Under the party's plans, staff would be paid at least £2 an hour more than the minimum wage - currently £9.50 an hour for over-23s.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said carers were not valued enough, and vacancies had left the NHS "on its knees".

The government said it was working to reduce vacancies, and is increasing funding for social care in England.

The UK national minimum wage sets out the lowest amount a worker can be paid per hour by law.

The rates are decided by the government, based on the recommendations of an independent advisory group, and change every year.

More than half of frontline care staff - 850,000 workers - would see their pay improve if there was a £2 an hour uplift to the minimum wage for the sector, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64509982

Cost of living: 'Struggling' rural churches hit by energy costs

The role of churches as community buildings with a wider use than their core function and the impact of rising heating costs on their use is a key issue worth thinking through and I would be very interesting to hear about any examples of how this is impacting rural communities. This article tells us:

Rural churches already struggling financially have been hit by rising energy costs, a church treasurer says.

Richard Jones said Holy Trinity Church in the Shropshire village of Yockleton, was among those under pressure.

He said ultimately churches were "in danger" of closing if they could not afford to meet their costs.

Hundreds of churches receive hardship grants and some applied for funding through schemes to become warm hubs.

Holy Trinity is one of the northern most parishes within the Diocese of Hereford and is close to the Welsh border.

It partly raises funds via donations through the Parish Giving Scheme, and also holds fundraising events towards running costs.

This weekend sees its annual snowdrop event, where visitors can have tea and cake while enjoying the "lovely show" of flowers, said Mr Jones, the parochial church council (PCC) treasurer.

He said it was a difficult time for such premises.

"If we can't pay our way then we can't pay for our priest and the church would close, ultimately," he said, adding they hoped that would never happen.

But there were a lot of rural churches dotted around and all seemed to be facing pressures, he said.

"Rural churches are struggling financially anyway, the escalating cost of energy is a serious concern," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-64529933

Bird flu outlook is ‘grim’ as new wave of the virus heads for Britain

Yet more depressing news on this bird flu issue – which means we will be keeping the chickens in for longer than any of us might have hoped!

A devastating new outbreak of avian flu – which has already wiped out wild bird populations across the UK – is likely to hit Britain in the spring. That is the stark warning made last week by ornithologists who said the disease has now established itself across many parts of the country.

“Wild birds arriving in Britain in a couple of months are very likely to trigger new outbreaks of the disease,” said Claire Smith, senior conservation officer for the RSPB. “A few months ago, I was relatively optimistic about its likely impact this year but outbreaks have continued throughout winter and the outlook for 2023 now looks much grimmer.”

The current bird flu epidemic is caused by the H5N1 strain of virus, which originated in intensive poultry farms in Asia and has since spread round the globe, with infected migrating birds playing a pivotal roll in its spread.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/bird-flu-outlook-is-grim-as-new-wave-of-the-virus-heads-for-britain

Energy prices to soar again as Jeremy Hunt rejects pleas to halt rise

Not a good story for energy inefficient rural settings, this article tells us:

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has rejected calls to prevent sharp rises in domestic energy bills for all households in his March budget – meaning millions of users will see costs soar by about 40% from April.

Instead, Hunt will emphasise the extra support he is giving to the poorest and most vulnerable households, including those on benefits, in what he will describe as a more fairly targeted system of support.

Demands for the Treasury to halt a planned rise in the energy price guarantee (EPG) – the discounted cost of gas and electricity to consumers – from £2,500 to £3,000 a year for the average household in the March budget have been growing in recent weeks, particularly as the wholesale cost of energy has been falling.

Because an additional £400 of extra government help with energy costs for all households, made in monthly payments since October, also ends in March, the effective rise for all but those on the lowest incomes will be about 40%.

Calls for Hunt to stop the rise in the EPG have been led by consumer champion Martin Lewis, founder of the website MoneySavingExpert.com, who has said the move would be an obvious “rabbit out of the hat” that the chancellor could afford to pull out of his red box in March.

The Labour party has also been calling for the rise in the EPG to be stopped, and for the extra costs to the government of doing so to be met through the proceeds of a more punitive windfall tax on the vast profits of energy companies.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/feb/05/energy-prices-to-soar-again-as-jeremy-hunt-rejects-pleas-to-halt-rise

And Finally

Rare Edward III gold coins found in Hambleden hoard

As an enthusiastic history buff I am regularly excited by these stories of real treasure turning up in rural settings. This story tells us:

A coin expert said his eyes lit up when he saw 12 "rare" medieval gold coins, discovered with 616 silver pennies hidden in the wake of the Black Death.

The hoard was found during a metal detecting rally at Hambleden in Buckinghamshire in April 2019.

British Museum curator Barrie Cook said there had been only 12 known examples of the 1346 and 1351 Edward III gold nobles before the 2019 finds.

The coins have been declared treasure by Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court.

The hoard was unearthed by seven detectorists during Spring Detectival 2019, as first reported by the Bucks Free Press.

Dr Cook said the pandemic delayed identification, while he was also faced by the puzzle of whether he was looking at two separate hoards - one of gold coins and one of silver - and "until I look at them in detail, I couldn't make that judgement".

He is now convinced the same "poor bloke or woman - it could have been a woman - put this very large sum of money in a hiding place and couldn't go back to it, so probably died".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-64512980