Teesdale Mercury reports on a new survey from the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) asking rural businesses how they are dealing with COVID-19

The survey will ask more than 4,000 small rural businesses about the strategies they have put in place during the pandemic to increase their resilience, as well as their plans and expectations for the future.

The researchers said: “Every business in the UK has been challenged in some way over the last year due to COVID-19 however those in rural areas have been some of the hardest hit.

As we take steps along the road to recovery, it’s surprising, perhaps, but we have very little robust information on rural resilience – how small firms in the countryside deal with crises and how they recover”.

Alongside resilience, the survey explores how rural enterprises’ local networks have contributed to survival and growth, the impact of financial pressures on businesses, families and communities as well as issues around workforce, the availability of broadband, and aspects of local supply chains.

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Teesdale Mercury - New survey into how rural business coped with crisis