A quarterly bulletin facilitated by your membership of the Rural Services Network highlighting a selection of current rural economic development news, issues and opportunities

Rural England Prosperity Fund launched

Rural businesses and communities are set to benefit from up to £110 million of funding allocated by the government under the ‘Rural England Prosperity Fund.’

Described as succeeding EU funding from LEADER and the Growth Programme which were part of the Rural Development Programme for England, notional allocations of the fund have been made to a wide range of local authority areas.

Government state that the funding “will be invested in projects which will boost productivity and create rural job opportunities. These could include farm businesses looking to diversify by opening a farm shop, wedding venue or tourism facilities or improvements to village halls, pubs and other rural hubs for community uses.”

A top up to the UK Shared prosperity Fund, local authorities will have until 30th November to submit plans for this money and, following government approval, funds are then due to flow between April 2023 and March 2025.

You can read full details of the fund and the eligible local authority areas at the following link: Rural England Prosperity Fund: prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Farm businesses may struggle with new policies

Many farm businesses in England may struggle to cope with the challenges of new agricultural policies and the withdrawal of the Basic Payment Scheme. This is one conclusion based on a major survey of rural businesses carried out by the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) which demonstrated that a majority of farm businesses do not engage in formal business planning or seek external professional advice.

More than six out of 10 farms surveyed in the North East, South West and West Midlands said they did not have a formal written business plan, while almost 80% had not accessed external support from any advisory service.

In relation to the pandemic, findings from NICRE’s rural business survey indicate that farms’ experiences differed considerably to that of non-farms, reflecting the different context and nature of farming, where big changes in agricultural policy and markets dominated their trading situation, by comparison to more limited impacts of Covid.

NICRE Co-director Janet Dwyer, Professor of Rural Policy at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), one of NICRE’s founding university partners, said: “This is a period of monumental change for farmers and while our findings showed that farms fared better than rural businesses in respect of the negative impacts of Covid-19, this doesn’t mean that they are better placed to cope with ongoing and future challenges for the rural economy.
“Careful medium-term planning, and building in the headroom to innovate, remain essential tactics for farms’ survival just as much as for other rural businesses, in these challenging times.
“In turn, Government should recognise its key challenge – underlined by the overwhelming concern with bureaucracy revealed in our survey – to deliver its new policies in ways that are truly accessible and will enable all farms to deliver a high-quality environment alongside excellence in food production, energy generation and other key services.”

Energy support for businesses

The government has announced measures to support people and businesses with their energy bills.

In relation to businesses, government state: “While the majority of UK non-domestic customers are on fixed price energy deals, some are not. Businesses did not benefit from the Ofgem price cap and there was a risk that some would fall through the gap, unable to fix their energy price and unable to access the kind of support we are making available to households.

“A new 6 month scheme for businesses and other non-domestic energy users (including charities and public sector organisations like schools) will be offered support as is being provided for consumers.
“After this initial 6 month scheme, the government will provide ongoing focused support for vulnerable industries.
“There will be a review in 3 months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.
“Further details will be published shortly.”

The link to current information on the domestic and non-domestic support measures is as follows: Energy bills support factsheet: 8 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Rural Planning in the 2020s

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has published a report looking at ‘Rural Planning in the 2020s.’

This examines the challenges facing rural communities throughout the UK and in Ireland in the 2020s. It seeks to address how rural planning will need to change to deal with these challenges, as well as how rural communities can meet policy and practice objectives for achieving sustainable development. The report states: “Rural communities in the UK and Ireland are facing a number of forces for change in the 2020s – factors which create challenges for those communities, but also opportunities. These include Brexit, COVID-19, climate change and the potential for the countryside to be a site for adaptation, to these and other forces for change. This research explores how land use planning can effectively support the delivery of sustainable development in rural areas in the 2020s including, for example, through new working practices, new flexibilities, or new patterns of resourcing.”

You can access the report via this link: Rural Planning in the 2020s (rtpi.org.uk)

Council launches unique farm plan to cultivate and connect communities

An inspiring new farm will be set up to provide residents across the East Hampshire with a beautiful, accessible rural place where they can nurture their mental health and kickstart healthier lifestyles.

District Council Leader, Cllr Richard Millard, announced the unique project at the July Council meeting and said that he hopes a new community farm would spearhead the council’s top priorities as well as boosting rural jobs, developing green skills and increasing biodiversity.The farm will offer a huge variety of opportunities, ranging from wellbeing to work experience and from mechanical engineering to mental health.The project, called Grow Up!, will most likely be delivered in a phased programme over the next three years and beyond, in collaboration with landowners, farmers, charities, businesses and the local community.

Grow Up! will be split into four main themes:

• Green places - supporting farmers to develop regenerative and sustainable farming, tree planting, boosting biodiversity and recycling opportunities, reducing food waste and using sustainable food productions.

• Community & Wellbeing - connecting people through volunteering and community-led projects in rural areas, supporting active lives and better mental and physical health and food choices.

• Skills & Growth - outdoor classroom, forest schools, volunteering, work experience, employability and life skills, supporting young people to consider land-based careers through traineeships and apprenticeships.

• Rural businesses - delivering local rural jobs, supporting businesses through a rural business network, supporting with skills gaps, providing advice, learning and development for young people and businesses. Expanding opportunities for local farmers.

To find out more contact the council by email at: placemaking@easthants.gov.uk

Economic analyses available for your local authority area

The Rural Services Network provides a number of analyses that examine key statistics that reflect the economic situation in local authority areas. These analyses can be found within the Member Insights section on the RSN website. Updates to these and other analyses will be highlighted in the RSN's Weekly Rural Bulletin.

Economy Insights can be accessed at:
https://rsnonline.org.uk/category/economy-insights

Latest updates to the Economy Insights section include average hours worked & earnings, claimant count, and the proportion of employees in different industrial groups.

For any feedback, please email Dan Worth, our Research and Performance Analyst, at dan.worth@sparse.gov.uk

Booking open for 2022 Institute of Economic Development conference

The 2022 Institute of Economic Development (IED) Conference will take place on Thursday 6 October at BMA House, London.

This year's conference “Supporting the Development and Levelling Up of Local Economies” will be in-person and feature a number of topics and speakers, including an opening keynote speech from Jonathan Werran, Chief Executive, Localis on Levelling Up: what should be top of the new PM's in-tray for ‘Pride in Place’?

The conference agenda has a balance of key note speeches, as well as panel, break-out and round-table sessions and there will be plenty of opportunity to network.

Full details of the conference, including the cost for IED members and others, are available at the following link: 2022 Annual IED Conference | IED - Institute of Economic Development

Statistical digest of rural England published

Official statistics concerning rural England are published regularly by Defra. The latest August 2022 edition of the “Statistical Digest of Rural England” contains a wide range of useful statistics and is available via this link. These cover:

• Rural population & migration

• Rural Economy

• Rural living

Defra’s June 2022 “Rural Economic Bulletin” comparing high level economic indicators across rural and urban England has also been published and is available via this link. The indicators currently used are:

• claimant count – proportion of working age population claiming unemployment benefits

• economic activity – proportion of economically active population unemployed and proportion of working age population in employment

• redundancies – number of redundancies per 1,000 workers

• house prices - average house prices and annual percent change

Grants to install electric vehicle charging points at the workplace

The government’s Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that provides support towards the up-front costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle (EV) charge-points, for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations.

The grant covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV charge points (inclusive of VAT), capped at a maximum of:

• £350 per socket

• 40 sockets across all sites per applicant – for instance, if you would like to install them in 40 sites, you will have 1 socket available per site

More information including application forms are available via this link.

Find information on new rules following Brexit

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has advice available for businesses following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

You can access the relevant information via this link.

Broadband funding available

Gigabit-capable broadband connections offer the fastest and most reliable speeds available, and the Government “is committed to a vision of a digitally connected Britain.”

Homes and businesses in rural areas of the UK may be eligible for funding towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband when part of a group scheme.

Rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 100Mbps can use vouchers worth £1,500 per home and up to £3,500 for each small to medium-sized business (SME) to support the cost of installing new fast and reliable connections.

More information is available via the website.
https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/

Tailored local information for Neighbourhood Planning available

A successful neighbourhood plan must be based on evidence and an understanding of the place they relate to. Communities need to gather a range of evidence and local knowledge before writing their plan. RSN has collated a selection of evidence, which may be useful to communities in starting to shape their evidence base.  This is tailored to each local authority area and is available via this link.

Chambers of Trade – keep calm and sign up!

RSN exists to enable the issues facing the rural areas of England to be identified, information and good practice to be shared and government to be challenged to address the needs and build on the opportunities which abound in rural areas.

We have a number of Chambers of Trade, Commerce and Local Business Networks who are members of RSN and currently receive our bulletins. If there is a business organisation in your area who you think would find our bulletins useful, please pass this bulletin onto them and ask them to contact Andy Dean with their contact details so we can ensure they are included in future distributions.

Future editions of the Rural Economy Spotlight

The next edition of this bulletin will be distributed in December 2022.  If you have any suggestions as to future content or would like to submit a short article for inclusion, please contact Andy Dean.