Long-term government neglect of the countryside economy is stifling growth, MPs have warned.
Ministers’ failure to include specific policies for rural communities in their strategy for “levelling up” left-behind areas was the latest example, according to a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rural Powerhouse.
The group said problems such as inadequate rural broadband, a lack of jobs and a “broken” planning system could be addressed with low-cost measures to help reduce what it said was an 18% productivity gap between rural and urban areas. These should include planning measures to prioritise small-scale developments in the countryside, the MPs said.
