Speech by Jonathan Shaw MP at the ACRE 21st Century Village Reception, 5 December 2007
Thank you. It’s great to be here, and its great to be able to welcome you all to the ACRE 21st Century Village reception.
This Government’s vision for our countryside was laid out in the 2004 Rural Strategy. It emphasised two things. First, that in trying to achieve our goal of “sustainable rural communities” we need to make sure that all relevant issues are considered together - economic, social and environmental. We cannot focus exclusively on one element.
And second, that there needs to be some targeting of policy. Whether this be targeting economic regeneration. Or targeting social and community programmes at those people in most need. And this of course is not always easy, as targeting means focussing resources on some things and not others. So my first message today is that this overall vision and strategy still sets out our long term goals and how we want to get there. And this commitment to rural communities has recently been reinforced in the Comprehensive Spending Review by the inclusion of “Strong Rural Communities” as one of our eight key Departmental Strategic Objectives.
But the key thing to remember at this point is that Defra doesn’t actually do most rural policy. The Transport Department deals with the issues of rural bus services. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – formerly the DTI – deals with the issue of rural post offices. We in Defra, along with our colleagues in the Commission for Rural Communities, encourage, cajole and challenge the rest of Government to get rural “into the bloodstream” in order to make a real difference to the ways in which policy is put together and delivered. This role is increasingly being referred to as “Mainstreaming”.
Mainstreaming is about working constructively within a national policy framework which recognises that all communities are different; and which is increasingly designed to give local areas the flexibility to respond to local circumstances and needs.
At the national level, it means ensuring that national policy is tailored to local circumstance, rural or urban. At a more local level, it means intelligent, targeted delivery solutions and decisions taken closer to the customer by locally empowered people. To enable this, central government has a role of putting in place the framework, resources and opportunity for local delivery bodies to respond to local needs.
Mainstreaming is at the heart of the ‘places’ agenda that Communities and Local Government are developing, whereby local areas - who are best placed to make decisions on local priorities and strategies - are empowered to identify and respond to local needs.
There are already some good examples of success in Mainstreaming:
On housing, Defra and Communities & Local Government have worked together to ensure that the Planning Statement -PPS3 - reflects the needs of rural communities. And likewise the new targets on housing.
We have also helped the Department for Work and Pensions undertake a rural analysis of key data gathered from across Government to form its “Opportunities for All” Report. Such analysis enables us to move away from crude generalisations about ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ to take a far more fine-grained approach to the diversity of rural experiences than was previously possible.
But let’s also be frank about it. This is only the start. We need to keep working across a wide range of issues, and across all Government Departments, to make sure that rural policy is integral to all relevant policy making.
What role do the Rural Community Councils play in all this? They are valued partners, operating right at the very heart of Mainstreaming at a local level, and playing a major part in both designing and delivering policies that work for people on the ground. That is why we have supported Rural Community Councils in the past, and why I very much hope that we will be able to continue supporting them in the future, both through a contribution to their core funding, and through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, where, I understand, several RCCs have done excellent work this year. [revise in light of latest funding situation nearer the time].
I’d finally, like to touch on the topic at the heart of your reception here today – climate change.
I make no apology for climate change being at the top of the priority list for Defra and the Government as a whole. Looking at the potential impacts of climate change globally – and the examples we have witnessed around the country this summer – it is obvious that this issue demands radical and urgent action.
That is why the Government has just introduced our Climate Change Bill in Parliament setting ambitious statutory targets to reduce CO2 emissions.
Rural communities are well placed to take a lead in developing innovative approaches to reducing or eliminating harmful emissions. Places, such as Ashton Hayes in Cheshire, that are aiming to become carbon neutral provide some inspiring examples of how this challenge is being addressed in very practical ways. And I was recently fortunate enough to launch a booklet, entitled “Ways to Tackle Climate Change”, which sets out numerous excellent examples of how rural town and parish councils had approached this issue. This has been circulated widely. I know we are going to hear more inspiring examples this evening. This is very much to be welcomed, and exactly how all communities should be responding to the challenge of global warming.
This brings me back to where I started in terms of the vision set out in the Rural Strategy. We must respect our environmental limits and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to sustainable levels. But within those boundaries, we also need to pursue policies that meet the needs of rural people and deliver social and economic wellbeing – whether it be through addressing the lack of affordable housing, investing in the rural economy or supporting community cohesion.
Defra sees ACRE as having an important role in this agenda and we look forward to continue working closely with you to achieve our long term goals and ambitions.
Thank you
Page published: 10 December 2007