The rural proofing checklist
Consider all the questions below to help establish whether your initiative is likely to encounter the challenges presented by rural circumstances. Some potential solutions are indicated to help you consider appropriate adjustments.
1. Will the policy affect the availability of public and private services?
Might it encourage closure or centralisation and will this have a disproportionate effect in rural areas where services are already limited?
Rural solutions:
- improve transport/accessibility to compensate for the centralisation of services;
- encourage alternative funding streams for threatened rural services;
- provide additional funding to rural outlets to maintain service standards.
2. Is the policy to be delivered through existing service outlets, such as schools, banks and GP surgeries?
How will you ensure rural residents can access services in areas where outlets are few and far between?
Rural solutions:
- use mobile and outreach services;
- use ICT to avoid the need to visit outlets;
- share premises or staff with other service providers to maintain or create a rural outlet (‘joint provision’).
3. Will the cost of delivery be higher in rural areas where clients are more widely dispersed or economies of scale are harder to achieve?
Will longer travel times or distances to clients add to the cost of service provision? Will services need to be run out of smaller outlets, so losing economies of scale?
Rural solutions:
- allow for higher unit delivery costs in funding formulae (e.g. a ‘sparsity’ factor) or when specifying cost efficiency criteria;
- encourage joint provision to reduce costs.
4. Will the policy affect travel needs or the ease and cost of travel?
Will the impact be different in sparsely populated or remote rural areas, where typically journey times are longer, public transport is poor, and travel options are limited or expensive, especially for low income groups?
Rural solutions:
- reduce the need to travel by using mobile services, local delivery or telephone/internet;
- ease travel by co-ordinating or improving transport links (e.g. additional services, demand responsive transport, community transport/community car schemes, taxi vouchers);
- alleviate the costs of travel by subsidising services or individuals(remembering that there may be no public transport service between many locations).
5. Does the policy rely on communicating information to clients?
How will clients access information in rural areas, where there are fewer (formal) places to obtain advice and information?
Rural solutions:
- be flexible and use the networks that do exist e.g. post offices, village halls;
- link up with other information providers;
- use local radio and newspapers;
- provide
mobile advisers; use information technology (remembering that some groups, such as older people, use ICT less).
6. Is the policy to be delivered by the private sector or through a public-private partnership?
Will the smaller and scattered population in rural areas provide a sufficient market to attract the private sector? Will there be similar opportunities for choice and competition? Does the private sector in rural areas have the capacity to deliver?
Rural solutions:
- consider the use of regulation, including universal service obligations;
- set rural delivery targets;
- draw up contracts which prevent cherry picking of the most profitable (urban) markets;
- encourage commercial providers with incentives;
- offset higher rural costs (e.g. through rate relief).
7. Does the policy rely on infrastructure (e.g. broadband ICT, main roads, utilities) for delivery?
How will the policy work in rural areas, where the existing infrastructure is typically weaker (e.g. roads, electricity grid), some infrastructure doesn’t exist (e.g. cable TV, mains gas) and upgrading of infrastructure may be difficult or expensive?
Rural solutions:
- consider using regulation or licences to encourage the development of improved infrastructure;
- encourage or co-ordinate demand to make supply viable;
- use the public sector’s collective demand to stimulate supply;
- provide alternative means of accessing the service.
8. Will the policy impact on rural businesses, including the self-employed?
Will it have a different effect on smaller businesses (which employ a greater proportion of the workforce in rural areas) or those sectors which are typically more significant in rural areas - farming and construction? Will the higher proportion of self-employed people in rural areas be affected by the policy (including women running part-time businesses)?
Rural solutions:
- ensure the needs of small businesses are specifically addressed;
- take support, advice and training out to businesses;
- where possible avoid regulatory or other burdens that will disproportionately affect small firms.
9. Will the policy have a particular impact on land-based industries and, therefore, on rural economies and environments?
How will the policy affect the agricultural sector and the mining, extraction and water industries, which have a particular importance in many rural areas? Will there be a knock-on effect on the environment (given that 70% of the land is farmed)? Conversely, if the policy affects the environment, what are the implications for businesses based on natural resources such as tourism, leisure, renewable energy and food production?
Rural solutions:
- identify ‘win-win’ solutions which deliver economic and environmental benefits (e.g. promoting local supply chains, especially between food producers and consumers);
- consider incentives for environmentally-friendly practices;
- allow for and encourage a diverse range of rural enterprises.
10.Will the policy affect those on low wages or in part-time or seasonal employment?
For those who work in rural areas, wages tend to be lower on average and a higher proportion of the workforce are engaged in part-time or seasonal employment. Will your proposal affect wage levels or people’s access to quality employment? Will it affect the type of businesses that tend to pay low wages or offer seasonal/part-time work (eg. agriculture, tourism)?
Rural solutions:
- check the effects of your proposal against other (especially welfare) policies to ensure that the transition between wages/benefits and employment/unemployment is sufficiently flexible and supportive;
- consider measures to improve the choice of work (e.g. increasing skills, improving local childcare, improving transport to work).
11. Is the policy to be targeted at the disadvantaged?
How will it target disadvantage in rural areas, which is not usually concentrated in neighbourhoods? Do the indicators to be used for identifying need measure deprivation issues that are particular rural features (e.g. access to services, access to job opportunities, low earnings and housing affordability)?
Rural solutions:
- use small-area statistics to identify pockets of deprivation;
- adjust the indicators or their weighting to accommodate both urban and rural aspects of deprivation;
- designate larger areas for targeting, to pick up scattered disadvantage;
- target population groups rather than areas.
12.Will the policy rely on local institutions for delivery?
Will the policy be as effective in rural areas, where private, public and voluntary sector organisations tend to be smaller and have less capacity to build partnerships? If funds or services are to be allocated via a bidding process, will small organisations be able to compete fairly?
Rural solutions:
- provide specific support for capacity building;
- allow longer timescales for bidding;
- simplify the bidding process;
- allow an increased level of public or voluntary sector input to compensate for the possibility of limited private sector input.
13. Does the policy depend on new buildings or development sites?
Where will these be located in rural areas, given that there are few brownfield sites and fewer locations where housing or other development will be acceptable?
Rural solutions:
- check the proposal with rural planning authorities;
- create flexibility for development to be located where it is most appropriate and needed (e.g. in market towns or villages);
- ensure high quality development that will contribute to local character and distinctiveness.
Page last modified: 16 August 2007
Page published: 16 August 2007