By Matthew Legg

Last updated at 11:33, Tuesday, 10 June 2008

BUSINESSES in rural areas like Cumbria do less well than those in urban areas and are failing to reach their full potential, a report has claimed.

Stuart Burgess: ’Regrettably, too often rural issues are given little recognition in keynote speeches’

A study by the Commission for Rural Communities, found countryside areas had up to £347bn-a year of untapped potential.

Its chairman Stuart Burgess said some villages could become commuter ghettos, empty of local wealth if action was not taken.

The study was launched after the floods and foot-and-mouth crises last summer.

Mr Burgess, who is the government’s Rural Advocate, said: “The rural economy actually contributes over £300bn into the general economy already.”

He added that he did not think the government had been ignoring rural areas, and that he had actually seen a steady growth in rural economies over the past 10 years.

But he said much more could be made of rural economies and that “regrettably, too often rural issues are given little recognition in keynote speeches”.

And he says too often business councils based in rural areas have problems with affordable housing and transport.

Mr Burgess is calling on the government to take four key steps to safeguard rural economies.

He has called for an economic minister to oversee support of rural economies; a “rural summit” to pursue local business; a “rural finance forum” to tap into private and public money; and a “rural innovation initiative” to encourage entrepreneurs and ensure access to resources such as broadband.

Mr Burgess said the aim for the future should be to reinstate rural villages to their past function which was in “a very real sense that the village used to be an economic hub”.

“I don’t think the countryside can be left alone,” Mr Burgess added.

MLegg@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:40, Monday, 09 June 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk