Rural Economy

How do I get the government £3,000 coronavirus grant?

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I really do fear for the future of rural businesses. Whilst the initiatives set out here are of some value my instincts tell me that the level of disruption and challenge is going to be far greater than any of us currently imagine.

Around 700,000 businesses in England currently eligible for Small Business Rate Relief (SBBR) or Rural Rate Relief can apply for the emergency funding.

The additional £2.2bn of funding for local authorities who collect business rates is part of a package of fiscal measures to help small business survive the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it is not yet clear how businesses will access the grants.

And the £3,000 coronavirus grant only applies to small business in England. Business rates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set by their devolved administrations.

This comes on top of the government announcing in the 11 March Budget that companies in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will not pay any business rates this year. This includes hotels, restaurants and coffee bars.

The discount that pubs receive on their business rates will increase from £1,000 to £5,000, as long as their rateable value is below £100,000 in England.

In total, around 900,000 properties, or 45 per cent of all business premises in England, will not pay rates in 2020-21.

The government will also review the long-term future of business rates, a property tax which many say is unfair given the rise of online shopping and out-of-town retail parks.

How huge untapped potential of UK’s rural economy could drive growth

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A more optimistic story focusing on the potential of the rural economy. This is something I have banged on about in different settings for a long time. This article confirms many of my thoughts. It tells us:

The new landowners’ leader for the East of England believes the untapped potential of the rural economy is a “huge opportunity” for the UK as we move into a new era.

Cath Crowther – who grew up on a Welsh sheep farm – was a chartered surveyor at Bidwells when she was chosen as the new director at the eastern regional offices of landowners’ lobby group the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) in September 2019, taking over the reins from Ben Underwood.

She believes strongly that there is much more to the UK rural economy than meets the eye – and that policy needs to favour it more heavily in order for it to thrive as it should. 

“The untapped potential of the rural economy is a huge opportunity for the UK. Historically, landowners and farmers have always provided local facilities, provided jobs, but could be doing more and providing more local homes, if there was a system that supported it,” she says.

Smaller village housing schemes would have less of an impact than massive ones, she points out, and villagers need housing to support local facilities and services, which are being lost in rural areas.

“We need to have rural areas that are attractive for people to either move into or stay in,” she says

All these issues are close to Cath’s heart, having grown up on a mainly arable family farm on the cliff tops of south Wales, which keeps 850 ewes. Her father is “obsessed” with soil health, she says, using digestate from a local anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. Her brother is developing a holiday cottages business with his wife.

“It’s something I’m very passionate about is farmers, landowners and rural businesses and trying to ensure their needs are recognised,” she says. 

Such businesses are often very innovative, she points out, and as a surveyor she has spent time looking at lots of different diversification opportunities on farms.

Rural communities being ignored and underrated, say peers

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We must start with this heavily anticipated publication of the Lords report on the Rural Economy. I endorse every aspect of it. I do have this salutary thought however. I remember a friend from the pub who went to the GP as he wasn’t feeling well. He was told, “You drink and smoke too much”, to which his response was: “Tell me something I don’t know…” I lost contact with him years ago and I don’t know if he’s still alive, he didn’t ease off the booze and fags. Returning to the report, all these issues are known and really need action, the key challenge for the future health of rural England will be to see if anything changes! This article, which because of the significance of the report is quoted in full, tells us:

Rural communities have been “ignored” and had “inappropriate” policies forced upon them, a report says.

A group of peers said a new agenda for the countryside was needed similar to the government’s industrial strategy.

Priorities included improving mobile and broadband connections, replacing lost bank and bus services and tackling social isolation, the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee said.

The government said it was committed to “rural proofing” policies.

Ministers plan to spend £3.5bn on supporting economic development in the countryside by the end of 2020 through the Rural Development Programme.

The cross-party committee of peers said policies suitable for urban and suburban areas had too often been foisted upon the countryside.

As well as improving communications, it is calling for action to address the supply and cost of housing and a lack of training for people working in rural industries.

“Successive governments have underrated the contribution rural economies can make to the nation’s prosperity and wellbeing,” it said.

“They have applied policies which are often inappropriate for rural England. This must change. With rural England at a point of major transition, a different approach is needed.”

Lord Foster, the Lib Dem peer and former MP who chairs the committee, said the “clear inequalities” between urban and rural areas could not be allowed to continue.

He called for a policy blueprint of equal ambition to the government’s industrial strategy to realise the potential of struggling and under-performing areas.

Access to high-speed broadband is a major issue for rural communities

The Campaign to Protect Rural England said too few politicians had a real understanding of the needs of the countryside, despite the fact one in five of the population lived there.

It said investment was needed in housing and other infrastructure to make market towns and villages attractive places to live and work.

“A failure to address the unique and specific needs of these communities has put them at risk of being left behind,” said its chief executive Crispin Truman.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom warned last year of a widening urban-rural divide in broadband provision.

Only 41% of rural premises received a mobile data link of of 2Mbps or higher, it found, compared with 83% in urban areas.

The government has set aside £200m to fund full fibre broadband connections in rural and hard-to-reach areas across the UK by 2033.

“We will continue to champion the countryside, driving forward high-speed broadband in hard-to-reach places, increasing housing availability in rural areas and supporting the creation of more than 6,000 jobs through our dedicated fund for rural businesses,” it said.

Flybmi: Passengers stranded in Europe as firm advertised flights in final hours before administration

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This is very sad. The main talking point here is the negative impact on small regional airports and UK wide regional connections arising from the loss of these sort of services. This is, I believe, a genuinely significant issue for rural economies. The story tells us:


A spokesperson for Flybmi said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today. 


“The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs.These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit. 


“Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe.


“Additionally, our situation mirrors wider difficulties in the regional airline industry which have been well documented.”


Brian Strutton, General Secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association, said: “The collapse of FlyBMI is devastating news for all employees. 


“Regrettably BALPA had no warning or any information from the company at all.


“Our immediate steps will be to support FlyBMI pilots and explore with the Directors and administrators whether their jobs can be saved.”

EU preparing to delay Brexit until at least July

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Did you ever get the feeling that this is all becoming a bit like a poker game? It seems whichever way we turn uncertainty is likely to dog the rural economy into the summer and I fear/suspect beyond! This article tells us:

The EU is preparing to delay Brexit until at least July after concluding that Theresa May is doomed to fail in getting her deal through parliament.

The country’s 29 March deadline for exiting the EU is now regarded by Brussels as highly unlikely to be met given the domestic opposition facing the prime minister and it is expecting a request from London to extend article 50 in the coming weeks.

A special leaders’ summit to push back Brexit day is expected to be convened by the European council president, Donald Tusk, once a UK request is received. EU officials said the length of the prolongation of the negotiating period allowed under article 50 would be determined based on the reason put forward by May for the delay.

A “technical” extension until July is a probable first step to give May extra time to revise and ratify the current deal once Downing Street has a clear idea as to what will command a majority in the Commons.

An EU official said: “Should the prime minister survive and inform us that she needs more time to win round parliament to a deal, a technical extension up to July will be offered.”

UK households pick up £80m bill left over from failed energy firms

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In rural communities where energy is proportionately more expensive this is a depressing story, it tells us:

British households face an £80m bill to cover the costs of transferring more than half a million customers from bust energy firms, raising questions over whether the regulatory regime is fit for purpose.

Eight suppliers have ceased trading this year amid rising wholesale prices, forcing energy regulator Ofgem to step in and appoint new suppliers. Four have collapsed in the past two months alone, including One Select on Monday.

Each of the UK’s 28m homes could have an average of £1.75 added to their energy bills to compensate the new suppliers, according to a Guardian analysis.

Ovo, ScottishPower and other suppliers who have taken on customers of failed firms can recoup some costs through a mechanism known as “Supplier of Last Resort”, ultimately paid for by all consumers via their bills.

Those claims will take months to settle, but there are historical figures that provide a guide to the bill awaiting consumers.

Co-Operative Energy successfully claimed £14m for taking on the 160,000 customers of GB Energy when it went bust in 2016, implying the cost for rehoming 551,500 residential customers in 2018 would be £48.2m.

Industry experts said the number was credible, and could be higher still depending on the credit balances held by the collapsed firms. An initial application for compensation by one supplier this year would indicate a bill more like £76m.

Even taking the more conservative figure, the amount all households are liable for looks likely to be about £80m, or nearly £3 for each annual energy bill, once renewable energy subsidies left unpaid by failed firms are counted.

‘After half a century, a drive to Wales no longer takes its toll on motorists’

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I live close to the Humber Bridge and I think the huge reduction of tolls there several years ago transformed the dynamism of the rural economy in our neck of the woods. I therefore assume this development will have a positive impact on the local economy as predicted below. This story tells us

On Monday the booths will be completely removed, with drivers crossing both Severn bridges no longer liable for the toll, which is £5.60 for cars and £16.70 for lorries.

Moore understands why regular commuters paying over £1,000 a year will be celebrating but he – along with up to 100 other toll collectors and support staff – is losing a varied job, with many happy memories. “It is the end of an era. My main concern is my friends – one doesn’t have a job to go to,” he says.

The tolls, which have been in place for 52 years, have long been seen as a tax on entering Wales, since motorists don’t pay to cross into England. A private consortium, including Barclays and John Laing, took over the original bridge in 1992 and opened the second bridge in 1996. The consortium collected more than £1bn from the public before transferring the bridges to the Highways Agency in January.

The Welsh government says the removal of the tolls, announced last year, will boost the Welsh economy by £100m a year; Welsh secretary Alun Cairns has said it will create “a growth corridor” from Cardiff, through Newport to Bristol.

Living standards in UK fall for the first time since 2014

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After the post Brexit devaluation (akin to what might have happened in Greece should they have left the euro) here comes the hangover….This article tells us:

Rising prices and stagnant wage growth have resulted in the first fall in living standards in two-and-a-half years, according to official figures.

Labour market data from the Office for National Statistics showed that regular pay in the UK in February was 1.9% higher than a year earlier and is running below the 2.3% increase in prices.

Despite a fresh fall in unemployment and record job vacancies, economists expect the squeeze on real inflation-adjusted wages to intensify over the coming months as the weak pound affects the cost of living.

The ONS reported a 39,000 increase in employment in the three months to February, while unemployment fell by 45,000 to 1.56m. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.7% – its joint lowest since 1975 – and job vacancies stood at 767,000.

Damian Green, the employment secretary, said: “This is yet another strong set of figures, with unemployment at a rate that hasn’t been beaten since the 1970s and more vacancies than ever before. More people are finding full-time jobs and average wages have grown yet again, meaning more families have the security of a regular wage.”

But unions took a different view. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “Pay packets are taking a hammering from rising inflation and falling wage growth. We now need urgent action to stop another living standards crisis. Working people will want to know when Theresa May is going to do something to help.

 

When did ‘buccaneering’ become a good word?

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Prime Minister David Cameron wants Britain to be a “buccaneering, trading, investing nation right around the world”. This commentary looks at the origins of the word: tracing it all the way back to Caribbean pirates – “horribly violent, ruthless robbers”.  Apparently Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, went into battle with pieces of burning slow match stuck in his filthy, matted beard and hair. The article references stories of buccaneers’ courage and enterprise (“peirates” in Greek comes from peirao, “endeavour”) and liking for daring exploits. For some the word still means someone who greedily grabs what they want by force. “Buccaneer capitalism” was blamed by some for the financial crisis of 2008. On Mr Cameron’s Twitter account people have queried whether his use of the term is culturally sensitive and historically accurate.  Yet the Prime Minister has frequently used “buccaneering”.  During an address to the Australian Parliament in November 2014 he described how the UK economy had ‘turned a corner’; saying “we have found again our buccaneering spirit and our determination to seek new markets and new opportunities. And in his annual speech to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet back in 2013 he said he wanted Britain to show an “entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit where people who take risks to make money are celebrated and admired”. Rather than alluding to piracy the Prime Minister is trying to articulate a vision for the economy with a state we can afford, an economy where everyone can take part, an economy that is equipped for the future and an economy based on enterprise at home and abroad. I look forward to reading the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ ’10 point plan’ for rural productivity in the Autumn. In the meantime I think central Government will find the countryside is dominated by entrepreneurs, self-employed people, ‘job jugglers’, home businesses and small and micro enterprises, all of whom are seeking to address the challenges of living and working in a rural area compared to locating in an urban area, while benefitting the national economy.

Drop in UK’s economic growth: what the experts say

I know I am increasingly in danger of becoming a “doom monger” but I do think this article reflects a structural malaise which non of the political parties are thinking about in the context of the current bidding war they are engaged in to win our votes. If we do find that the fizz has gone out of the recovery after all the excitement of May 7th there will be some real challenges around: housing, adult social care, transport and youth employment amongst other issues to address in rural England – its time we began a more debate about them.

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