Rural Prosperity Fund Briefing
Rural England Prosperity Fund
September has been a significant month so far for rural development with the launch of DEFRA’s £110m Rural England Prosperity Fund, delivered as a top up to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to eligible areas. The fund will initially make investments over a 2-year period, starting from 1 April 2023. CEDOS’s membership represent some of England’s more rural areas and the fund will form a key resource to stimulate growth after COVID-19 and to Level Up rural areas.
The prospectus for the fund acknowledged that many rural areas across England have lower productivity rates, poorer overall levels of connectivity and poorer access to a range of services. Rural productivity has also been falling in recent years, relative to the national average. It can also be harder to identify and tackle poverty and disadvantage in rural areas and the prospectus has also acknowledged current economic challenges and cost of living issues may in some areas have a disproportionate impact on rural areas. These are all factors that CEDOS identified in our own Rural Prospectus in July 2021, compiled with input from a range of rural Local Authorities to inform any future rural development programmes.
The Rural England Prosperity Fund’s prospectus places a focus on improving rural productivity and supporting job creation. The fund is capital in nature, providing investment in capital to support rural business and to support rural communities. The fund is designed to align with other DEFRA funds as well as current Investment Plans for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The fund sits within the context of the Levelling Up White Paper, drawing from the concept that six ‘capital’ requirements needed to instigate a positive economic cycle in localities. These are:
• Physical Capital
• Human Capital
• Intangible Capital (innovation and ideas)
• Financial Capital
• Social Capital
• Institutional Capacity
It is recognised that in rural areas, natural capital also has a significant role in supporting economic growth in rural areas. The implementation of the fund must also support the Government’s Net Zero ambitions.
In line with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, there are a range of pre-determined activities and outputs and indicators that individual programmes can draw from.
The submission window for eligible Authorities to submit an addendum to their UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plans is from 3 October to 30 November 2022.
CEDOS’ research into what is needed to support long term growth in rural economies focussed on the need to provide a rural ‘premium’ for areas to help service providers to overcome the additional costs of delivering services in rural communities and expand their reach and relevance.
This is particularly relevant to business support and innovation and skills and employment support providers:
“In terms of business growth and innovation projects, there is often not the critical mass of businesses to support high growth programmes across rural areas. Delivery is often frequently skewed towards urban businesses as this is where the institutions, facilities and knowledge are based.”
“Achieving effective and flexible labour markets is much more difficult in rural economies, the labour pool is much smaller – partly due to population density, lower labour demand and an ageing population demographic. Opportunities to develop skills are often more limited, especially for career progression, due to a prevalence of lower paid and seasonal employment, lack of access to colleges and issues around digital connectivity.”
“Existing skills and employment programmes often focus resources and function on urban areas and the depth of (and choice of) services are frequently not available to more rural residents.”
The additional investment through a ‘top up’ or premium to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is very much in keeping with the concept we proposed for supporting rural growth. This rural premium is to be welcomed, but by solely focussing on capital expenditure within a narrow band of activities does not overcome some of the challenges rural areas face, especially relating to improving productivity and supporting employment growth. To read the CEDOS Prospectus for Rural Economic Development please click here.