Rural communities running out of patience with government, says CLA at major conference

The government has been told rural communities are “running out of patience” by the Country Land & Business Association’s (CLA) President, Mark Tufnell, in a speech to the organisation’s annual Rural Business Conference.With Environment Secretary Dr Thérèse Coffey in attendance, Mr Tufnell called the delays to the rollout of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes “unacceptable,” comparing the lack of clarity on payment rates to buying “something from the shop without knowing the price”.Mr Tufnell said confidence in the scheme’s success is on the brink of “disappearing forever” across the farming industry.The CLA’s president also criticised the government’s track record in supporting rural businesses across the country, pointing towards a planning regime that seems “designed to hold the rural economy back,” a lack of affordable housing driving away young people, and infrastructure and connectivity preventing many from even “operating in the 21st century”.Mr Tufnell called on the government to match the ambitions of rural business owners across the country, adding that 12 years since the Conservatives came to power, he cannot see how the policy landscape has improved. “In some cases it is worse.”In the first Rural Business Conference since the Conservative Party’s repeated leadership contests, he said: “There is nothing Conservative about holding rural businesses back. There is nothing Conservative about letting rural communities fail.”Mr Tufnell closed his speech by welcoming the recent creation of government’s new rural economic growth minister under the Truss-led government, but criticised the new government for scrapping the position within a matter of weeks.The speech follows a CLA survey published earlier this year which shone a light on the cracks in the ‘blue wall’. The opinion poll of the five most rural counties in England put the Conservatives just two points ahead of Labour, indicating a 7.5 per cent swing from the 2019 general election. The by-elections in Tiverton and Honiton were seen by many as a warning shots fired by rural voters.The CLA recently contributed to an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report that set out an economic blueprint to revitalise the rural economy, potentially to the tune of £43bn. The report concluded that no government in recent memory has had a program to unlock the economic and social potential of the countryside. Decades of neglect have left the countryside in a state of stagnation with a 19% productivity gap between the rural economy and the national average.The Rural Business Conference is the CLA’s flagship annual event, normally attended by ministers, shadow ministers and leaders from other parties. This year’s conference was attended by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dr Thérèse Coffey, as well as farming minister Mark Spencer, and leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey.Dr Coffey confirmed to delegates that the review into ELM has concluded and said that its purpose was to “secure the biggest bang for our buck in the way we spend public money” and that it is easy and attractive for farmers to get involved.

She said: “We want to give you the certainty you need to plan for future investment cycles.

“I am pleased to tell you that the review is now complete and that we are moving ahead with the transition on the same timescale and with three schemes.

“All the funding that we are taking out of reductions in BPS will continue to be made available to farmers through a combination of one-off grants and ongoing schemes and the advice you need to get your business on the right footing for the future.

“As we make those planned, steady reductions to BPS payments we will pay you to take action through our three environmental land management schemes.”

The CLA represents thousands of farmers, landowners and rural businesses.

For more information about the CLA and its work, visit https://www.cla.org.uk/in-your-area/south-east/ and follow @CLASouthEast on Twitter.