North Yorkshire’s Rural Commission, the first of its kind nationally, has called on local and national Government and key agencies to take forward recommendations in a hard-hitting report, launched to bring about levelling up for rural communities.
The Commissioners, who are experts in rural affairs, have drawn up a series of radical actions to transform the region into one that has more young people, has a thriving rural economy and is fully connected.
Their report “Rural North Yorkshire: the way forward” was launched at the Great Yorkshire Show to an audience of key stakeholders, including representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as well as the Environment Agency, housing associations, charities, community agencies, landowners, business and the National Farmers Union among others.
The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, also attended and commended the report.
The Commission is strongly of the view that devolution is a priority to achieving effective levelling up for rural and remote North Yorkshire.
A key challenge for rural North Yorkshire is the missing generation of young people who do not live and work in the region. The Commission has estimated that if North Yorkshire had the same percentage of younger adults per head of population as nationally, there would be over 45,500 additional younger working age adults living in the county than there are today and North Yorkshire would be £1.5 billion better off annually.
The Very Reverend John Dobson DL, Dean of Ripon and also chair of the Commission said: “At the heart of this report is the fundamental belief that people are the greatest asset in North Yorkshire. They build community, economy and a good life. The missing generation of younger workers in the county hinders the ability of North Yorkshire to achieve the full potential of an effective economy.
“This missing generation relates to all of the themes examined by the Commission; unaffordability of housing for this age group, school closures because of lack of demand, the people to drive a forward looking green economy, depleting services because of declining population, and a skewed older age group. North Yorkshire needs a strong devolved authority to tackle the problems faced by its rural and remote areas.”
The Commission examined a broad range of subjects on seven key themes – farming and land management; schools, education and skills; transport; jobs and the economy; digital connectivity; housing and energy transition.
Throughout their report Commissioners have raised difficult and hard policy questions to be addressed:
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Affordable rural housing must become a reality rather than an aspiration and this will require more houses in rural and remote areas rather than on the edges of market towns. The Commission believes it is possible to achieve this objective without compromising the region’s beauty.
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Tackling climate change is a priority for the county. The Commission firmly supports the region’s ambition to become a ‘green lung’ and to lead on employment in the green economy and a revolutionary energy transition.
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Farming needs radical change to be sustainable for the future.
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Digital connection underpins many of these ambitions. The Commission believes that digital connection must be understood as a human right.
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The region has considerable wealth and the Commission sees a mutual bank as a means for intra-county investing in levelling up sparse areas. Often smaller initiatives seeking seed funding have less success with mainstream banks.
It is the Commission’s belief that this type of future rural North Yorkshire will flourish, attract rural North Yorkshire’s missing generation who will bring vibrancy, energy, and vision to the region. It will mean that current policy problems such as school closures will be reduced significantly.
The Commission strongly advocates for the levelling up debate not only to focus on Northern industrial regions, but also on remote and rural regions and the significant potential of rural and sparsely populated rural areas to contribute to the national economy, achieve net zero targets, and drive energy transitions.
Dean John said: “It is our belief and hope that our recommendations will lead to a connected region, that has a thriving community in which people of all ages and background can find a home and play a part in community life bringing vibrancy, energy, and vision to the region
“What do we hope for in a decade? It is our hope that digital connection will have been executed as a human right. We hope that more sensitively designed houses will have been built in rural and remote areas. We expect rural North Yorkshire to be a green lung, to have led on imaginative energy transition, and have a diverse green labour force.
“We want young people to have better education options. We aspire to the region having sustainable agriculture that works with nature. We want remote and rural areas to be connected by appropriate models of transport.
“We now look to local and national Government and many partners and stakeholders to take ownership of these recommendations and make this vision a reality. The future of rural communities is at stake.”
