New Network Offers SW Hotline to Government

Landowners and rural business leaders in the South West have given a: “thumbs up” to news that the new Rural and Farming Networks will be getting a hotline to the heart of Government.
Country Land and Business Association South West Director, John Mortimer, says that the announcement by Agriculture Minister, Jim Paice, will revitalise direct lines of communication by establishing a new conduit to government.
“This decision will give us direct route to the Minister and his advisers and will help us to have a direct influence on future rural policies - and that has to be welcome news indeed,” said Mr Mortimer.
However, he said he was concerned that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were to be cut off from the neighbouring counties of the South West and left to fight their own corner.
“One of the most critical problems that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly face is their isolation and long communication lines up country. Of course, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have specific, local, issues too and the creation of a separate R&F group will, hopefully, ensure that these issues obtain high prominence with Government.
“Our concern is that we don’t want to see divisions within the South West and we are anxious to re-establish the effective lines of communication we have previously enjoyed. Our hope is that the two Rural and Farming networks covering the whole of the South West will be able to work effectively together and the CLA will do its utmost to facilitate this.”
The fourteen new networks are designed to bring together people from rural communities, rural businesses and the food and farming industries and help the Government to create new opportunities with better and more targeted policy
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, the Minister also promised that Defra would become the ‘listening department’ that would understand and promote the interests of rural communities and businesses, based on direct contact with the people whose livelihoods they were championing.
His comments came on the same day as the Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, admitted that an urban-rural divide existed and that, in many instances rural communities and rural businesses had been left to their own devices to try to find solutions to the problems they faced - such as adequate broadband connections.
“It is encouraging that the Minister has finally acknowledged the depth of inequality between urban and rural areas. Much needs to be done to ensure fairness for rural communities and businesses and we are optimistic about what the Rural and Farming Networks might achieve,” said Mr. Mortimer.