Government targeted at first Rural Experience
Mar 6 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post
An event highlighting how rural communities are suffering in the recession is set to call on government to help countryside communities deal with job losses, reduced services and shop closures.
The market town of Alcester will today play host to the first Rural Experience event to be held in the West Midlands and will highlight to the Prime Minister the need for the level of support and assistance given to victims of the recession in urban areas to be mirrored in rural locations.
The event, organised by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), will be led by David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, and will involve leading national and regional figures from government, enterprise agencies and rural affairs.
It is designed to highlight the issues facing rural communities in the economic downturn, including the impact of reduced services, retail closures in market towns, widespread job losses and the prospect of valuable skills being lost forever.
Mr Frost said: “We need to ensure that rural business needs are not forgotten during the present recession. More support is needed to ensure many good rural firms survive this unprecedented period.
“This event will be an important step in bringing together people who work in and support rural communities and businesses so they can see first-hand the most recent effects of the recession and what we can all do to help.”
The Rural Experience will start with a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon’s Citizens Advice Bureau – where inquiries about redundancies went up 255 per cent in December – before travelling to Minerva Mill Business Centre in Alcester, which has been transformed from historic buildings housing traditional trades to a high-quality innovation centre.
Delegates will hear about the effects of the recession on the Mill’s 34 businesses and will also meet a number of companies based there and learn how they are coping with the recession.
CRC chairman and the government’s rural advocate Dr Stuart Burgess said: “It is easy to talk about issues and how they are affecting people from the comfort of the office but there is nothing like going out to real places and talking to the people who are at the sharp end and learning from their experiences.
“What we are trying to do is give a complete picture of the realities of rural life and following these visits we will also be taking in meetings at Longbarn Village and Ragley Estate to witness how the lack of retail demand is not just having a big impact on our major high streets but also in our market towns and farm complexes.”
He added there were some success stories out there, proving rural enterprise culture was still alive and well.
He said: “None more so than the Purity Brewing company in Great Alne, which has developed redundant farm buildings to create a 20-barrel brew plant and visitor centre, with its Pure Gold, Mad Goose and UBU ales bucking the downturn and recording healthy sales.”
