Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, has today welcomed the Government’s unveiling of a Rural Productivity Plan, which contains a number of initiatives designed to boost rural economies.
Writing in the Telegraph, the Chancellor George Osborne, and Environment Secretary Liz Truss have committed to education, infrastructure and planning changes. They said,
"For rural areas, we want better internet and mobile phone communications, better transport, better schools, better skills, better housing, better business growth and better local government.”
"And we'll look at planning and regulatory constraints facing rural businesses. In a recent survey of rural businesses the main barrier to growth that most identified was planning restrictions.
"So for a start, we'll review rules around agricultural buildings such as barns to allow rural businesses to expand more easily."
They continued:
"For the first time we'll encourage rural areas to apply to become enterprise zones, and will work on how best to get superfast broadband to those that are successful.”
"To expand the skilled workforce in the countryside, we are committing to triple the number of food and farming apprenticeships."
Commenting, Steve said:
“I am delighted to see our rural communities brought to the forefront of this Government’s programme of reforms.”
“For too long rural areas such as ours have been neglected by successive governments. I am pleased that we are making countryside areas a priority when it comes to continuing to grow our economy and make places like Mid-Cornwall better to live, work and grow up in”
“The proposed changes cover a wide spectrum of issues and so I will be taking time to understand better the detail of the changes, and how these can best help our rural communities.”
“I look forward to working with colleagues locally and in Westminster to progress these exciting changes”.