OECD Rural Policy Review: EnglandDEFRA PresentationLondon, January 25, 2011David Freshwater, University of Kentucky

Organization

1. DEFRA’s Request2. The Challenges for the Analysis3. Overview4. Describing Rural Policy in England5. Policy Assessment 6. Policy Recommendations7. Why These Recommendations

Main Questions Posed by DEFRA for the Review

• Is the mainstreaming approach an effective way to deliver public policy in rural England?

• Are there implications for urban policy from studying rural England?

• Are service levels in rural areas adequate?• Are the objectives of devolution being

achieved at the lowest level? • Do RDAs/Local Authorities give sufficient

attention to rural areas?

Challenges the OECD Faced in Conducting the Analysis

• Understanding what “rural” means in England.

• Understanding the multiple facets of rural policy.

• Identifying how rural policy in England coincides with the OECD New Rural Paradigm (NRP).

• Finding a way to add value to existing policy.

Overview - Indicators

• Rural England has an increasing share of the population.

• Socio-economic indicators are better in rural England:

• School completion• Unemployment rates• Longevity• Crime

• Better indicators in part reflect migration of “better-off” from urban to rural areas.

• Significant rural poverty is masked by averaging conditions.

• Availability and price of rural housing is a crucial issue.

Overview - Environment

• England has a high population density, but there is a surprisingly large amount of green space – much of it is not available for development

• Historically, England’s rural policy has largely been driven by efforts to maintain green space and preserve farmland.

• Climate change has made coastal marine ecosystems particularly important in England.

Overview - Settlement

• England is characterized by strong rural and urban interaction.

• The majority of the rural land and population is within 30 km of a city of at least 30,000 people.

• Rural settlements are dominated by villages of less than 500 people (1/3 of the rural population)

Overview - Economy

• The rural economy resembles the urban economy, but with important differences:

• No higher order economic functions – banking, health care, education

• Mainly small and medium size firms• Lower formal education and skill levels in

workforce• Only small settlements with truncated economies

• Productivity is lower in rural areas, but innovation is less well supported (not R&D based).

• Agriculture is highly productive, but plays a minor role in the rural economy.

Overview - Government

• England has a highly centralized government structure.

• The lower levels of government have no independent statutory authority and receive most of their funding from the UK government.

• The structure of local government is complex and far from uniform.

• The national planning system sets broad directions that tend to become hard targets at the local level.

Rural Policy• England has had a distinct rural policy

since 1909 – Development Commission and its successors.

• In 2004 rural policy was restructured to become Rural Mainstreaming.

• 2 key agencies– DEFRA – rural agency within government– Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) –

independent agency that supports the Rural Advocate, provides impartial analysis and is an independent watchdog of rural policy

Rural Policy - Mainstreaming

• Mainstreaming is an overarching policy approach that holds that location should not fundamentally alter access to programs.

• Rural mainstreaming has replaced formal place-based rural policy in England.

• DEFRA is charged with monitoring other departments to ensure their policies fully cover rural areas.

• The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) carries out rural proofing to assess ex post policy compliance.

• Mainstreaming is simple in theory, but complex in practice.

Rural Policy – Evidence Base

• England has adopted an “evidence based” decision process.

• Quantitative evidence is favored, but detailed sub-national data for rural regions is limited.

• In particular, time series data is scarce.• Data is not readily available at the local level

which makes it hard for communities to build their evidence.

• Capacity to make “evidence based” arguments varies by size of place.

Rural Policy – The Hierarchy

• National agencies set broad strategies and objectives

• The 8 Regional Development Agencies set area specific implementation approaches.

• Local authorities implement their goals within the framework established around them.

Assessment – Consistency with the NRP

• Clearly broader than agriculture• Evidence based approach is consistent

with investment philosophy• Broad set of actors are involved• Past focus on rural disadvantage is

being modified to include rural potential• Limited scope for bottom-up processes

Assessment - Mainstreaming

• Sensible approach for England given high degree of urban-rural interaction.

• Approach currently has difficulty in more sparse regions.

• Implementation difficulties include:• Defining roles of DEFRA and CRC• Clarifying the mainstreaming vs. rural proofing

functions• Persuading other departments to “follow

through” on their responsibility

Assessment - Implementation

• There is mixed support for mainstreaming among the various ministries.

• The RDAs also have a mixed record in their support for rural development.

• DEFRA has too few staff and too limited a budget to monitor agencies and influence decision-making.

• Rural-urban linkages are an under-exploited opportunity for policy (City Regions).

• New strategies to better integrate spatial and economic planning are an important improvement.

Assessment – Economic Development

• There has been a great reliance on direct and indirect public sector employment in rural England.

• Strengthening the rural economy has not been an explicit policy focus.

• Recognition of rural economic opportunity is a recent phenomenon.

• Labour availability and quality will become an important constraint in many rural regions as the population ages.

• The focus on preservation of the countryside limits the possibility for new firms and firm expansion.

Assessment – Policy Linkages

• England could take greater advantage of EU funds by better linking its policy to EU regional and rural policy.

• There should be a better recognition of the links among: planning decisions, business development, the housing market and commuting patterns.

• Better link rural mainstreaming goals to other department’s objectives – create a win-win situation.

Recommendations –The Context

• The UK has a highly constrained budget, because of the recession.

• Additional “duties” and regulations will slow economic recovery. Policy should focus on removing constraints that excessively impede the private sector.

• Taking advantage of “untapped rural potential” will contribute to national economic growth.

• Devolution offers the opportunity for different approaches – policy experiments.

Recommendations – 5 Key Themes1. Introduce a distinct rural component to the

Regional Cities strategy.2. Enhance mainstreaming to ensure better

service delivery.3. Strengthen the rural economy by joining up

housing, planning and economic strategies.4. Expand rural connectivity by strengthening

networks.5. Continue efforts to strengthen governance

networks.

Recommendation – City Regions

• City Regions are a major new spatially-focused development and governance initiative.

• Rural is a major part of each City Region, but it is not an integral part of the current plans.

• Because there are complex two-way flows between urban and rural, it is crucial that better integration take place.

• Policy is needed for the sparse areas that are not part of the City Regions.

Recommendation - Improve Mainstreaming

• Mainstreaming has to better presented, so that it can be understood and embraced.

• Clarified roles for DEFRA and CRC are needed, and DEFRA needs additional resources for implementation.

• Clarify that mainstreaming does not mean equal services in all areas, but appropriate outcomes.

• Identify innovative ways to deliver services in sparse areas.

Recommendation – Joining-Up• Effective policy coordination can only happen if

there is a coherent overarching strategy in place.• A stronger private sector will be needed for

improved economic performance, especially since the public sector will shrink.

• Local labour market areas are appropriate ways to think of how planning, housing, economic development and commuting are linked.

• Current population projections mean more rural housing has to be constructed, or the current problems will get worse.

Recommendation – Expand Connectivity

• Rural regions need stronger connectivity to overcome internal communication difficulties and to better link to outside markets.

• All forms of connectivity are important: broadband, roads and rail, and public transit.

• Role of the automobile is different in rural areas than in urban.

• Stronger connectivity will enable mainstreaming to function better.

Recommendation – Enhance Governance

• Devolution is crucial to rural development and the process should continue. Recognize that devolution necessarily creates different choices and outcomes.

• The function of the RDAs and GOs as intermediaries is important but underutilized in enabling territory specific policy approaches.

• More effort has to go into strengthening local decision-making capacity, including building evidence.

• Local leaders must be trusted with meaningful decisions and given autonomous budgets if they are to be full and active participants.

Why These Recommendations?• Response to questions posed by DEFRA.• Sense that England already has a vast amount of “issue

based” analysis, but is weak on long term, coherent strategy – too much autonomous policy refresh.

• Important to shift focus to rural opportunity from rural disadvantage. In particular, more emphasis on local economic development is needed.

• Rural is distinct, and opportunities and conditions in rural England differ in significant ways from those in urban places.

• Markets fail, but plans also fail, so a strong national government has to be balanced by a combination of market forces and independent local government.