Countryside Alliance briefing note: government support for rural communities

The policies announced by the Defra Secretary at the NFU farming conference are
welcome and of genuine advantage to the food and farming sector.  We also welcome last week's (4 March) announcement of up to £38 million of funding to support rural communities. 

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Ultimately, however, Mr Reed’s remarks on agricultural and business property 
reliefs were less convincing even for a minister who lacks policy responsibility for 
tax. The Countryside Alliance calls on the Chancellor to revisit this policy so it can 
prevent the abuse of landholding as a means of avoiding inheritance tax without 
risking the inter-generational viability of legitimate family farms. 

We are keen to address the ‘rural premium’, the added costs of living that residents 
must pay by virtue of living in a rural area. This is a key challenge to rural Britain 
and reflects the reality of our members’ and supporters’ daily lives. Much of this, among a great many other matters of importance to rural communities, touches on matters that fall under the purview of a broad range of government departments. However, unlike other thematic policy areas including animal welfare and net zero, there appears to be no instrument within government for developing an overarching policy or strategy. 

We urge the government to bring forward secondary legislation to allow the 
commencement of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act so that rural communities can be better protected from the impacts of this insidious category of crime.