Countryside Alliance highlights persistent pressure on rural communities

Persistent pressure on the cost of living is being felt particularly keenly in rural communities.

The Chancellor should maintain the current level of fuel duty, with the ostensibly temporary 5p cut intact. We also support the APPG for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse in calling for a rural housing strategy and seek measures to support rural transport and renewable energy generation on brownfield and industrial sites.

The Countryside Alliance welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement in September that the mooted ban on like-for-like replacements of oil boilers would be put off until 2035. Given continued pressure on heating oil prices, the VAT rate on domestic heating oil should be cut to zero.

Funds must be apportioned fairly to rural communities, with the process of distribution rural-proofed to serve rural communities better. Promoting and embedding rural proofing should sit at the heart of government in the Cabinet Office.

Public procurement should celebrate game meat and push for it to be on the menu. Promoting venison and encouraging an increase in the UK deer cull should be a straightforward and wholly positive policy.

The Countryside Alliance is fervently opposed to attacks on UK livestock farming, which operates to among the highest standards of sustainability and animal welfare in the world. We organised motions passed by local authorities pledging to support their local food and farming sectors and procure their produce where possible, including meat and dairy products.

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