Rural Development Sub-Committee

Inquiry into Poverty and Deprivation in Rural Wales

Response from Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council

Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council working together with the Anti Poverty Network Cymru and Oxfam

Notes of the first meeting of the Denbighshire Rural Action Network held on Thursday, 28 February, 2008 at 10.00 am at The Naylor Leyland Centre, Well Street, Ruthin, to discuss The National Assembly for Wales Rural Development Sub Committee scrutiny inquiry into poverty and deprivation in rural areas

Present:
Robert Walsh - Anti Poverty Network Cymru and Oxfam
Ian Mather - Anti Poverty Network Cymru
Eleri Roberts - Clwyd Young Farmers
Pauline Williams - Age Concern
Eryl Davies - Age Concern
Carol Evans - Vale of Clwyd Mind and CADRIG
Emyr B Williams - Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council
Denise Bailey - Denbighshire CAB
Les Starling - Sustainable Denbighshire
Anne Jones - Glyndwr Women’s Aid

Apologies:
Falmai Evans - Denbighshire Children’s Information Service

1. Welcome and Introductions

Rob Walsh welcomed all the members present and explained the background to the convening of the meeting by DVSC and the APNC. Following discussions between both organisations it was decided a collective response from a range of local organisations to the Assembly call for information on rural poverty was needed, and hence the meeting arranged.

He also outlined the details of the scrutiny enquiry into poverty and deprivation in rural areas. Members then introduced themselves and gave a brief background of the work of their own organisations and their own particular experiences of poverty and deprivation issues in the County. Rob acted as facilitator for the session, with assistance from Emyr, who also took notes of the discussion.

2. Detailed response to the questions posed in the letter dated 22 January, 2008 received from Alun Davies, Chair of the Rural Development Sub-committee announcing the consultation

Members agreed the following definitions for poverty and deprivation at the beginning of the discussion:

Poverty - people who are poor and facing financial hardship.

Deprivation - lack of accessibility to activities and services.

Question 1 - What are the poverty/deprivation problems faced by rural areas? What are the specific needs of rural areas in relation to this issue?

Much rural poverty and deprivation remains unrecognised for the following reasons:

Culture of stoicism and self reliance, particularly in farming families, means they will not inform anyone of their needs (material or emotional). People often die by their own hand rather than reach out for help.
The urban myth of the 'rural idyll’ and the (often media driven) perception that farmers live well on European subsidies.
People living in rural areas are classified as 'hard to reach’. Members took issue with the term 'hard to reach’ - as in their experience it’s not particularly 'hard’ but is dependent on accessing appropriate levels of resources, and it can be expensive.
Therefore reliable information is thin on the ground.

Amongst the deprivation issues highlighted were:

Lack of a rural transport infrastructure
Limited accessibility to local amenities
Inability to access a Broadband service - dependent on how far customers are from their local exchange
Lack of mobile phone signal
Council tax bills are as high in the country as they are in towns - even though often in rural areas properties are not able to access mains services such as water, sewage, and gas, and roads are not cleaned, etc
Roads do not get gritted during inclement weather
Tax on four wheel drive vehicles is very high. Quite often farming families only have one vehicle and this has to act as a work vehicle as well as a social one
Lack of street light
The high cost of fuel
Lack of rural Policing service
Rural areas do not benefit from Cymorth and Flying Start moneys for children’s services
Conwy and Denbighshire have higher rates of mental illness than other areas of Wales - poverty will influence people’s mental well-being
Conwy and Denbighshire have higher rates of suicide than the Wales average
Isolation can be a problem for many people in rural areas especially if a couple move to a village to retire and when one passes away the other one is left behind - eg maybe he/she cannot drive
Poor state of country roads causing expensive vehicle maintenance
The need to travel large distances to petrol stations to put already expensive fuel in vehicles
There is a lack of community development workers in rural areas - they are badly needed
Lack of playgrounds and play fields for children and young people
Complexity of forms that farmers have to complete for grants, etc
Social housing being built in rural areas, and local communities anticipating this being for local families, but then this being let to families from non rural areas. This causes ill feeling, and causes difficulties for non rural families needing to then adjust to rural life
There is a difficulty in rural areas of recruiting suitably qualified people willing to run organised activities such as youth clubs, etc
Even if communities can recruit people to run above activities they are often faced with off putting bureaucracy such as mini bus driving tests, CRB checks, etc. Volunteers often get frustrated and choose not to get involved as a result
Impossibility of using public transport to get to hospital to visit relatives, etc. If you are able to visit in your own vehicle visitors face high parking charges
The amount of time it takes for emergency services to reach rural areas eg Ambulances
Young farmers in rural areas find it difficult to access funding for club activities. However, there is plenty of funding available for young people who get involved with drugs/alcohol and offending - rewarding bad behaviour sends out wrong messages and is wrong
Lack of affordable housing for local people
Community councils could be far more active and should be encouraged to raise their precepts and provide local services that meet local needs. Additionally, having greater powers and authority would enable them to play a more active role in tackling rural poverty

Question 2 - Are anti-poverty/deprivation activities best dealt with by the Welsh Assembly Government or by the Local Authorities?

The Standard Spending Agreement doesn’t reflect rurality. The Assembly needs to look into this.
All services provided by the Assembly should be rural 'proofed’.
Ideally through Local Government structures that are close to the people, but a good understanding of local needs, problems and issues, and robust procedures for allocating funds on the basis of need are needed but are inconsistent.
More resources should be channelled through the voluntary sector - voluntary sector organisations are not dependent on votes for their existence! Decisions on use of funding channelled through organisations dependent on votes is sometimes influenced by a range of factors not related to a prioritisation of need alone.
The Voluntary Sector, and especially the small voluntary groups based in the community, are a potentially massive resource in tackling rural poverty, but are vastly under resourced and under supported.
It was noted that this question only made reference to central and local Government, the voluntary sector was omitted from the question, implying it’s role is perceived as being very marginal and insignificant.

Question 3 i) - What anti-poverty/deprivation initiatives (Welsh Assembly Government or Local Authority) are you aware of?

Rural Development Plan for Wales
Fuel Poverty
Draft Rural Strategy - CAB
Child Poverty Action Group

There was some awareness by group members but information is not always cascaded down from local authority to voluntary sector groups and groups have problems accessing clear relevant information on these issues.

Question 3 ii) - Do these anti-poverty/deprivation policies adequately address the needs of rural areas?

Emphatically No.

Question 4 - What specific measures would you like to see implemented by the Welsh Assembly Government to deal with poverty/deprivation issues in rural Wales?

Please see comments above in response to question 2 on the importance of the voluntary sector.

Provision of additional funding and resources to enable voluntary sector groups to take their services to rural areas is vital.

Members were disappointed to note that the Assembly’s Rural Sub Committee had so few members. They felt that at the very least its membership should be increased thus making it more robust and giving it more clout.The question was also raised why is this only a sub committee, and not a stronger structure?

Members felt that members of the sub committee should attend a meeting of the Denbighshire Rural Action Network in the future. They also felt that meetings of the North Wales Regional Committee should be re-introduced. One of the best meetings of that committee had been held at Canolfan Cae Cymro in Clawddnewydd. Bringing the politicians closer to the people in this way was very well received locally and felt to be a valuable exercise.

Members stated that they wanted to see the Assembly "doing something” after this consultation. They felt that the Assembly had not been proactive enough on some issues very important to rural communities eg the closure of rural Post Offices.

Forums with delegated powers to act should be established to tackle issues in rural areas. There is also a need for a national Rural Conference, one which could both bring a wide range of agencies, members of rural communities, local and national Government together, but then provide a platform and springboard for an ongoing structure with powers and resources to tackle rural poverty issues. This could be held in Denbighshire.

Question 5 - What examples of good practice are you aware of in Wales/other parts of the UK/overseas?

Assembly Regional Committees were good - reconvene and get more AM’s to attend
Doris - the mobile vehicle run by Vale of Clwyd Mind. Very successful in reaching 'hard to reach’ groups
Corwen Healthy Living Centre - continues to be essential for the town. However, NOF funding is coming to an end
Mobile shop run by Canolfan Cae Cymro in Clawddnewydd.
Afon Elwy Care Group, St Asaph
Young Farners Environmental and Community Challenge
Eco Therapy - Pembrokeshire
Holistic approach to health and well being

Question 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Members felt that measures to tackle poverty and deprivation in rural areas should not be split down into population groups.

Discussions continued though, with the following points being made:

Access to statistical information about rural areas is often difficult to get and is often not gathered in the right way.

Voluntary sector groups have a vital role in combating rural poverty but it needs sources of sustainable funding to seriously tackle this problem.

Long term planning, not just short term thinking is needed.

All local authority officers in charge of funding sources should go on 'rural issue’ training.

Members expressed concern that voluntary sector representatives on strategic partnerships are not equal partners - partners are always judged on the amount of resources they bring to the table.

Community Councils should be given additional powers as they are best placed to deal with local issues. A new position of 'Mayor’ should be created with powers to act locally.

3. Final Comments

Members stated that they were looking forward to seeing the final report of this consultation process.

They resolved that they would meet again in 3 or 4 months time and invite members of the Rural Sub Committee to this meeting.

Rob Walsh stated that the APNC, as a national network, may be able to assist this group connect with any similar groups from other counties in Wales who are seeking to respond to this consultation exercise and take action on rural poverty.

4. Date of Next Meeting

Thursday, 5 June, 2008 at 10.00 am at DVSC’s Naylor Leyland Centre, Well Street, Ruthin.