RDC(3) P&D23

Rural Development Sub-Committee

Inquiry into Poverty and Deprivation in Rural Wales

Response from NFU Cymru

Introduction

NFU Cymru represents 15,000 members across Wales and welcomes the opportunity to submit comments to this inquiry.  As the scope of the inquiry is wide and far-reaching, we have focused our remarks on those issues of most relevance to NFU Cymru and the farming interests which we represent.

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

In our experience, a major problem facing the poor and deprived in rural areas is often their invisibility.  In contrast to urban areas of Wales where a range of environmental, economic, social and cultural factors often combine to enable policy makers to identify more easily particular deprived groups and areas and target resources accordingly, the situation with regard to rural areas is significantly different.  There the nature of poverty and deprivation tends to be an issue that affects smaller numbers of people and households usually in dispersed communities and settlements and often living in the midst of comparative affluence.  This means that the extent of poverty and deprivation in rural areas is often overlooked.  Moreover, the nature of the problem means that it does not lend itself to the "deprived area approach” to policy which has characterised state intervention on poverty and deprivation issues for many years.

This is not to suggest that there is not a spatial dimension to the experience of poverty and deprivation in rural Wales.  The high quality environment and landscape that characterise much of the country often makes it difficult for people in authority to accept that poverty and deprivation exist at all.  The geography of rural Wales also contributes to the experience of poverty and deprivation in terms of its effects on accessibility, isolation and the costs of accessing and providing key facilities and services.  This particular problem is exacerbated by public and private sector policies which favour the concentration of such facilities and services in a limited number of selected settlements.

A further problem in rural areas is often the stigma that is still attached to poverty and deprivation within those who experience it and their corresponding reluctance to seek the necessary help and support that they need and is their entitlement.  In that context we would suggest that in rural areas, the incidence of poverty and deprivation is often underestimated in sole elderly households and in farming households.

Finally, we would suggest that low incomes are also a significant contributory factor to the experience of poverty and deprivation.  This tends to increase the incidence of poverty and deprivation in both absolute and relative terms given the high cost economy which is now characteristic of most rural areas in Wales.

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

NFU Cymru does not regard it as appropriate or sensible to seek to allocate specific responsibility for dealing with poverty and deprivation to either the Assembly Government or local authorities in Wales.  In reality, the nature of poverty and deprivation suggests that both have key roles to play in addressing it.  Indeed, some of the poverty/deprivation issues arising in rural Wales are also UK-wide issues and, as such, require a UK-wide response.

NFU Cymru believes that the key is to ensure that the policies and actions of all the key players are integrated and co-ordinated and delivered in a sufficiently fine-grained approach to ensure that those in need of help and support do not fall through the policy net.

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

As we understand the incidence and experience of poverty and deprivation in rural Wales, it is not something that lends itself to easy resolution by single initiatives or combinations of particular anti-poverty measures, however important these may be.  The causes of poverty and deprivation in rural areas are complex and often need to be addressed across a wide range of policy areas.  As such, the Assembly Government and local authorities need to do more not just to rural-proof their policies and initiatives but, within that, pay particular attention to the impact of their policies and decisions on those who experience poverty and deprivation in rural areas.  In that context we would draw attention to the interpretation and implementation of policies designed to achieve sustainable development objectives and question how far they address or exacerbate the problems and issues facing the poor and deprived in rural Wales.

Population Groups

NFU Cymru represents the interests of farmers and farm families throughout Wales.  As such, our understanding of poverty and deprivation is informed by the experiences of a number of the population groups identified by the inquiry.  For the purpose of this submission, however, our remarks are focused mainly on farmers and their experience of poverty and deprivation in rural Wales.

Q.6 To what extent are these groups living in poverty/deprivation in rural Wales?

Farms will very often support whole families which will often comprise of a mixture of these groups, i.e. children and young people, economically active adults as well as older people.

Using income data as an indicator of poverty, recently published figures indicate that farmers and their families are vulnerable to poverty and deprivation.

Farm incomes have declined in both the Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) and the lowlands.  In the LFAs which account for 80% of the landmass in Wales, farm income has fallen by 63% on last year and now stands at £3,000 per annum.  In the lowlands, net farm income fell by 24% over the same period to £8,500 per annum.  These figures stand in stark contrast to the average individual income in Wales of £21,000 per annum.

NFU Cymru believes that these low incomes are a significant contributory factor to the experience of both absolute and relative poverty and deprivation amongst many farmers and their dependants in Wales.

The experience of poverty/deprivation amongst the farming community in Wales also demonstrates the wider problems surrounding this issue in rural areas, e.g.

-  Although many people acknowledge that farming is a demanding occupation involving long hours with often little financial return, it is often argued that this is more than compensated for by the high quality of the landscape and wider environment within which farmers live.

- Ironically, it is that environment which determines the comparative remoteness of many farm businesses and exacerbates the problems of poverty and deprivation with often limited accessible services and facilities and higher costs of accessing them.

- Such problems are often exacerbated by a reluctance within many farm families to seek the help and support they need largely because of concerns about what their peer group would think.  This particular problem is often exacerbated by the rules, regulations and eligibility criteria which govern many of the sources of help and assistance to which farmers might otherwise turn for help in the face of income poverty and deprivation.

- Over time, the relative poverty of many households in rural Wales including farming households has been exacerbated by the continuing gentrification of many parts of the countryside by incoming populations.  In most, if not all, cases these new populations have levels of disposable income and enjoy lifestyles and living standards which increase the relative poverty/deprivation of many farmers and their families.

Q.7 What poverty/deprivation issues are experienced by these population groups that are specific to rural areas?

In addition to income poverty issues highlighted above, NFU Cymru would stress the following as issues of concern to farm families in Wales.

• Increased cost of living in rural areas

• Inaccessibility of key facilities and services with corresponding costs of accessing the nearest available

• Significant disadvantage in areas such as housing due to competition for limited stock of existing housing and restrictive policies which control the building of new housing stock

• A corresponding agenda of concentrating services and facilities in a limited number of accessible locations and a corresponding erosion of more local accessible facilities.

Q.9 In what ways are any sub-groups within the four population groups particularly affected by rural poverty/deprivation?

Within the farming community, it is often very difficult to identify specific differences in the experience of poverty and deprivation according to the population sub-groups identified by this question.  This reflects both the way in which labour is structured on many farms and also the fact that many farms are family businesses upon which all four sub-groups are often dependent to varying degrees.    We would also add that the average age of a farmer is 58, something which is in our view compounded by the low returns in the sector which make entry in to farming less attractive to younger people, which can and does result in the drift of young people away from the countryside.    Low incomes not only make it harder for the next generation to enter in to farming but often preclude the very sort of diversification activity that is needed to increase income as such diversification activity is often very capital intense.   It is in this context that the income data discussed in the response to Q.6 above needs to be considered.

The experience of NFU Cymru suggests that whilst some aspects of poverty and deprivation are common to the rural/farming population in general, the experience of some dimensions of poverty may be more acute for some sectors or groups.  For example, the increasing cost of living relative to income is an issue that affects many in rural Wales whereas the problems of accessing services such as healthcare, post office and banking facilities are more acute for the elderly and/or other low income households without access to private transport.

We would also highlight the problem of housing for local people in rural Wales which is often a reflection of their limited buying power in an inflated housing market.  Over time, intensive external pressures on a limited rural housing stock together with restrictive planning policies have combined to create a situation in many parts of rural Wales where affordable housing to buy or rent is well beyond the income levels of many.  Although this is a widespread problem in many areas, it is particularly acute for young people who are unable to get a foot on the property ladder as a result.   

Q.10 What are the most effective ways of tackling poverty/deprivation for individuals from those groups living in rural parts of Wales?

NFU Cymru believes that the issues of poverty/deprivation are easier to address in urban areas not only because it is easier to identify need and target resources accordingly but also because in towns and cities, poverty is often a shared experience for a number of individuals/ households within identified areas of need.  By contrast, poverty and deprivation in rural areas are dispersed and are often experienced by sectors of the population who are reluctant to admit their condition.

For that reason we believe that over and above any structural measures and initiatives that might be introduced to tackle poverty and deprivation in rural areas, more needs to be done to recognise this cultural context of poverty and deprivation and design and implement measures which de-stigmatise the agenda and facilitate the take-up of the necessary help and support.

NFU Cymru would also reiterate our earlier argument about the need to address poverty and deprivation in rural areas across the wide spectrum of policies that contribute to it.  In that context, more attention needs to be paid to the social impact of policies on issues such as the environment, planning, transport etc. which may be exacerbating the incidence and experience of poverty and deprivation in rural Wales.