British village life in crisis

Many areas of rural Britain are in crisis in the 2020s, with village communities in decay as the demographic balance shifts in the wrong direction. Village schools, shops, pubs and post offices are closing and transport links are being cut.

One of the chief causes of this decline is the fact that young people can no longer afford to live in the countryside and are instead being forced to move away from the villages where their families have lived and worked for generations. Affordable rural housing is in desperately short supply.

One trend in recent years has been for wealthier people in the towns and cities to buy themselves second homes in rural villages which they only visit at weekends and during their annual holidays. This is particularly noticeable in the more attractive parts of Great Britain, such as Cornwall and Devon, where some villages only come alive when the “townies” turn up. At other times a large proportion of the properties are empty.

Another trend is for villages that are within easy reach of towns and cities to become “dormitories”. The owners of the houses leave early in the morning and return in the evening, resulting in crowded country roads at such times and a drastic decline in neighbourliness because far fewer people get to talk to their neighbours or even know who they are.

Under such circumstances it is inevitable that house prices will rise because the people with high salaries who want a second home, or somewhere to sleep at night out of town, are going to be able to afford whatever price the market wants to set for country properties. The losers are the “locals” who simply cannot compete in the housing market.

The problem of income disparity has been getting worse in recent years due to a marked decline in agricultural incomes. In order to keep food prices low, mainly for the benefit of town-dwellers, the big supermarkets have dictated the prices that they are prepared to pay to farmers and have been setting these ever lower. This has been particularly noticeable in the market for liquid milk, where many farmers have been forced to sell their produce at a price that brings them hardly any profit, or even none at all. This means that farmers can employ only the bare minimum number of farm workers and can only pay them low wages.

Another problem, in terms of housing, has been that the number of houses available for rent in rural communities has failed to keep up with demand. Local authorities have become much less involved in the provision of social housing over the years, and housing associations such as Orbit Housing are overstretched when it comes to making up the shortfall. One problem they have is that new housing developments in villages, especially “low end” ones, are unpopular with the owners of larger properties who fear that their investment will be compromised if people with lower incomes than their own become their neighbours.

The net result of these trends is that the average age of rural populations is rising and services are declining. It has been estimated that by 2025 one in every four villagers will be over 65 years old. Without access to either private or public transport they will feel increasingly isolated, especially as their children will have been forced to move away and community facilities such as pubs and libraries will have disappeared.

Even when the second home owners are in their second homes they have little positive effect on rural communities. They are likely to spend more time communing with fellow “incomers” than with the permanent population and will, in all likelihood, have filled their 4x4s with produce bought from the nearest supermarket rather than the local village store.

The rural housing crisis is certainly the most worrying trend to have hit the British countryside in recent years but it is not the only cause for concern.

Climate change is beginning to make its presence felt in various ways that are far from beneficial to British farming. When there are prolonged spells of severe weather at unexpected times the net result is likely to be poor harvests. Arable farmers have had to endure periods of drought that have stunted crops and lowland farmers have suffered from flooding that has made it impossible for land to be ploughed or sown. Upland farmers lost thousands of sheep and other livestock to drifting snow that arrived in March 2013 just as the lambing season should have been in full swing. Future prospects are for more weather events of an extreme kind that are impossible to predict in terms of timing or severity.

Rural communities are not just agricultural. There are many small businesses that are run from rural locations, with many of these also having a connection with tourism because they are making an effort to revive or maintain traditional crafts, be it pottery, cheese making or whatever. Visitors are welcome to see goods being made that they can then buy, and what the visitors pay is a valuable addition to the income of the business.

However, modern businesses, wherever they are, need good broadband connections if they are to succeed against the competition. Unfortunately, the broadband speeds available in many rural areas are pathetic in comparison to what is commonplace in cities. Rural businesses, and people working from home, are thus placed at a serious disadvantage because the broadband suppliers do not anticipate much profit coming from such sources.

A more sensible and integrated approach to the concerns of the countryside is clearly called for. It is important that city-dwellers grow to appreciate that the British countryside is not just somewhere “nice” that exists purely for them to enjoy as and when they feel like it. It is a living entity that must be allowed to thrive if it is to continue being the attraction that they clearly believe it to be. This means that people who live and work in the rural areas must be given every opportunity to do so, which in turn means being able to buy or rent property that is within their price bracket. Also, the institutions that make country life possible and productive must be preserved and encouraged to thrive. Unless these problems are solved, everyone, whether they live in a village, town or city, will ultimately lose out.

© John Welford