Rural England Today
For many people, the defining characteristics of rural England are to be found in the variety of its natural and cultivated landscapes and in its characteristic settlement pattern of different mixes of small towns, villages and hamlets. These features have remained relatively stable over time. In contrast, the demographic, social and economic structure of rural England have undergone dramatic change in the past four or five decades.
Today, the population of rural England is growing rapidly and, in many places, ageing, whilst employment related to land and water based activities directly, now constitutes only a small proportion (less than 7 percent) of jobs in rural areas. Over half the jobs in rural areas are now in service activities such as hotels and restaurants, financial services and public administration. These changes are reflected in policy which has moved from a predominant concern with agriculture to a clearer focus on wider social and economic issues.
These changes are also based in what might be called a more ‘connected’ countryside. As a consequence of increased car ownership there is now much more interchange between rural and urban areas and within rural areas for work, shopping and leisure purposes than even ten years ago and the social and economic ‘profiles’ of rural localities are now, in most respects, very similar to those of urban England. At the same time, however, many people – the young and the elderly in particular – find it difficult to get access to various services as and when they require them.
Places and Networks
The RERC research programme is concerned with charting and understanding these changes and the forces behind them, and the impact of change on the quality of life and well-being of people who live and work in rural areas. It is also concerned to understand how these patterns and trends might vary – however subtly - from place to place within rural areas and how the sparse populations and longer distances between households and the jobs and services that are typical of many rural areas, contribute to social exclusion and household deprivation.
Thus in the first phase of our research programme we have been concerned to understand rural places, mostly using the new rural definition combined with the wealth of information provided by the 2001 Census. In the second phase we are more concerned with what we call rural networks or how rural and urban places are linked together via activity and the potential range of contacts and opportunities that networks of different kinds create for people in different social and economic circumstances within rural areas. Understanding social and economic change and patterns of movement – both local and non-local - within rural England are, in our view, the key to devising a strategy for rural development.