{"id":419,"date":"2020-05-04T09:17:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T08:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/?p=419"},"modified":"2020-05-04T10:10:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T09:10:34","slug":"how-covid-19-may-impact-rural-communities-and-what-can-be-done-to-support-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/2020\/05\/04\/how-covid-19-may-impact-rural-communities-and-what-can-be-done-to-support-them\/","title":{"rendered":"How COVID-19 may impact rural communities and what can be done to support them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>With the COVID-19\noutbreak set to continue for the foreseeable future, the implications for rural\ncommunities have received relatively little attention in policy and the\nmainstream media. This blog summarises some of the main challenges and\nemphasises the importance of monitoring rural economies and communities going\nforward. <\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/files\/2020\/05\/Corbridge-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"421\" data-link=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/?attachment_id=421\" class=\"wp-image-421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/files\/2020\/05\/Corbridge-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/files\/2020\/05\/Corbridge-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/files\/2020\/05\/Corbridge-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/files\/2020\/05\/Corbridge-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Beth Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The present COVID-19\noutbreak is affecting every aspect of rural life and as things stand, the\nduration of its impact is unknown. Rural areas have experienced something\nsimilar to this lockdown before, when the countryside was shut down in response\nto the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak, although this was not as\nwidespread. There could be lessons to be learnt from that experience and the\nrecovery afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst certain aspects\nof rural life could prove to be a benefit at this time, being more sparsely\npopulated areas of the country, other aspects of rural life can make life\nharder during the lockdown with implications for rural business, agriculture as\nwell as wider societal consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rural businesses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For the rural economy\nthere are both demand and supply-side shocks. On the demand side the impact\nwill be greatest for those firms (and their supply chains) unable to provide\ntheir produce or services to consumers other than within their own business\npremises. On the supply side the lockdown predominately affects the availability\nand productivity of labour. Although the majority of UK farms are family farms\nwhere the workforce and capital is already on site, or drawn from their\nimmediate rural localities, this will be a particular problem for certain\nagricultural sectors that rely on a mobile workforce, such as horticulture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Social consequences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone is feeling\nthe pain of social isolation, both rural and urban. For those groups with\nlimited access to the internet or with poorer mobile signal, this is\nexacerbated. Elderly people often do not have the skills to use the internet to\nstay connected, and there are issues of affordability. Some rural areas also\nhave limited connectivity. This will have implications for home-schooling\nchildren, the online economy, and staying connected. Going forward, full\ndigital connectivity is essential, regardless of class or place. It is also\nessential that training is made available so that people have the skills to be\nable to stay digitally connected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is also worth\nnoting that Covid-19 is itself prompting many positive responses of community,\nneighbour and volunteer support. How\npublic, private and third sectors effectively work together, and crucially with the rural voluntary, community\nand social enterprise (VCSE) ecosystem, is critical to the immediate emergency\nresponse and will be vital to longer-term recovery. Greater support of these\nare needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One interesting aspect\nof the current lockdown is the social and cultural relationship between rural\nand urban populations. There has been widespread media coverage of roadside\nsigns asking visitors to stay away from the Lake District and rural Wales, for\nexample, sometimes reinforced by police checkpoints. Visits to second homes as\nrural sanctuaries have been especially divisive, reflecting the continued\nconcentration of services in urban centres. Many rural residents fear their\nalready limited services will be stretched to breaking point by the influx of\nurban escapes. This highlights ongoing battles around issues of sustainability\nof rural communities without the influence of tourism or second home owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recommendations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking\nto the future, there is a need for ongoing and long-term monitoring of business impacts, resilience and recovery. Firms and\nsocial enterprises in different sectors and places are impacted and recover at\ndifferent rates. Experience of FMD and credit crunch\/recession showed that for\nsome firms and rural economies the recovery will be swift, for others it will\nbe delayed and this pattern is likely to be repeated in the aftermath of Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the core rural institutions also\nface a struggle for financial survival because of the impacts of Covid-19,\nincluding village halls, village shops and pubs. ACRE and the Rural Coalition\nreport<a href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>\nthat the ability of village halls to weather the storm is uncertain. Support\nfor these institutions is critical to their long-term survival and the help\nthey can give in the recovery phase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The distance from sources of advice and support, issues with digital access and literacy also highlight a need for the monitoring of the uptake of support to ensure that it is taken and appropriate and equitable assistance. During FMD, when large swathes of the countryside closed for several months due to measures to prevent the spread of the disease, it was apparent that many firms had not sought or obtained special assistance. These included some that were severely impacted, and many were frustrated in their attempts to access aid or fell through the gaps of the support framework.Better monitoring is needed to ensure that this does not happen again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This blog was summarised from a recent CRE briefing note. Read the briefing note in full <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3eoCN61\">here<\/a>. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Joint letter \u201cCovid-19 and Rural Communities\u201d to DEFRA\nSecretary of State from the chairs of ACRE, Plunkett Foundation, Rural Services\nNetwork and Rural Coalition, 20<sup>th<\/sup> March 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the COVID-19 outbreak set to continue for the foreseeable future, the implications for rural communities have received relatively little attention in policy and the mainstream media. This blog summarises some of the main challenges and emphasises the importance of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/2020\/05\/04\/how-covid-19-may-impact-rural-communities-and-what-can-be-done-to-support-them\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7447,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/cre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}