The English uplands are landscapes that provide a wealth of natural and cultural assets. They also have the potential to generate many valuable public goods and market products, supporting a low carbon future and green economy. Vibrant, secure upland communities hold the key to realising this potential. Unlocking that potential requires government to work with and support local communities and land managers. In particular this means empowering communities, increasing the supply of affordable housing, particularly for young people, and improving access to next generation broadband and mobile communications.
Current support for hill farming is inadequate to sustain these assets. New funding mechanisms are required as part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy from 2013. These would reward farmers for managing national assets in harmony with developing businesses. A new approach is needed which would balance the needs of the environment with maximising the economic potential of the uplands. But supporting farmers is not sufficient on its own: the communities in which they are embedded must also be enabled to thrive if these assets are to be sustained.
These are the main findings of the inquiry into the future of upland communities by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) being released today (Tuesday, 15 June).
The inquiry recognised that while farming is essential to maintaining the landscape and managing natural resources, the future sustainability of the upland areas also depends on a thriving business sector. New initiatives are needed to bring together the public and private sectors to create markets for the uplands’ natural resources, like carbon and water, for the benefit of local communities.
It also calls for a new integrated approach to maximising the potential of these unique and diverse natural assets. At present, the inquiry found a lack of joined-up thinking, with too many of the well-intentioned initiatives having unintended negative consequences for communities, farmers and land owners alike. To remedy this, the CRC recommends the appointment of a single individual who would be responsible for this new uplands strategy.
Dr Stuart Burgess Chairman of the CRC and the Government’s Rural Advocate said: “Our inquiry has focused on the uplands’ potential as well as the challenges needing to be tackled. People are essential to the identity and future of the uplands. We have recognised that farmers and land managers play vital roles in looking after these assets, and that many more people enable them to do so as part of the wider uplands’ economy and society.
“There needs to be a fundamental shift in the way the uplands are viewed. Rather than be seen as areas of disadvantage, they should be considered for their high potential to offer significant public benefits. The continued availability of these benefits is, however, bound up with the wider future of the uplands, and this now needs to be properly recognised.
“We found much evidence of initiative and enterprise in the uplands. However, there are threats to this strong sense of community and to the future for the uplands. The recommendations set out in our report can help upland communities to realise their full potential and continue to contribute to national prosperity and quality of life. The scale and range of benefits provided by these areas is significant. With the right support they can deliver even more, and be a model of how government supports community solutions for wider benefit in the future.”
Download ‘High ground, high potential – a future for England’s upland communities: Summary report’
Read the ‘Securing a positive future for England’s upland communities’ press release
See our Upland Communities project page
excellent, very glad you have mentioned lack of internet access, it is really a problem, so many parts of the uplands have no adsl or mobile. Satellite is deployed on south facing hillsides but it doesn’t work on many northern facing ones and is very expensive, especially for family use. If we want to keep people looking after the uplands the utilities have to be there. We can generate electricity. We can pump water. We can build roads. But we can’t do anything to get the internet… dial up doesn’t even keep a connection on some lines.
Please keep speaking up for us whenever you can.
I live in the Pyrenees. Here, the French government has long been subsidising upland communities for activities not directly connected to farming. The first grants in the 1970s were intended to encourage grazing in the Alps after a series of disastrous avalanches – partly blamed on long grass. The grant became known as “la prime à la vache tondeuse” – the cow-lawnmower grant.
Then there was “natural handicap compensation” introduced in 1993, “to compensate the increased production costs of farming on the hills”. This is clearly a subsidy to help people to survive in the uplands – after all, if it were intended to encourage efficiency, the subsidies would encourage better practices in the lowlands which do not have natural handicaps.
Now, in the Pyrenees, there are grants for renovating shepherd’s huts and providing guard dogs for the sheep, as a sweetener to compensate for the ravages provoked by the reintroduction of bears.
Whilst it is true that all these measures encourage farmers to continue under economically difficult conditions, there are also undesirable side effects. Farmers have lost self-esteem: they are no longer truly farmers. Some feel that they are merely instruments for government policy – there have been massive demonstrations against the bears. And although “outsiders” who move in may bring young children with them, helping to keep the local school open, the social make-up is changing and the feeling of “community” is disappearing.
I still think that subsidies are necessary, but they must encourage sustainable development, not simply support the continuation of the status quo.
Upland management for provision of 1. food, 2. landscape/environment (for recreation, tourism and enjoyment) and 3. ecosystem services must all be compensated by adequate payment in some form. As digital mapping gets clearer, payments proportional to slope of land would help to redress the extra costs of managing these land-forms. Retention of sufficient smaller-scale farmers ‘there to care’ for land and to populate villages and their services is vital if we are to properly steward the future in all these respects.
Thanks to all those sharing their thoughts on the findings from our inquiry into the future for England’s upland communities.
Steve Cracknell’s comments demonstrate that these issues are not unique to England. As part of the CRC’s inquiry an international seminar was held in London, inviting evidence from other parts of Europe, and the inquiry heard presentations on recent experience in the uplands of Norway, the Italian uplands, the Krkonose/Karkonosze Biosphere reserve on the Czech -Polish border, and several locations in the Alps as well as an overview of European policy on mountains and uplands.
Further to this the inquiry also drew on experience from similar upland studies and inquiries in Scotland and Wales.
A number of common themes were evident in the European examples. The need for more integrated, upland-focused policies, informed by an inter-disciplinary research base, as well as the need to develop methods for reaching consensus on what the uplands are used for. In each case they recognised the importance of farming, and the amount of time required for successful policy approaches to achieve their goal.
As a research team, we fed results into this inquiry at various points. We’ve just released two short films building on our submissions about the future of the uplands, which you can watch here: http://homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk/~lecmsr/sustainableuplands/media.htm
This is a subject that is close to my heart, and I am glad that there is movement at the policy level to help sustain a future for upland communities.
I am personally very interested in the traditions of hill farming, and importance of hill farms to local communities, and have been undertaking a long-term documentary photography project in Patterdale, Cumbria… http://issuu.com/nealandrews/docs/yan-tyan-tethera.