Geographical deprivation is likely to worsen because of the
planned closure of thousands of post offices across Britain
Posted on 04/13/2008 9:31:59 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The hastening decline of community life in the countryside is highlighted today in a new Government report.
Nearly half of all neighbourhoods have lost key amenities such as surgeries, post offices, shops and schools in the past four years, figures from Oxford University show.
The report suggests that towns and villages across England are losing basic services at "their fastest rate ever", prompting claims that Labour is overseeing "the slow death of community life".
Geographical deprivation is likely to worsen because of the
planned closure of thousands of post offices across Britain
This means that in the past four years, the distance residents must travel to use everyday facilities has increased, due in large part to closures.
Every neighbourhood in England was ranked by the Oxford team on a "multiple deprivation" index designed to represent social exclusion.
It showed that the village of Wrotham, Kent, had experienced the greatest deterioration, earning it top ranking in the list of the most "excluded" communities in the South East.
The index for England was topped by Bridestowe, a quiet village on the edge of Dartmoor, which suffered most from the lack of basic services measured by "road distance" to the GP, post office, shop or primary school.
Urban areas fared better, with Gospel Oak in Camden, north London, having the best access to local services of anywhere in England. However, even this accolade is under threat because two post offices face closure.
Geographical deprivation is likely to worsen because of the planned closure of thousands of post offices across Britain, which is being opposed by more 40,000 readers of The Daily Telegraph as well as by 20 ministers.
There are also threats to village shops that rely on business from the post office, while new Whitehall rules are poised to withhold funding for hundreds of primary schools if they cannot fill their places.
Village GP surgeries are also threatened from the Government's promotion of "polyclinics" - larger centres where patients can have access to a wider range of NHS services.
Last week it emerged that four pubs were going out of business in Britain every day.
In addition, one in every 13 rural primary schools has closed since Labour came to power, with councils warning that more closures are inevitable.
The report comes after Dr Burgess, whose Commission for Rural Communities was set up by the Government three years ago to provide a voice for the countryside, made a series of recommendations.
Treasury 'made £525m from floods' Last year he estimated that 233,000 people lived in "financial service deserts" - areas without a post office within 1.25 miles or a bank, building society or free cashpoint within 2.5 miles.
Just 67 per cent of rural households were within 2.5 miles of an NHS dentist last year, down from 71 per cent in 2006.
The percentage of rural households within five miles of a JobCentre also fell over the same period, from 59 to 54 per cent.
Eric Pickles, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said: "Under Labour, local neighbourhoods and villages are losing access to essential local services, as shops, pubs and schools close at probably their fastest rate ever. We are witnessing the slow death of community life.
"Thanks to policies cooked up in Whitehall, more local post offices, schools and GP surgeries are now shutting their doors forever.
"This is yet another sign of a Government that has lost touch with the British people, of Labour politicians and Whitehall bureaucrats having no interest in the needs of local communities."
Campaigners said that the report backed their concerns. Jill Grieve, the head of communications at the Countryside Alliance, said: "The alliance has always been consistent on the issue of rural deprivation and access to services - unfortunately, so has the Government.
"We emphasise the level of deprivation and the appalling decline in services, the Government ignores them.
"The current assault on the post office network is a case in point. Even some cabinet ministers oppose the current round of proposed closures, understanding the negative impact they will have on our communities.
"It appears that the social value of rural services is apparent to all, including Gordon Brown's own rural advocate.
"But the steady stream of reports and statistics available to highlight the decline are to no purpose if the Government continues to ignore them."
Dan McLean, the director of communications at the Council for the Protection of Rural England, added: "No one should be disadvantaged by where they live.
"Rural poverty is exacerbated by the loss of local amenities such as post offices and public transport and decisions for a better living environment should be based on considerations of local need, communities' aspirations and environmental capacity."
However, the Department of Communities and Local Government insisted it was "committed to creating thriving communities whether they be rural or urban".
A spokesman said: "It is disingenuous to use this measure in isolation as an accurate reflection of deprivation, since the index is a carefully weighted bundle of several aspects of deprivation of which this is only one.
"The very nature of rural communities means that distance travelled to access services may be greater - the catchments area of a school in the country will be higher than one in a city - but that does not mean that the quality of the service provided is any less.
"The record levels of funding the government have put into public services have benefited villages, towns and cities alike."
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The areas which have lost most access to local services since 2004:
1: Wrotham, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent
2: Knutton and Silverdale,
Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire
3: Langdon Hills, Basildon, Essex
4: Hill, Daventry, Northamptonshire
5: Deanshanger, near Towcester, Northants
6: Heston East, Hounslow, London
7: Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley, Staffs
8: Burslem North, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs
9: Latimer, Leicester
10: Minster and Woodmansey, East Riding, Yorkshire
The news comes after Stuart Burgess, Gordon Brown's "rural advocate", warned that poorer people in the countryside, who already face housing shortages and have little chance of a good education, "form a forgotten city of disadvantage".
The report, published quietly on the Department of Communities and Local Government website last month, reveals which parts of the country have lost out because of their distance from services such as doctors' surgeries and post offices.
It found that 45 per cent of the neighbourhoods in England - 14,493 out of 32,439 - have become more "geographically deprived" since the last such study was conducted in 2004.
All Britain needs to regain its greatness is tar, feathers, pitchforks, torches, shotguns, ropes, lamp-posts, and the will to use them.
Contracepting and aborting their society to extinction.
Actually, it’s more about free market economics. These local amenities are in declining demand by the local population who are travelling further afield to get them on large retail estates and so on.
In actual fact what we are witnessing is the americanisation of rural life, but don’t let that stop everyone here making their clueless and predictable comments on the islamification and socialism in the UK as they are responsible for all that is wrong with Britain, who would be better if only they became more like the land of God’s chosen people, the United States....
I predict they will let more proponents of the Cult of Death in, to restore community life. Or should I say community death?
Sour grapes?
This is a country where fewer than a quarter of all households posess more than one car and more than a quarter have none. Driving is prohibitively expensive in England, it’s not uncommon to not even have a licence.
No, not sour grapes, I don’t want my country to turn into a clone of the US thanks. I still like the idea of being able to walk to the shops and get places without having to use a car, which wasn’t possible where I lived in the states.
However, I am fed up of clueless imbeciles here who have not the faintest idea what life is really like in Britain offering their stupid and worthless opinions on how and why Britain going to hell in a handcart.
Islam and socialism isn’t causing post offices and corner shops to close, it is simple free market economics. People do not use these amenities, prefering the lower prices in out-of-town supermarkets instead, as is the case throughout much of the US outside the major cities. Islam and ‘socialism’ don’t come into it....
Happening here too.
It is called “Demographic Winter.”
The fact remains. UK central government believes it is necessary to regulate the number of snacks a mother can put in her kid's lunchbox.
yitbos
LOL! Indeed. Both sides of the pond have their own style of nanny nuttiness.
Nuttiness. I like that word.
Now, I know that the U.S. school lunch program might regulate that catsup is a vegetable. But I appreciate that the Brits write their regulations for 6th graders to understand.
They say that pre-packaged cheese spread and crackers is a snack akin to twinkies. There is a limit on the number of such snacks a kid can bring to school that is not a "lunch", which is regulated also.
One of the finest sources of "absolute sociology student government" is here:
yitbos
Well, I’ve no idea where you live in England, but I’m old enough to remember that everything necessary to life was within walking distance in the small town outside Columbus, Ohio where I grew up.
So, FWIW, I’m sympathetic to your plight. I’ve never been more than 100 miles out of the US, and have always wanted to visit England. The village life has always been a draw for me. Mrs. Mugwump commented on it when she went to Bournemouth 15 years ago with her sister to retrieve her widowed aunt who was losing her health and had to return here.
My sympathies, one again.
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