Hedgerows vs highways: the urban / rural divide
Partners:
While Andy Burnham’s Labour government has stressed the existence of a north-south divide, another geographical division is arguably more entrenched: the rural-urban divide. The chasm between metropolitan cities such as Manchester and rural farming communities like Malton is arguably wider than between Westminster and Warrington, or Marylebone and Merseyside.
Of course, countryside matters have found their way onto the political agenda recently. Alongside fraught debates about reservoirs and climate change, this year’s hot weather has once again brought farming and rural issues into public discussion. Much as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised concerns about the security of Britain’s food supply, a summer of scant rainfall has caused alarm among the nation’s rural communities, raised questions about food security and sparked debate over whether government agricultural policies – such as incentivising grain crops or promoting re-wilding – have contributed to the risk of wildfires.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that the longstanding urban-rural divide has been brought into sharp focus, with many city dwellers forgetting that the countryside is where much of the nation-sustaining work is done. Earlier this year, following plans to change the rules around inheritance tax, farmers up and down the country brought their tractors and trailers to clog up the streets of Westminster and remind the urban masses just who it is that grows their grub. But when it comes to explaining why a countryside activity like trail hunting should not be banned by government (where hounds follow an artificially laid animal-based scent), or its importance to everything from rural identity to rural local economies, there’s little mutual understanding.
Others argue that the countryside isn’t all Clarkson’s Farm. Much of the resistance to the need for more housebuilding, for example, comes from a seemingly NIMBYish attitude to urban development within rural communities, with worries about newts taking precedence over putting bricks and mortar in the ground. While protecting the British countryside might be a necessary consideration, should there not be some green and pleasant land that can be sacrificed to house a growing population?
Is the divide between town and country folk becoming more toxic? Charities consulting parliament research groups recently claimed that the countryside was a ‘racist’ space governed by ‘white British cultural values’ that needed to be changed to attract more ethnic minorities. On the other hand, many rural communities seem to look upon London and other big cities as sites of vice, with their own prejudices about urban life. What’s going on with the urban-rural divide? Is it all down to government neglect or urban bias, or is there something else going on in the row between farmers and financiers?
