THE Commision for Rural Communities are deeply disappointed that the government’s recently announced £3 million Town Centre Initiative Fund will fail to reach most rural areas.

Only local authorities that are considered disadvantaged under the Index of Multiple Deprivation are to receive funding but this excludes many rural areas, meaning that that 90% of the funding will go to urban areas. Over 35% of councils nationally are classified as rural, but just 3.5% of those are eligible to apply for the fund.

In our recession reports to government we have emphasised that many rural market towns are suffering from serious problems of empty retail premises due to store closures. When the fund was first announced in April 2009 we emphasised to government, including communication directly with the then Secretary of State Hazel Blears, that market towns and larger villages suffering from high levels of retail closures should be eligible to apply.

Graham Russell, Executive Director said: “We believe the government has got this decision wrong. There is clear evidence that many rural town centres have been hit hard by the recession, yet most rural local authorities will be excluded from this fund. There is currently a lack of any central government funding that these towns can draw upon to deal with these problems – so this will be a big disappointment for many,”

We will be raising our concerns about this issue with Secretary of State at the Department for Local Government at the earliest opportunity and seeking to ensure that government meets the needs of rural towns and villages during the recession.

The government’s funding announcement can be found at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1311364