Rural Areas (Hansard, 10 November 1987)

§ Mr. Key
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all areas in England which he has designated as 'rural'.

§ Mr. Moynihan
The areas of the following district councils have been designated, in whole or part, under section 157 of the Housing Act 1985 as rural areas:

Alnwick District Council

Berwick upon Tweed Borough Council

Caradon District Council

Carrick District Council

East Devon District Council

Eden District Council

Kerrier District Council

Mid Devon District Council

New Forest District Council

North Cornwall District Council

North Devon District Council

North Norfolk District Council

Penwith District Council

Purbeck District Council

Restormel Borough Council

Scarborough Borough Council

South Hams District Council

South Lakeland District Council

Teignbridge District Council

Torridge District Council

West Dorset District Council

West Somerset District Council

The areas are specified in the following orders: The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) Order 1981, S.I. 1980 No. 397; The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) (No. 2) Order 1981, S.I. 1981 No. 940; The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) Order 1982, S.I. 1982 No. 21; The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) (No. 2) Order 1982, S.I. 1982 No. 187; The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) Order 1986, S.I. 1986 No. 1695.

§ Mr. Key
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether there is a formal methodology for identifying and assessing deprivation as appropriate to rural situations; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Moynihan
The Government do not use any specific methodology for identifying and assessing deprivation in rural areas. However, the Development Commission is required to target its activities on those areas, referred to as "rural development areas", which it regards as having the greatest concentrations of problems, and to select such areas by having regard to the following criteria:

(i) above average unemployment;

(ii) inadequate or unsatisfactory range of employment opportunities;

(iii) adverse effect from population decline or sparsity of population;

(iv) net outward migration of people of working age;

(v) age structure biased towards elderly people;

(vi) poor access to services and facilities.

The Housing Corporation has targeted its resources for rural housing on "rural stress areas". In identifying such areas, one of the criteria the corporation has used is location within a rural development area.
A study of rural deprivation, jointly commissioned by the Department of the Environment and the Development 106W Commission, was completed in 1986 by Brian McLaughlin (then at the Essex Institute of Higher Education), and copies are in the House of Commons Library and in the Department's library.

§ Mr. Key
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria are employed following application from a local authority in considering an area for designation as 'rural'.

§ Mr. Moynihan
Applications are considered on their merits, with particular regard being paid to population density and the number of second homes in the area.