§ Lord Pattenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following the recent urban summit, whether they intend now to hold a rural summit. [HL33]
§ Lord WhittyThe Rural Affairs Forum for England, established in January 2002, held its fourth meeting on 9 November in Spalding, Lincolnshire, chaired by my right honourable friend, the Minister of State for Rural Affairs. The following day, also in Spalding, a wider group of representatives of rural interest took part in the forum's first-ever Rural Affairs Conference on the topic "Town and country—great divide or deeper connection?" It is intended to make the16WA conference an annual event. Rural/urban interdependence was also a theme of the urban summit.
The Government are sympathetic to the principle of holding a rural summit which was discussed by the forum on 9 November and will be discussed further in due course. It should be remembered that the urban summit abhz out of many years of intensive activity on urban policy; whereas rural policy, as we now understand it, was relatively underdeveloped before the publication of the rural White Paper in November 2000 and establishment of DEFRA in June 2001. While rapid progress has been made in the past two years we have a long way to go and the timing of an event of this sort needs to be right to ensure that it makes a practical and significant contribution to rural regeneration.