|
|
Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith MPLiberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Berwick Upon TweedWorking for you and the Berwick upon Tweed Constituency all year roundin Northumberland and in Westminster |
|
Beith: Government must ensure work on rural issues is put into policies
June 30, 2010 12:00 AM
Sir Alan Beith has called for the work done by the Commission for Rural Communities to be implemented through Government policies. This follows a written ministerial statement issued today to the House of Commons in which the Secretary of State for DEFRA confirmed that the CRC would be replaced with a Rural Communities Policy Unit, which will work across Government to ensure that the interests of rural communities are fully reflected in policies and programmes.
Sir Alan said
"The Commission for Rural Communities has done some really valuable work and it is important to now get that work implemented by Government departments rather than preserving an organisation. The priorities should now be retaining essential services in rural areas, which the Commission has previously identified, and pursuing policies which support the rural economy."
Recent work done by the CRC has supported Sir Alan's campaigns to help rural communities, including the need for broadband provision to rural areas. Sir Alan has
praised the government's announcement to bring in a raft of new measures to boost access to high speed broadband in rural areas.
The measures aim to bring high speed broadband to rural areas like Northumberland and prevent a widening digital divide within the UK. As part of the measures, the government will open up existing infrastructure to reduce the costs of laying new fibre optic cables to stimulate investment in "next generation" networks.
Part of the underspend from promoting the digital TV switchover will be invested in helping the 3 million households who do not currently have access to broadband at a minimum speed of 2 Mbps. Three government-backed market testing projects will also bring the next generation of super-fast broadband to rural and hard-to-reach areas.
On the issue of broadband, Sir Alan said:
"Local people and the business community regularly talk to me about the problems they have accessing adequate broadband services. Improving our broadband infrastructure is critical to the competitiveness of the economy as a whole, nowhere more so than in rural areas such as ours. I'm delighted that these measures have been announced and this is something I want to see put in practice as soon as possible."
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats