Council leaders are warning that England’s countryside is facing a “perfect storm” of threats that challenge the survival of villages and hamlets across the country. The interim report of the LGA’s Post-Brexit England Commission, being launched at its annual conference in Birmingham, says unaffordable housing, an ageing population unable to access health services, slow broadband and poorly skilled workers are creating a deepening divide between town and country.
Cllr Heather Kidd, Lib Dem lead member on the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Rural areas face a perfect storm. It is increasingly difficult for people to buy a home in their local community, mobile and broadband connectivity can be patchy. People living within rural and deeply rural communities face increasing isolation from health services. Unless the Government can give non-metropolitan England the powers and resources it needs, it will be left behind.”
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