GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE RURAL POVERTY SERIOUSLY - HEATH

2.39.00pm GMT Mon 10th Mar 2008

David Heath, MP for Somerton and Frome, has called on the Government to recognise the damaging evidence within the report by the government's rural advocate, Stuart Burgess and Rural Services Network's warning that little has been done to solve rural problems.

David has also signed EDM 1111 "RURAL POVERTY (NO. 2)", welcoming the Report of the Rural Advocate 2007 that is concerned that there are over 928,000 rural households living below the Government's official poverty threshold; believes that more needs to be done to support people living in rural areas and listen to their views; urges the Government to do more to help protect the most vulnerable people in rural areas; and calls on the Government to end the closures of post offices which are so

vital to people in rural and low-income areas.

Commenting David said:

"The Rural Advocate report must be taken very seriously by the government. When 1 million rural households are identified as below the official poverty line, the government must take notice and no longer ignore the very real needs of rural communities.

Housing and transport have been rightly identified within the report as significant problems for people such as my constituents in Somerton and Frome, despite the author not actually making it to Somerset or beyond. We need a commitment by the government for affordable housing and improved investment in both road and rail networks.

Not only do we need better policies to solve our housing and transport problems, we also need greater investment in local and rural services. At a time when more schools are closing, fuel prices are on the rise, and only last week our post offices have come under significant threat from closures.

What we need is for the government to stop ignoring rural issues and to provide the resources and equally importantly, devolved powers for local and rural communities to make decisions and investment where it counts."