Does Place Matter? Addressing Disadvantage in Rural Areas

Philomena de Lima

Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities:Considering the Evidence

2 June 2009, Edinburgh

Structure of Presentation • Definitions • Rural Scotland• Measuring Disadvantage• ‘ Poverty of rural areas’ and ‘Poverty in rural areas’• ‘Rural Disadvantage’• ‘Disadvantaged’ in rural areas• Addressing ‘Rural Disadvantage’• Policy/Practice Implications • Does ‘place’ matter? Some concluding thoughts

Definitions• Rural

• Deprivation or Disadvantage?

Definitions: Rural • ‘Rural’ in Scotland is defined by settlement size and

drive time to larger settlements

• Typologies employed vary according to the issue or policy being considered and the availability of data- e.g. :

Six-fold definition distinguishes between urban, rural and remote areas within Scotland;

Eight–fold definition adds two further categories – very remote small towns and very remote rural (Scottish Executive 2006a).

Definitions: Deprivation or Disadvantage?

‘Deprivation is a multi dimensional concept, concerned not only with material goods but also with the ability to participate in social life. It is a relative concept where standards are defined in relation to social norms or expectations. Poverty and deprivation are interlinked as cause and outcome.’ (Bailey et al. 2003, p.2)

‘The term ‘deprivation’ has become associated with an emphasis on the individual’s own failings, rightly or wrongly, in contrast to the notion of disadvantage, whereby individuals or households are seen as systematically disadvantaged by economic and social restructuring and by the exercise of power in society.’ (Shucksmith et al 1996, p 8)

• Objective definitions versus Subjective perceptions

Rural Scotland • Rural Scotland accounts for 95% of the landmass;

18% of the total population in Scotland lives in rural areas, 6% in remote rural and 12% in accessible rural

• The density of the Scottish population is on average 0.66 per hectare; it is sparser in some remote communities, for example 0.08 in areas such as the Highlands per hectare.

• ‘Rural’ Scotland is diverse with the very remote rural areas in particular facing particular challenges.

Measuring Rural Disadvantage ‘The use of urban derived indicators is

inadequate to the identification of rural disadvantage. Moreover rural disadvantage tends not to be concentrated, in the manner of urban disadvantage, but dispersed. Indeed one of its dimensions is frequently that of social isolation. This makes rural disadvantage less visible and less obviously tractable.’ (Shucksmith et al 1996, p27-28)

‘Poverty of’ and ‘Poverty in’• “Poverty of rural areas” ( Rural Disadvantage)

refers to the ‘existence of a possible disadvantage of the rural context compared with the urban one.’

• “Poverty in rural areas” ( Disadvantaged in rural areas) refers to specific at risk groups in rural areas who may or may not be similar to those in urban areas, but face problems which are seen as characteristic of rural areas .

(EC 2008)

Rural Disadvantage • Demography

• Infrastructure - key Issues

• Infrastructure and Access to Services

• Rural labour markets

• Access to benefits

Rural Scotland – Demography

Scottish Executive , 2006, Figure 2,p. 7 Source: General Register Office for Scotland, 2005 . Based on Scottish Executive Urban Rural Classification, 2003-2004

Demography• Ageing population: lower birth rates,

increase in life expectancy and high levels of youth out- migration

• Rural areas tend to have higher proportions of: older, smaller households, generally

pensioner couples;` single women households

Infrastructure - key issues • Centralisation and closure of services ( post offices,

schools, etc)

• Lack of economies of scale

• A lack of multi-skilled professionals

• Lack of affordable rural houses

• Poor transport

• Weak innovation capacity

Infrastructure and Access to Services• People in rural areas in Scotland are less likely to live within a 15

minute drive to key services - e.g.

53% live within a 15 minute drive of shopping facilities in remote rural areas, in contrast to 87% in accessible rural areas

86% live within a 15 minute drive of a GP in remote rural areas compared to 99% in accessible rural areas

• Less people in rural areas are within a 15 minute drive of key services using public transport

• People in rural areas are more likely to spend over £100 per month on fuel for their cars

• While rural households are more likely to have home internet access, they are less likely to have a broadband connection

(Scottish Government 2008)

Rural labour marketsWhilst it is important to recognise the heterogeneous nature of rural

areas, rural labour markets tend to have specific characteristics :

• Limited employment opportunities: quantity and quality

• Predominance of small work places and low wage sectors such as agriculture, food processing’ tourism and hospitality sectors

• Fragility of agriculture in some areas and reliance on subsidies

• Seasonal short term work and relatively low wage levels

• High numbers of self-employed in small businesses

Access to Benefits Low take up of benefits reflecting a combination of:

• poor access to advice and information

• concerns about stigmatisation

• a ‘culture of independence’

• issues of eligibility as individuals move in and out of seasonal employment

Disadvantaged in rural areas

• While the availability of disaggregated data is improving , there is still a long way to go for rural areas

• Important to recognise individual identities as cross cutting and complex

• Example briefly discussed: young people;

Young people• Experience of social exclusion amongst young people in rural

communities may not necessarily be confined to those on low incomes :

“Although, young people on low incomes in rural areas suffer particular disadvantages, a number of studies have drawn attention to the difficulties faced by all young people growing up in rural areas, regardless of income. These difficulties are often couched in terms of problems in accessing services, including education and leisure, training and employment, transport and housing.” (Excluded Young People Strategy Action Team, 1999,Part III, p5)

• Limited educational, work and recreational opportunities, salience of social networks in accessing employment, poor transport and travel distances, lack of affordable and appropriate housing are consistently identified as issues impacting on rural young people.

Addressing Rural Disadvantage

Examples :

• Rural Community Transport Initiatives

• ‘Highland Carers Connect’ groups of carers get together for a weekly social chat using telephone conference.

• Addressing stigma in relation to mental health in rural communities and amongst young people : Highland Users Group (HUG)

• Social enterprises …….

Policy/Practice Implications • There is a need for improved strategies for

enhancing the evidence base which would in turn provide a basis for monitoring and evaluation

• What is the impact of sectoral policies- i.e. agricultural and structural policies targeted specifically at rural areas - in addressing rural disadvantage?

• How do rural practitioners acquire the skills required for addressing multiple deprivation ?

Does ‘place’ matter? Some concluding thoughts

• Spatial context

• ‘Circle of decline’

• Place Blindness

• At Risk Groups

• Interaction between people and places

Spatial Context

The spatial context is important in providing an overall understanding of the specific factors that impact on people in rural areas : demography, infrastructure and services, labour market, etc

Disadvantaged people in rural areas tend to have a weaker voice : dispersion and remoteness from the political and economic centres makes organising difficult .

“Circle of decline”

OECD (2006) ‘

Low population density Lack of critical mass for infrastructure and services

Lower rates of business creation Fewer jobs

Out migration & ageing

Place Blindness • In general there is a place blindness in research on

deprivation /disadvantage which needs to be addressed

• There is also a need for commitment to resources to improve the spatial evidence base – statistical and qualitative- beyond tokenistic approaches

• Countervailing forces of constraints and agency are also important ; how do we take into account choice of location?

• Notions of ‘Equivalence’ and moving beyond economies of scale?

‘At Risk Groups’

Not all rural residents experience deprivation or disadvantage in the same way and specific groups may share similar experiences with their urban counterparts .

In general , however, our understanding of how similar groups in different spatial settings experience disadvantage is poor - more comparative approaches to research?

Interaction between people and places Understanding multiple deprivation

/disadvantage requires approaches to research and evidence gathering that explores the contingent, flexible and changing interaction between various forms of disadvantage and rurality.

Thank you