Commenting on the Chancellors ‘mini budget’, Crispin
Truman, chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity,
said:
‘While we have seen promising starts on energy efficiency
and shoring up rural hospitality businesses, the Chancellor has
missed major opportunities to begin building back better when it
comes to transport and housing investment.’
On existing homes:
‘The £3bn announced on energy efficiency is a good start
but must be swiftly followed by a National Retrofit Strategy that
CPRE has been calling for in our new report Greener,
better, faster and a plan for longer term investment.
Decarbonising our homes and buildings is essential to preventing
runaway climate change. We expect to see further investment in
reducing emissions from our existing homes via the £9bn for
energy efficiency schemes promised by in the Conservative Party’s
general election manifesto at the end of last year.'
On new homes:
‘We understand the Chancellor wants to reboot the
construction sector but he’s pulling the wrong lever with a stamp
duty holiday. By investing in social and genuinely affordable
housing instead, he could drive up build rates and provide the
homes that are so desperately needed, especially in rural areas.
We cannot accept that private rentals in nine out
of ten rural areas are unaffordable for care workers. We
urge the government to begin investing in homes for our heroes
and tackling the housing crisis.’
On transport:
‘Any serious claims to a green recovery are being
completely undermined by the out of touch £27bn road building
plans that will drive up emissions and will likely not be needed
with homeworking on the rise. In the mini budget we did not hear
one mention of public transport, the low carbon alternative to
the private car that is so desperately needed, especially in
disconnected rural areas. We are urging the government to scrap
the planned road spending and put this money to much better use.
Diverting some of this funding to a dedicated rural transport
fund would have a dramatic impact connecting up towns and
villages with affordable, convenient and low carbon public
transport.
On rural economies:
‘The Chancellor was absolutely right to highlight hard hit
rural businesses in the hospitality industry and we welcome the
‘eat out to help out’ vouchers. We can all play our part in
supporting local businesses as we emerge from lockdown. Our hope
is that these vouchers will help get small rural restaurants,
pubs and cafes back on their feet as lockdown eases and holiday
season begins, with many of us choosing to go on a staycation
here in the UK rather than venturing abroad.’
