Rural Economies

A traditional view of rural economies is that they are dominated by farming, food and tourism enterprises. In terms of businesses and numbers employed in rural areas sectors other than farming are also significant. More than 80% are employed in distribution, wholesale, retail, hotels and catering; public administration, health and education; manufacturing and; real estate, business and financial services. There is a large amount of research into the make up and direction of the rural economy in the West Midlands and we aim to provide an insight into some of this.

Developing the rural environmental economy
The environmental economy is particularly important in rural areas where a high quality environment underpins economic activities – such as environment-based tourism and recreation. This, in turn, provides opportunities for diversification and increased value added in agriculture and land-based sectors. In 2001 environmental economy activities accounted for an estimated 50,000 jobs in rural areas of the West Midlands.

Regional partners have worked together to produce a study "Developing the rural environmental economy of the West Midlands". This sought to:

• capture the strategic value of the environmental economy – a "rural environmental economy supply chain tool" has been developed for this purpose; and
• demonstrate the benefits from linking the high quality environment to economic activity – this is done through some case studies.

The full report can be found on the Advantage West Midlands website.

Market Towns Initiative
The Market Towns Initiative was launched in the West Midlands in August 2001, following the Rural White Paper, and using funds made available by Defra to the Countryside Agency and the RDAs. Since 2005 RDAs have been responsible for managing it.

The Initiative works by selecting market towns on the basis of their economic need, combined with their capacity to take advantage of opportunities.

Each town is given a 'heath check' designed to identify the economic and community issues it faces. An Action Plan is developed to address these issues, and covering a range of projects.

More than thirty towns are, or have been, involved in the initiative in this region, and over 200 nationally.

Rural Renaissance Framework
The Framework sets out Advantage West Midlands’ approach to developing the rural parts of the West Midlands. It can be accessed on the AWM website. It is accompanied by a Rural Renaissance Action Plan, which was published in November 2005. To find out more visit the WMES review website.

West Midlands Economic Strategy review
In October 1999, Advantage West Midlands published an economic strategy for the West Midlands (WMES) after an extensive consultation process. This was updated in 2004. It can be viewed on the AWM website.

The Strategy is now under review and a further updated strategy will be published in 2007. Regional stakeholders are encouraged to comment on the key issues or policy choices facing the region. The review has five phases:

To find out more visit the WMES review website.