How will rural areas fit into the devolution agenda?

This week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse launched its new parliamentary inquiry exploring how to fit rural into the devolution agenda.

With the introduction of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, the UK Government has signalled its commitment to shifting power from Whitehall and Westminster to local leaders.

As secretariat of the APPG, the CLA is hosting a series of evidence sessions to explore how to shape this agenda to ensure that rural communities and businesses are not left behind and can fully benefit from the opportunities of devolution.

APPGs are informal, cross-party groups of MPs and peers. While they are not part of Parliament’s formal structure, they can produce influential reports and recommendations to the government.

The CLA has served as secretariat for the APPG for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse since 2017, supporting its work and helping publish key reports. In this role, we work closely with chair John Milne MP (Horsham, Liberal Democrat) and a cross-party team of vice-chairs to run evidence sessions and ensure members’ views are heard in the APPG’s work.

With the Labour Government keen to continue the previous administration’s push for greater devolution, it is vital that rural voices are included in decision-making. While early devolution deals focused on urban areas, we are now seeing more rural regions being considered for devolved powers.

In addition, we remain cautious about the formation of new strategic authorities that include large cities alongside dispersed rural populations. Past experiences, such as with some Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), have shown that rural areas can be overlooked in such arrangements. Our goal is to ensure this pattern is not repeated.

The APPG’s inquiry will culminate in a report for newly elected mayors and leaders of strategic authorities, offering practical recommendations on how to embed rural areas and businesses into their economic strategies. Evidence sessions will then focus on ways that new local leaders can drive growth – concentrating on planning, housing and skills.

Our inaugural session this week gathered insights from expert witnesses on lessons learned from previous devolution efforts. These experiences will help shape the current agenda, and the APPG heard from:

• Dr Charles Trotman, CLA Chief Economist
• Matthew Fright, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
• Lord Inglewood, who served as Chair of Cumbria LEP amongst other senior roles.

In a wide ranging evidence session, the APPG heard that rural interests have often been diluted by urban issues, with decision-makers at local authority level tending to prioritise urban areas. In addition, there have been examples of a policy vacuum between local decision-makers and actual rural businesses.

It was noted that devolution in England has operated like starter pistols being fired at different times – with the focus thus far largely being in urban areas.

Within the session, Dr Charles Trotman highlighted the CLA push for the creation of an explicit area of competence focusing on rural areas in the English Devolution Bill. He noted that without this, each new authority would have a different relationship with rural businesses. He also called for the creation of rural business boards, backed up by Rural Economic Development Committees, to ensure that businesses are engaged with the devolution process.

Matthew Fright added that the English Devolution Bill is the floor and not the ceiling for mayors, with them expected to ask for more powers. What is vital is ensuring that they are aware of which powers will best support rural businesses and how to use these.

The session concluded with the witnesses noting that mayors must keep it simple and focus on outcomes, while also engaging with rural businesses.

The APPG will be holding its second evidence session in December, with an aim to finalise its report in 2026.

As part of the inquiry, we have asked members to provide written evidence of their lived experience and thoughts about the future of devolution.

To submit your evidence, please email ruralpowerhouse@cla.org.uk and indicate the area(s) you wish to answer from the following topics: rural economic growth, skills, planning and housing, transport, land use and nature recovery, and governance.