Hopes for young people in future of rural Herefordshire

8:00am Monday 22nd March 2010

By Paul Broome

HEREFORDSHIRE appears to be bucking the national trend when it comes to persuading youngsters to stay in the area.

The Government’s rural advocate last week warned ministers that the long-term future of the countryside is in jeopardy because so many youngsters are leaving rural areas in search of jobs.

Dr Stuart Burgess’s State of the Countryside report also highlighted issues with housing, transport and broadband coverage as reasons behind young people flocking to cities.

But, according to the boss of a regional funding group, Herefordshire has received support in meeting these challenges for a number of years.

“This support has resulted in a host of innovative programmes, such as the Nexus Community Grant Scheme (which provides grants to help local projects providing training opportunities), and the network of multi-use facilities that house numerous essential services all in one place,” said Peter Pawsey, chairman of the Rural Regeneration Zone (RRZ).

The RRZ has helped many youngsters in Herefordshire with work-related projects, including the Honey Pot in Bromyard which gives people a valuable insight into the world of employment.

Its Enterprise Centres in Hereford and Leominster have also provided a home for dozens of companies, creating hundreds of job opportunities.

“It is all well and good training our young people, but without high value jobs locally they will simply move elsewhere and probably never return,” said Mr Pawsey.

“The same is true in attracting young people and other entrepreneurs to establish and build their businesses within this beautiful rural area.

“We’ve also had some major successes in terms of boosting internet access and only last month we saw Hereford’s Rotherwas Estate benefit from new provision that offers 4Mb, 8Mb and 20Mb broadband services.”

Figures released for the State of Herefordshire Report 2009 show around 400 more 15 to 19-year-olds leave the county than move into it each year, although this is thought to be due to youngsters starting university.

Dr Burgess’s report called on the government to act quickly to avoid putting the viability of rural communities nationally at risk.

“It is essential to break the cycle of low aspirations and, instead, inspire young people to fulfil their potential and play an active role in our society,” he said.