Integrated Rural Development

Integrated rural development (IRD) is about delivering a more sustainable future for rural areas. It is about considering the interrelationships between the environment, economy and communities of particular places and ensuring that individual actions deliver wide-ranging benefits.

Increasingly public policy and delivery in rural areas has focused on the principles of Integrated Rural Development. IRD is integral to the Rural White Paper and its 2004 revision, to the report of the Commission into the Future of Farming and Food (2002), Defra’s subsequent Food and Farming Strategy, and Defra’s Rural Strategy (2004). In the Countryside Agency’s recent publication Integrated Rural Development the four principles of Integrated Rural Development are defined as:

Rural areas have and continue to undergo dramatic change. Landscape and biodiversity change are increasingly well recorded, although the implications of climate change raise many questions. Conversely, socio-economic changes are less well understood. The rural economy of many areas is now similar to that of urban areas. Land-based activities now generally make up a very small proportion of rural employment. Car use determines rural life styles. The majority of rural residents of working age commute to towns for work and services. These patterns have contributed to the rapid rise in rural house prices, greatly reduced housing affordability. At the same time fundamental reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is introducing major changes to agricultural and environmental support in rural areas.

Much of our work is required to look at specific aspects of rural life and / or policy. All such work is undertaken within our broader understanding of rural areas and Integrated Rural Development – seeking integration and mutual benefits wherever possible.