Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - England case study

2. England: The rural context

Rural areas, defined as outwith settlements of 10,000 population (ONS 2025), occupy 85% of the land area but contain only 17.7% of England’s citizens (9.3 million people)^[1]. Population densities and access to services and employment vary considerably, as reflected in the 2021 Rural Urban Classification (ONS 2025). Of England’s rural area, 73% is farmland and 10% forestry. Land capability and land uses are diverse, but there is a much higher proportion of high-grade farmland in England (42% Grades 1, 2 and 3a^[2]) and a much lower proportion of land in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs, 12%) than in Scotland (84%). Land ownership information is poor, but Shrubsole (2024, 3) states that 1% of the population owns half of England’s land. Less than 0.001% of England’s land is community owned (ibid, 77).

Rural England has changed substantially in the post-war period, socially, economically and demographically. The rural economy is now globalised and dominated by services – notably public services – with little employment in the primary sector (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [Defra], 2025). Microbusinesses are prevalent and commuting and hybrid working are widespread. In social terms, most rural areas have experienced major change through in-migration of commuters and (pre-)retirees, sometimes characterised as a middle-class colonisation of the countryside (Phillips, 1993). Rural housing is generally unaffordable to people on middle and lower incomes and social housing is scarce (Shucksmith, 2022). The ageing rural population will increasingly challenge health and care service provision (Whitty, 2023). Again, there is diversity, between accessible and remoter areas, between south and north, and between ex-industrial rural areas and those that are more pastoral. Within rural society, poverty is dispersed and hidden amongst apparent prosperity (Shucksmith et al., 2023).