Plans to spread digital growth to rural areas

Rural England and Scotland’s Rural College are investigating how to grow the digital economy in the countryside through e-commerce, exports and better productivity - Jay Williams

Rural England and Scotland’s Rural College are launching a consultation which will attempt to discover how best to support the digital economy in the UK’s regions.

The aim of the report is to come up with a number of policy ideas that will help boost the growth of the digital economy in rural places. To do this, it is seeking to understand how to grow the digital economy in the countryside through e-commerce, exports and better productivity.

Businesses, local authorities and community groups are being asked to submit their views as part of the consultation, commissioned by Amazon.

In addition, it is hoping to discover the level of digital skills in rural areas and how to further improve them; what digital business tools and services best support rural firms; what enables businesses to successfully relocate from urban areas; the sectors emerging in the countryside likely to gain most from digital technology; and the best rural locations to set up a digitally-savvy business.

Brian Wilson, chairman of directors at Rural England, said: “Considerable attention has been paid to the lack of connectivity in rural parts of Britain. Whilst that remains an important issue, we will look more at areas where there’s a strong digital infrastructure.”