Perhaps one can over-estimate the impact the Government has on the economy, but such is the role of the state that we ignore their strategic purpose at our peril.
This past month has seen two key documents published which impact on many if not all CLA members' businesses and those across the east of England.
The first is the Industrial Strategy, an oxymoron perhaps to those of us working in and caring for the countryside. I myself would have called it an economic strategy, and while I did not detect much mud on its boots there were still direct references to the rural economy in parts, and by inference. That is the problem when central government lives in a city. They should get out more often.
The second was the Housing White Paper, announced to great fanfare, and which received a muted raspberry from commentators concentrating, again, on the urban challenge of supply and demand. For the CLA there were some significant milestones, where our lobbying has been acknowledged by the Housing Minister. Most significantly that rural exception sites can be cross subsidised by an element of market housing. At last the penny has dropped that expensive public services need paying for.
Also, that many private individuals are willing to play their part in provision of affordable housing and reduce the reliance on state sponsored housing associations. We know this because our recent Rural Business 2030 survey told us that half of rural businesses want to invest in housing.
And third, that conversion of redundant agricultural buildings for use as affordable housing can benefit from the less onerous planning process of permitted development rights (PDRs). Finally, away from the housing theme, the Government slipped in its reply to the Rural Planning Review and promised to provide guidance to support the development of farm shops, reservoirs and polytunnels, all critical to modern agriculture, through PDRs.
So what is not to like? All in all a change of heart, and we will follow up for more with dynamic ideas around fiscal incentives that complement these gains of process.
For while our activity in agricultural commodities and rural services rises and falls with the ebb and flow of supply and demand, so the patronage of the state impacts fundamentally on house prices. Efficient and responsive growth in housing supply is ultimately the gift of the planners. All reasonably obvious one would have thought. The challenge now is the delivery after confirmatory legislation, itself a challenge when the whole focus of government and Parliament is Brexit.
This Housing White Paper seems at least a start. What it does not do is address the cultural issues around the planning system, the lack of energy and resource, where time is of the essence and all parties in the transaction need to be positive. There is many a rural based local authority which needs all the help it can get to capture that CLA spirit. Many CLA members talked about it in December at our conference, and do so around kitchen tables and at meetings throughout the year. When members talk to me about creating economic and environmental legacies it is sincerely meant.
With Article 50 likely be served this month the cautious might say 'be careful what you wish for'. I believe we are beyond that now and we all need to take hold of our own destiny. As individual businesses we will survive any uncertainty through bold vision, diversity of activity and income, and influencing our markets in greater measure and wherever possible.
As we all take a long view and get to grips with a wide range of challenges, so must Government also: strategies are talk but deeds deliver.
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