Cut motorists some slack, says rural watchdog

The Country Land and Business Association, which represents thousands of small businesses in England and Wales is demanding that the Government stands by a nine-year-old pledge to "rural proof" its policies by cutting Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on cars used in the countryside.

The Government promised to take the extra costs of rural living – like transport – into account when fixing taxes by so-called "rural proofing" but this promise has not been kept, claims Tim Barnes-Clay, a motoring columnist for the rural watchdog’s national Land & Business magazine.

"As the Commission for Rural Communities pointed out in its Monitoring Rural Proofing report in 2007, the Government made a ’clear and continuing commitment to rural proof its policies and programmes’, but that commitment is ’not being delivered consistently’. We believe a rural proofing system with, for example, rural tax credits to off-set extra VED costs is the fairest answer to this problem for people working in the rural economy," said the CLA spokesman.

"Drivers across the UK are already suffering at the pumps again with fuel duty increasing by 2p per litre – that’s the third increase in petrol and diesel tax in nine months. People living in the countryside often rely on their cars because they don’t have good pubic transport facilities - they don’t have any choice but to pay what it takes to run a car."

Mr Barnes-Clay added: "We believe the time has come for there to be a dedicated Cabinet Committee that ensures that the views of rural areas are recognised by Government departments and implemented."