cornwall a level geography case study

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Case Study of Deprivation in a Rural Area - Cornwall

Case Study of Rural in a Remote Area – Cornwall

1. The main reason for deprivation in rural areas is their remoteness. Geographers use a theory called core and periphery to explain this.

The UK’s core is where the most wealth is produced. It extends from London to Leeds and Manchester. This core:

• Produces 75% of the UK’s goods and services
• Has the highest wages and levels of investment
• Has the densest transport infrastructure – most motorways, the busiest airports and the densest railway networks are there.

Cornwall is far from the economic core – at least 4 hours from the edge and about

• Around 8 hours to London (by HGV)
• Around 6 hours to London (by rail)
• Around 5 hours to London (by car)

Rural areas within the core are better off than more remote areas. The UK’s most affluent rural county is Surrey; average wages were £500 per week in 2006. 35% of Surrey’s residents work in London in professional employment – their average wages were even higher in 2006 (£800 a week)

Remote rural areas are described as the periphery, and are poorly served by transport infrastructure. They are a long way from core markets, and job opportunities are fewer. There are some benefits – peripheral areas can be cheaper to live in – but they often suffer depopulation as young people leave to find jobs.

2. Deprivation caused by low wages

Deprivation means a lack of something. Deprivation can be measured using average wages, and, in rural area, they tend to be lower than in urban areas. Cornwall has the lowest weekly wages in Britain (£329.30 in 2005 – 25% below the UK average), and the gap between it and the rest of Britain is getting wider. Within Cornwall, the poorest borough is North Cornwall (the average weekly wage is £307.60 in 2005).

Decline in the rural economy

Why are rural areas in crisis? Mostly, it is because of the decline in traditional employment. In Cornwall, primary employment dominated until the 1970’s. This included farming, fishing, tin mining and quarrying china clay. Each sector declined for the reasons shown in the table. Rural areas are now producing less than they used to – so geographers talk of the post-production countryside, just like ‘post-industrial’ is used for towns and cities.

3. The Eden Project

Many benefits compared to problems.

• Many visitors – 750,000 each year. 1.9 million In the first year and 6 million the past 4 years.
• Visitors spending – Each visitor spends average of £150 in Cornwall. Tourist visiting the Eden Project in its first 3 years spent £600 million.
• Accommodation – Since 2001, demands for holiday cottages have doubled. Owners of them normally get between 16-21 weeks’ booking per property per year. Many now get 36 weeks. Most H.C.’s are owned by locals and benefit them.
• Employment – The E.P. employs 400 full-time staff. Including part-time and seasonal staff 600 equivalent full-time jobs were created. Eden claims that all staff are recruited locally. 75% of staff were previously unemployed, and 40% are over 50 years old. These do not include construction staff. Overall, Eden has reduced Cornwall’s unemployment by 6%.
• The impact on local producers – E.P. sources all food and drink locally, where possible. This has boosted farmers and food-processing companies.
• Impact on other attraction – E.P. has created spin-off interest for other attractions, e.g. the National Maritime Museum at Falmouth, Tate of the West at St Ives, etc.
• Impact on the economy – In 2003, an average of 80%of Cornwall’s businesses said they felt that Eden had brought very positive impacts for them and the Cornish economy.

The project was conceived by Tim Smit and designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw and engineering firm Anthony Hunt and Associates (now part of Sinclair Knight Merz). Davis Langdon carried out the project management, Sir Robert McAlpine and Alfred McAlpine did the construction and MERO designed and built the biomes. Land Use Consultants led the master plan and landscape design. The project took 2½ years to construct and opened to the public on 17 March 2001.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Multiplier effect occurs – It increases the local economy: Visitors spend at Eden and create a bigger turnover, so more employment. Visitors also spend for accommodation, food, other leisure activities and travel, which creates a second ripple of benefits for employment in the area. Finally, the spending power of those employed by Eden, and local suppliers, increases as a result of their employment.

To diversify to get people not just for one season, but all year round. To rebrand Cornwall and to attract new tourists – the concept is called destination tourism.  This is where people visit a place simply because of a single attraction and the hope is that they will then visit others. The E.P. is an excellent example of this.

Two factors have helped rebrand Cornwall and promote ‘destination tourism’:

• Individuals, such as TV chef Rick Stein, whose seafood restaurant at Padstow in north Cornwall has led to large numbers of tourists who are interested in his restaurants and food shops. Now local people refer to Padstow as ‘Padstein’.
• The expansion of Newquay Airport by the local council to accept flights from UK cities such as Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh, as well as London’s Gatwick and Stansted airports. This has helped to reduce Cornwall’s geographical isolation.

1999 - Objective One funding – It is from the EU. It was designed to boost the local economy. It aims to reduce social and economic differences within the EU. The funding comes from the EU and is granted to areas where the gross domestic product is 75% of the EU average or less. It aims to encourage investment to boost local economies.

Key players:

• Local Councils e.g. Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Council)
• Development agencies e.g. the South West Development Agency – who use government money to stimulate and to regenerate the economy
• Central government and its agencies e.g. Arts Council, Countryside Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund, Jobcentre Plus, etc.
• Environmental Groups e.g. Cornwall Heritage Trust, English Heritage, English Nature, etc.
• Education interests e.g. Combined Universities in Cornwall, University of Exeter, Cornwall FE Colleges, etc.
• Business interests e.g. Cornwall Farmers Ltd, Eden Project, Cornwall Tourist Board, etc.
• Private individuals who invest their own capital.

Investors have to start the process, and then apply for amounts of money from other sources, called match funding. This might come from public sources, e.g. local councils, or from private sources, e.g. banks. So, investors can:

• Set up £20,000 of their own money
• Get a bank loan for another £20,000, making £40,000
• Ask local councils to match it to make £80,000
• Bid for the South West Development Agency to match it to £160,000
• Finally, bid for Objective One funds to match it, creating £320,000

Success rate – It is still the weakest economy in England. But from 1994-2004 it grew at 5.8% per year, ahead of the UK average of 5.4%. In 2003, the Cornish economy showed the greatest improvement of any region of the EU. However, its schemes have had varying success – from the greater-than-expected Eden project, to failing schemes like South West Film Studios.

But Professor Peter Gripaios of Plymouth Business School criticises it. He claims that it was wrong to give Objective One funding to some projects. By 2007, Objective One had backed 580 projects in Cornwall with £230 million, but Mr. Gripaios claims that ‘the jam has been spread too thinly on too many projects’.

• The Extreme Sports Academy at Watergate Bay – near Newquay airport, is targeting a younger age group. Offers surfing, wave skiing and kite surfing. Owners also run Watergate Bay Hotel, overlooking academy and beach. Hotel has new restaurant, bar and accommodation. They are open all year, employing 50-60 people all year round in 2006, compared to 15-20 in 2003, as a result of increased trade.
• Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant – In 2006, TV chef J.O. opened this restaurant, overlooking Watergate Bay. The 100-seater restaurant trains local young people in catering skills. Thirty 16-24 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are selected each year. 15 of them work in the restaurant, training at Cornwall College from January and in the kitchens from May, supported by professional chefs. Profits fund further training and development.
• CUC –stopping the brain drain? – To increase university courses and develop a ‘knowledge economy’, University College Falmouth and Exeter University joined forces to create the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC). CUC helps graduates set up businesses or secure jobs in knowledge-based companies in Cornwall, trying to cut the ‘brain drain’ of graduates leaving Cornwall. Examples include:
• Sixixis – This shapes Cornish timber into handmade furniture.
• Neutralise, a computer company helping top clients to improve their placing on internet search engine results, e.g. London’s Stock Exchange.
• Using Arts and Culture – To attract Arts tourists, Fowey holds an annual Du Maurier Festival in May, named after local author Daphne Du Maurier. It hosts authors, musicians, and broadcasters for 11 days. Investment in Arts and Culture in Cornwall has grown from the museum dedicated to sculptress Barbara Hepworth in the 1970’s, to the opening of Tate St Ives in 1993. Theatre, music and dance are now available at Hall for Cornwall in Truro, which opened in 1997.
• South West Film Studios – In 2002, S.W.F.S proposed Cornwall’s first film business at St Agnes on Cornwall’s north coast. Many films have been made in Cornwall, e/g/ Die Another Day, but no studio facilities existed. The £5.7 million complex received nearly £2 million from Objective One. Two film studios were built. It was expected that the company would create 200 permanent jobs and would bring millions of pounds into the economy.

4. The UK farming industry is one that few people know about and understand, and it’s in crisis. Imagine a job where you have to work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day; perhaps getting up at 5am to milk the cows in all weathers. Then imagine you are paid about half the NMW. Small wonder that, in 2006, record numbers of farmers sold up.

The problem for some years has been that prices paid to farmers are not enough to earn a decent living. Farm incomes fell sharply between 1973 and 2003. The biggest fall occurred between 1996 and 2001/2, when average farm incomes (after costs) fell from £80,000 in 1995/6 to £2500 during 2001; recovering to £12,500 in 2002/3. But as an hourly rate, this is still less than the NMW. Livestock farmers have been badly affected.

Why has farming collapsed? – For small farmers, especially, incomes remain low. 69% of farmers rely on farming for their entire income, but many also have part-time jobs to bring in extra money. There are two main reasons why incomes have fallen:

• The strength of the pound. Between 1996 and 2007, the pound increased in value against the Euro by 33%, making imported food cheaper.
• The power of supermarkets. Competition between big supermarkets is intense. Prices get forced down to attract customers, and, as a result, farmers are paid less.

Even EU farm subsidies do not help. They benefit the large farms – the more cereals grown, the greater the subsidy. 80% of subsidies go to larger farms, which make up only 20% of all farms. 63% of UK farmers get less than £5000 a year in subsidies; some get nothing.

5. In an attempt to increase incomes, some farms are now rebranding what they do. There are various options:

• Embracing Tourism – tourists have a chance to see and understand how a farm works; buildings are converted for farm holidays.
• Focusing on higher-value products, such as vegetables, cheese, and wine.
• Adopting eco-approached to managing the environment, such as planting mixed woodland.
• Adopting welfare approaches towards animals rearing which focus on the quality of care.

Lobb’s Farm Shop

Until 2003, three brothers from the Lobb family, in south Cornwall, were making just £30,000 from their 800 acres, shared between three families. Their farm is near the Lost Gardens of Heligan, south Cornwall’s second biggest tourist attraction after the Eden Project. They created a shop to sell their beef and lamb to a potential market of 463,000 visitors a year visiting the Gardens. The project, Lobb’s Farm Shop, was financed using £200,000 funding from Objective One and central government.

The shop’s focus is meat and vegetables produced on the farm, and other locally sourced products such as Cornish wine, chesses, etc. It has created 14 new jobs, with more in the summer months. These include:

• 5 butchers (2 full-time, 2 part-time and a trainee)
• 1 full-time and 6 part-time shop assistants
• 2 administrative staff

It has generated over £600,000 in additional sales in 3 years. However, it is more than just a shop. It includes:

• A visitor centre informing visitors about farming, and tours to show them what happens on a farm.
• Ways of improving environmental quality on the farm by attracting wildlife – planting in ways that will attract birds and insects.
• Managing and raising beef cattle in a welfare-conscious way.

Document Details

• Word Count 2435
• Page Count 6
• Level AS and A Level
• Subject Geography

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What are the main reason for the deprivation in the area?

The main reason for deprivation in rural areas is their remoteness.

Remote rural areas are described as the periphery, and are poorly served by transport infrastructure. They are a long way from core markets, and job opportunities are fewer. There are some benefits- peripheral areas can be cheaper to live in- but they often suffer depopulation as young people leave to find better jobs.

Give some statistics about lack of services in rural areas?

In the UK, 99% of areas which suffer from a lack of services are rural Visiting a Post Office is now more than a 2 km trip for 1 out of 15 rural households. 72% of UK villages don’t have a village shop 39% of households in rural areas live over 2 km from a cash point Only 14% of rural parishes have a doctor’s surgery, and 29% of all rural settlements have no bus services.

What problems with the tourist economy caused the deprivation?

The jobs are mainly seasonal, part-time and poorly paid. The visitor numbers vary between seasons and depend a lot on the weather. Only 33% of the profits from tourism stays in Cornwall- the rest ‘leaks’ out of the county, e.g going to national hotel and pub chains.

Why is the farming sector in decline?

Falling farm prices, as supermarkets seek the lowest prices from their suppliers. Importing food from overseas, where wages and costs are lower. Withdrawing EU subsidies, which has led to a rapid and accelerating decline.

Why is the fishing sector in decline?

EU quotas have allocated fish supplies to other European countries. The decline in overall fish stocks caused by overall overfishing.

Why is the mining sector in decline?

The exhaustion of the tin reserves in Cornwall. A collapse in tin prices caused by overseas competition. The strength of the pound has made UK tin more expensive to buy overseas.

Why is the quarrying sector in decline?

The St Austell area has some of the world’s best china reserves. However, fewer and larger quarries, using technology rather than people to extract the clay, has resulted in cutbacks in the workforce.

Why does Cornwall need rebranding?

Core and Periphery Theory Infrastructure i.e. 5 hours’ drive time to London. An ageing (regressive) population is being created due to retirement migration to coastal locations and rising second home ownership creating a lack of affordable housing for locals. Deprivation caused by lower wages ­ Lack of rural services. Lack of a threshold population to sustain such services.

How was Cornwall funded?

Rural rebranding schemes in Cornwall funded by Objective one. It was rebranded with the title ‘cool Cornwall’. They needed to create jobs and attract inwards investment. They did this by creating a number of flagship projects, this is called clustering. Meaning you can visit for a week for example, instead of just a day.

What flagship projects were introduced?

Extreme sports academy- Watergate bay Jamie Oliver’s fifteen restaurant- trains local young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in catering skills, therefore encouraging social inclusion. Investment in Arts, culture and industrial heritage- attract tourists- e.g Tate St Ives. The National Maritime Museum, Falmouth. The expansion Newquay Airport- get to london quickly- helps businesses.

Facts to show improvements in culture?

Survey carried out before 2002 by the Guardian estimated that 1% of the population associate Cornwall with arts and culture, after 2002 this rose to 93%.

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Flood Management Scheme – Boscastle

A flood management scheme following the 2004 floods.

Why the Boscastle flood scheme required?

On the 16th August 2004, a devastating flood swept through Boscastle, a small village on the north Cornwall coast.

Very heavy rain fell in storms close to the village, with over 60mm of rainfall in two hours. The ground was already saturated due to above average rainfall during the previous two weeks. Combined with this the drainage basin has many steep slopes and there are areas of impermeable slate that led to rapid run-off. Boscastle is at the confluence (where tributaries meet) of three rivers – Valency, Jordan, and Paradise. About two billion litres of water then rushed down the valley straight into Boscastle within a short space of time causing the rivers to overflow. Additionally, the deluge of water coincided with a high tide.

As the flood happened so quickly local residents had little time to react. Cars were swept out to sea and buildings were badly damaged. Thankfully, no one lost their lives, which is largely due to a huge rescue operation involving helicopters. Million of pounds worth of damage was caused by the flood.

What was the management strategy?

In 2008 a flood management scheme for Boscastle was completed. The solution included both soft and hard engineering strategies.

The Environment Agency has made a considerable investment in flood defences in Boscastle to help prevent a similar flood happening in the future. Working with professional partners, more than £10 million of improvements were carried out. This included widening and deepening the Valency River, and installing a flood culvert to improve flow in the Jordan River.

River Valency Flood Management Scheme

The Met Office and Environment Agency have formed the first of several working partnerships, the Flood Forecasting Centre. Combining expertise in weather forecasting and hydrology has helped to prepare communities for flooding during times of extreme weather.

At the time of the floods, the operational forecast model had a resolution of 12 km, which was too large to be able to represent such a small scale collection of thunderstorms. Since 2004 the Boscastle case was re-run with a higher resolution research model which proved able to resolve the line of thunderstorms with much more accuracy and detail.

What are the social, economic and environmental issues?

Social issues.

The rebuilding projects and construction of flood defences took several years which meant the lives of local people were disrupted for sometime. The risk of flooding has been reduced making Boscastle safer. The defences would not protect against a flood the same size as the one in 2004. The new bridge is not popular with local people as it is out of character compared to the rest of the building.

Economic issues

The risk of flooding has been reduced. Therefore, there is less risk of damage to property and businesses. The flood-defence scheme cost over £4 million. However, the scheme could have been significantly better, though some options were too expensive.

Environmental issues

Biodiversity has improved as have the river habitats. Vegetation in the area is now managed.

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