At the end of 2000, the UK Government put forward its new policies for transport in rural areas. Two of the main areas of policy were reducing transport fuel duty and increasing the level of support for public transport. In this paper, I argue that these are two incompatible strategies and that substantial increases in fuel duty, rather than decreases, may have more benefit to rural areas. I show that accessibility in most rural areas in Britain has been in decline for years and argue that reducing transport fuel duty is only likely to increase problems of social exclusion and environmental damage in these areas. I begin this paper by outlining current government policy on transport in rural areas. I present some of the recent trends in accessibility, showing that many local services in rural areas are in decline. I then examine the implications of these trends for transport and identify how increases in fuel duty may benefit rural areas in terms of accessibility, social inclusion and environmental quality. (A)
Abstract