In a blow to rural communities Labour has scrapped the Community Ownership Fund, a £150 million annual lifeline that allowed villages and towns to buy back community assets like pubs, sports clubs, community halls, and shops at risk of closure. At the same time, the government has cut the Rural Services Delivery Grant, leaving rural councils with less money to deliver essential services such as transport, social care, and housing.
The decision has sparked anger across the Westcountry, where many small communities have spent years fighting to save the heart of village life — now seeing their hopes dashed by a government that promised renewal but is delivering retreat.
The Community Ownership Fund recently supported Lynton and Lynmouth Town Councils in their bid to revitalise local toilets. Elsewhere, communities hoped to use the fund to create rural meeting places, cafés, and village shops. Now, with the fund scrapped, local ambition is being stifled once again.
Across Tiverton & Minehead, similar stories are unfolding — local people stepping up to save the spaces that knit their communities together, only to be abandoned by Whitehall.
The Rural Services Delivery Grant, which was introduced to reflect the higher cost of delivering services in large, sparsely populated areas, has also been cut. This forces councils like Somerset and Devon County Council to choose between raising council tax or cutting core services.
James Wright, local farmer and rural campaigner, said: “Labour has pulled the rug from under rural Britain. From families trying to save their village pub, to farmers feeding the nation, to councils struggling to keep buses on the road — this government has turned its back on us.
We don’t want favours. We want fairness. Rural Britain pays its taxes, builds its businesses, raises its children — just like everywhere else. What we’re getting from Labour isn’t support — it’s neglect. And people are right to feel betrayed.”
This marks the latest in a series of decisions that show how far rural Britain has fallen off Labour’s radar — from abandoning agricultural businesses in the Budget to failing to address school and GP closures in villages.
James and other rural campaigners are calling on Labour to restore funding and support for rural councils and communities, before more vital assets and services are lost forever.
