Executive Summary
The Future Economic Rural Network (FERN) governing board has reviewed the comprehensive State of Rural Services 2025 report, with particular focus on rural service provision in Northumberland and Cumbria. This analysis reveals both significant challenges and notable innovations across these two key northern rural regions, with critical implications for economic development and sustainable rural futures. The report presents a tale of two counties, with Cumbria emerging as a model for rural digital transformation and service innovation, while Northumberland faces persistent infrastructure challenges that threaten the economic viability of its rural communities.
Digital Infrastructure: The Cumbrian Success Story and Northumberland’s Digital Divide
The report highlights Cumbria as a standout success story in rural digital transformation, demonstrating what can be achieved through strategic local authority leadership and innovative public-private partnerships. Since 2013, Cumbria County Council has pursued an ambitious partnership with BT, initially focusing on superfast broadband delivery and expanding to gigabit broadband provision since 2020. This strategic approach has established ambitious targets of 99% superfast access and gigabit access by 2025, supported by a £108.5 million contract with Fibrus through the UK Gigabit Programme to serve 59,000 ‘hard-to-reach premises’. South Lakeland has been particularly successful, identified as an early achiever in both superfast and gigabit access improvements, demonstrating that even remote rural areas can achieve world-class digital connectivity through coordinated investment and planning.
In stark contrast, Northumberland faces significant digital connectivity challenges that are hampering economic development and service access across its rural communities. The report specifically identifies Northumberland among northern regions with lower broadband access speeds in rural areas and highlights concerning mobile connectivity issues, with northern England, including Northumberland, showing higher proportions of premises without reliable outdoor access to both 3G and 4G networks. This digital divide is particularly problematic given Northumberland’s dispersed settlement pattern and dependence on digital communications for accessing services and conducting business. The contrast between Cumbria’s digital leadership and Northumberland’s connectivity challenges demonstrates the critical importance of local authority strategy and investment in determining rural economic outcomes.
“The contrast between Cumbria’s digital leadership and Northumberland’s connectivity challenges demonstrates the critical importance of local authority strategy and investment. Northumberland’s rural businesses and communities are being disadvantaged by inferior digital infrastructure, limiting economic opportunities and service access. This represents a fundamental inequality that undermines the competitiveness of Northumberland’s rural economy.”
Healthcare Access: Emergency Response Challenges Across the Northern Border
Both Northumberland and Cumbria face significant healthcare accessibility challenges, but the report reveals particularly concerning gaps in Northumberland’s emergency response infrastructure. Rural areas across both counties experience ambulance response times that are 45% longer than urban areas for life-threatening calls, creating serious risks for rural residents during medical emergencies. However, Northumberland faces additional challenges, being specifically identified among areas with lower proportions of premises with reliable network access, which affects emergency communication capabilities when every second counts. The report also highlights limited defibrillator coverage in Northumberland, specifically noting “limited numbers in north and central Devon, Northumbria,” which compounds the emergency response challenges facing rural communities in the county.
Primary healthcare distribution patterns show similar challenges across both counties, with GP surgeries remaining heavily concentrated in Town and Fringe areas while sparse rural settlements remain particularly underserved. Travel times to healthcare services are significantly extended for residents in isolated areas of both counties, but Northumberland’s border location and dispersed settlement pattern create additional complications for healthcare planning and delivery. The combination of poor mobile connectivity, limited defibrillator coverage, and extended ambulance response times creates a particularly challenging healthcare environment for Northumberland’s rural residents.
FERN Board Comment: “The healthcare infrastructure gaps in Northumberland are particularly concerning given its border location and dispersed settlement pattern. Emergency response times that exceed national standards by 45% represent a clear threat to rural residents’ life chances. The combination of poor digital connectivity and limited emergency equipment creates a perfect storm of healthcare disadvantage that demands urgent intervention.”
Banking and Financial Services: Innovation Leadership and Persistent Gaps
The report reveals a striking contrast in banking and financial service provision between the two counties, with Cumbria demonstrating innovative leadership while Northumberland continues to face service gaps. Cumberland (Cumbria) is specifically highlighted as an area where innovative banking solutions have been developed, including Post Office partnerships with commercial banks to create banking hubs that serve rural communities. Cumbria appears among sparsely populated areas with rather higher access levels to bank branches and cash machines compared to many urban fringe regions, suggesting that strategic intervention can overcome the market failures that typically disadvantage rural areas. This innovative approach to rural financial services demonstrates that creative partnerships and local leadership can maintain essential banking infrastructure even in challenging rural environments.
While Northumberland is mentioned as one of the few regions with Job Centre Plus offices in rural areas (as part of north-east England), the broader analysis suggests more limited banking infrastructure compared to Cumbrian innovations. The absence of similar banking hub developments in Northumberland creates economic disadvantages for rural businesses and residents who depend on accessible financial services for their daily operations and business development. This disparity in financial service access between neighbouring counties highlights how local innovation and strategic partnerships can overcome market failures, while their absence perpetuates rural economic disadvantage.
FERN Board Comment: “Cumbria’s banking hub model should be rapidly expanded to Northumberland. The contrast in financial service accessibility between these neighbouring counties creates economic disadvantages for Northumberland’s rural businesses and residents. Financial services are fundamental economic infrastructure, and their absence stifles business development and community sustainability.”
Transport Infrastructure: A Regional Crisis Affecting Economic Viability
Both Northumberland and Cumbria are severely affected by the documented collapse in rural public transport provision, with national statistics showing a 236.6 million reduction in bus passenger numbers from 2018-19 figures and a 15.6% reduction in commercial service network length between 2019 and 2022. Rural areas classified as Village, Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling areas have experienced a devastating 74% decline in per capita bus travel distances, effectively cutting these communities off from employment, education, and service access opportunities. This transport crisis hits both counties with particular severity due to their challenging geography and dispersed settlement patterns, but creates especially acute problems for Northumberland given its greater distance from major urban centres and more limited alternative transport options.
Northumberland’s dispersed settlement pattern makes its communities particularly vulnerable to transport service withdrawal, as the loss of even limited bus services can completely isolate entire villages and hamlets from essential services and employment opportunities. Cumbria’s mountainous terrain creates additional challenges for maintaining viable public transport routes, but the county’s stronger digital infrastructure and more innovative service delivery models provide some alternative access routes that Northumberland currently lacks. The transport crisis represents not just a social inclusion issue but a fundamental threat to economic development, as businesses cannot operate effectively without reliable transport links for workers, customers, and supply chains.
FERN Board Comment: “The transport crisis hits Northumberland and Cumbria’s rural communities with particular severity due to their geography and settlement patterns. Without urgent intervention, entire communities face economic and social isolation. This represents a massive economic deadweight loss for the northern rural economy, as human capital and business potential are effectively stranded by transport poverty.”
Community Resilience and Economic Development Opportunities
Despite the significant challenges facing both counties, the report highlights important examples of community resilience and innovation that demonstrate the economic potential of northern rural areas. Cumbria benefits from strong community enterprise development building on its cooperative traditions, supported by digital community initiatives that complement the county-led broadband development programme. The county’s integrated approach to rural development has created positive synergies between digital infrastructure, community enterprise, and service innovation that generate economic multiplier effects throughout rural communities.
Northumberland demonstrates resilience through rural heritage tourism development that maintains community economic bases and agricultural innovation networks supporting farm diversification. However, these community-led initiatives operate against the backdrop of inferior infrastructure and service provision that limits their potential impact. Both counties face similar challenges in employment and skills development, with limited Job Centre Plus provision (though north-east England, including Northumberland, is among the few regions with rural offices), average minimum journey times exceeding one hour for Further Education access in sparse rural areas, and youth retention challenges driven by limited local employment and training opportunities.
The report identifies significant economic opportunities across both counties, including agricultural technology adoption in farming communities, tourism and outdoor economy development building on landscape assets such as Northumberland National Park and the Lake District, and remote working growth where digital connectivity permits. However, realising these opportunities requires addressing the fundamental infrastructure and service gaps that currently constrain rural economic development, particularly in Northumberland where digital divides limit business competitiveness and service access issues affect workforce productivity.
Economic Impact Assessment and Regional Comparison
The evidence presented in the report demonstrates that Cumbria’s strategic investments are generating measurable economic returns through improved digital connectivity enabling remote working and business development, service innovation reducing transaction costs for rural businesses, and an integrated approach creating positive multiplier effects throughout the rural economy. Cumbria’s success proves that rural areas can lead rather than follow in economic development when supported by appropriate infrastructure and strategic local leadership.
In contrast, the service gaps in Northumberland create systematic economic disadvantages through digital divides that limit business competitiveness, healthcare access issues that affect workforce productivity and quality of life, and transport limitations that increase business operational costs and restrict market access. The service provision gap between Cumbria and Northumberland represents a significant economic distortion that systematically disadvantages Northumberland’s rural businesses and communities, creating an unfair competitive environment within the northern rural economy.
FERN Board Economic Analysis: “The stark differences in service provision between these neighbouring counties are unacceptable and economically destructive. Northumberland’s rural communities deserve the same level of digital connectivity, healthcare access, and financial services that Cumbria has achieved through strategic leadership and investment. The current disparities represent not just social injustice but economic inefficiency on a massive scale.”
FERN Recommendations and Urgent Actions
As the sole pan-regional agency, the Future Economic Rural Network (FERN) governing board calls for immediate action to address the service provision inequalities between Northumberland and Cumbria through a comprehensive regional development approach. We recommend creating a Northumberland-Cumbria Rural Economic Zone that shares best practice in digital infrastructure development, coordinates transport connectivity improvements, and develops joint tourism and heritage economy strategies. Most urgently, Northumberland requires a digital infrastructure emergency programme matching Cumbrian investment levels, a healthcare access improvement initiative addressing ambulance response times and GP provision, banking hub development replicating Cumbrian innovations, and a transport connectivity rescue package preventing further service withdrawal.
Cross-border opportunities should be exploited through shared learning networks between county authorities, joint economic development initiatives leveraging both counties’ assets, and coordinated service delivery reducing costs and improving access. The evidence demonstrates that rural service investment generates significant economic returns, with Cumbria’s success proving that rural areas can lead economic development while Northumberland’s challenges show the costs of underinvestment.
FERN Board Commitment: “The Future Economic Rural Network commits to demonstrating that rural areas are not economic burdens requiring subsidy, but economic assets requiring investment. We will work to ensure that rural service provision is recognised as economic infrastructure essential for national prosperity. The choice facing policymakers is clear: replicate Cumbrian success across all northern rural areas or accept the economic and social decline that service withdrawal inevitably brings.”
This analysis was prepared by the Future Economic Rural Network (FERN) governing board based on the State of Rural Services 2025 report published by Rural England CIC, with specific focus on Northumberland and Cumbria regional findings.
For the full report, view via this link.
A summary snapshot of the report is available here.
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Northumberland County Council main Economic Strategy page:
https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/economicstrategy -
PDF of the Economic Strategy Executive Summary (2015–2020):
https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Business/Economic-Strategy-exec-summ-2015-2020.pdf
