21 September 2010
Conservative MP Rory Stewart has pledged to help mitigate spending cuts by pioneering Big Society-style community projects in his constituency – the most sparsely populated one in England.
Stewart chairs the all-party group on local democracy and has been tipped as one of the Conservatives’ rising stars. He told Public Finance that he wanted to ‘prove’ to the government that remote farmland regions, such as his Penrith and the Border constituency, should not be seen as ‘too expensive’.
A series of community based pilot projects, reflecting Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society policy, are already planned for his Cumbrian constituency. They range from developing affordable housing schemes to negotiating better deals for building a bicycle pass. ‘When you look at it from 30,000 feet it sounds like none of this is going to work but when you look at it at real grassroots level you often find it isn’t about public money at all,’ he said.
Stewart’s biggest undertaking is to provide fast broadband access for his entire constituency by 2012. About 80% of the district is currently not covered, posing ‘a very serious threat’ to local businesses and the economy.
The government has committed £300m from the Digital Switchover fund for rural broadband access across the country by 2015, but total costs are expected to exceed £12bn.
Stewart said using a conventional approach, where the government and the private sector lay all the fibre optic infrastructure, was ‘not an option’. A recent estimate put the cost at £40m for his constituency.
He claimed to be able to do it for a ‘fraction of the cost’ by opening up existing fibre optic cables that are used for schools or railways to the wider public. Communities would then be able to set up wi-fi ‘exchange cabinets’ or pay for the final stretch of cable to their homes.
‘In an era when government cuts are likely to lead to more amalgamations in cities, where rural services are disappearing, this is becoming more and more urgent,’ he warned.
Stewart added that Cumbria could be used as ‘an ink spot’ for spreading similar projects to other rural regions.
Stewart was elected to the Commons in May after a career in the civil service, army and academia. Contrary to press speculation, he told PF he had no ambitions to become the next leader of the Conservatives. ‘The further you get away and the more you get into the world of abstract policy probably the less satisfying and real your achievements are.
‘The reason I found a new lease of life in this job is because I can respond to very concrete individual things,’ he said.
