Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England Spatial Distributions and Scale Effects

1. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural EnglandSpatial Distributions and Scale Effects Steve Cinderby1, Annemarieke de Bruin2, Meg Huby2, Piran White3 1Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, UK 2Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, UK 3Environment Department, University of York, UK Tel. (+44 1904 432994) Fax (+44 1904 432897) Email (steve.cinderby@sei.se), web (www.sei.se) www.sei.se/relu

2. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England • Research project in the Rural Economy & Land Use Programme • Research objectives: • How can we measure rural spatial inequalities in (a) socio-economic and (b) environmental-ecological characteristics of small-scale areas of England? • How can inequality measures inform our understanding of the distributions of social and environmental deprivation in rural England? • How do residents experience the kinds of inequality identified by the research, and what types of inequalities do they perceive as inequitable? • Are there identifiable areas of rural England where the potential for environmental and social inequity suggests a need for policy intervention? www.sei.se/relu

3. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England Why are we interested in inequalities? • Sustainable rural development is dependent upon the distribution of: • social, economic and environmental goods and services • needed to maintain, reinforce or improve the vitality of rural areas • Restricted access to environmental goods and services can have negative impacts on people’s welfare and quality of life • Poor environments associated with deprivation and social exclusion • Communities disproportionately exposed to environmental risks are also those least equipped to take action to reduce their vulnerability • Marginalisation of vulnerable groups can prevent the implementation of policies designed for environmental protection www.sei.se/relu

4. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England Defining rural England • Defra Rural-Urban definition (2004) • Based on population distribution, settlement density and morphology • England classified from Output Area upwards www.sei.se/relu

5. www.sei.se/relu Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England Describing rural England • Social and Environmental Conditions in Rural Areas (SECRA) • Pilot RELU project • Data compiled to Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) • LSOA data: • useful for policy makers • avoids confidentiality issues • coarsest resolution data • stable geography

6. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu Describing rural England • 19% of English SOAs are rural (19% of total population) • Rural SOAs cover 83% of England’s land area • National Statistics Online (2007). Population Estimates mid 2006, Office for National Statistics. • Bibby, P. and J. Shepherd (2004). Developing a New Classification of Urban and Rural Areas for Policy Purposes - the Methodology, ONS

7. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu Describing rural England

8. www.sei.se/relu Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England Case Study • 4 variables • Air quality index (Indices of Deprivation, 2007) • Bird species richness (SECRA) • Barriers to owner occupation (ID 2007) • Income deprivation (ID 2007) • Hypothesis that inequalities will operate at different scales

9. www.sei.se/relu Air Quality Bird Species Richness

10. www.sei.se/relu Owner Occupation Income Deprivation

11. www.sei.se/relu Different geographies • Consider inequalities at different scales (geographies)

12. www.sei.se/relu Different geographies • Consider inequalities at different scales (geographies)

13. www.sei.se/relu Different geographies • Consider inequalities at different scales (geographies)

14. www.sei.se/relu Different geographies • Consider inequalities at different scales (geographies)

15. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu

16. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu Different geographies Income Deprivation

17. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu

18. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu Conclusions • Need to consider underlying process and data in inequality assessment • Different process operate at different scales (resolutions) • However, LSOAs: • data redundancy for some variables • seem appropriate to evaluate inequality in both social and environmental information

19. Social and Environmental Inequalities in Rural England www.sei.se/relu Questions for the audience…? • Can the inherent spatial quality of inequality be captured in the original variables? • How should we combine social and environmental datasets to look at the overall pattern of inequalities? • Multiple Indices? • Extracted factors? Thank You Thanks to co-authors and collaborators: Nicola Lloyd (Commission for Rural Communities), Justin Martin (Natural England), Kieron Stanley (Environment Agency), Anne Owen (SEI) Thanks to the research funder: EPSRC and RELU Programme Thank you for listening…