Pictured above:  David Collier

Rural areas are not getting a fair crack of the whip from the Government, Business Voice West Midlands has warned.

They are being hit hard by public spending cuts while the official "steer" is to push projects to towns and cities, it claims.

Now the lobby group has written to Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who is overseeing the new Regional Growth Fund process, urging him to ensure that rural communities are included when future regeneration funds are being distributed.

It maintains that following round one of RGF bidding most of the money is earmarked for urban areas while the Enterprise Zones announced so far are also only in urban areas.

David Collier, Chair of Business Voice's rural economy group, said: "Rural businesses have noted that despite problems with the outgoing regional development agencies, funds in previous years had gone to a mixture of rural and urban businesses.

"The RDAs were spending about six times the budget of the Regional Growth Fund, and in effect they were putting a lot of that money into the private sector in both urban and rural areas. It is crystal clear that the RGF is giving priority to urban areas, mostly in the north of England, and is reluctant to fund rural projects.

"The Government will point out that they are creating Enterprise Zones to encourage economic growth, but they are in urban areas too.

"The Government may also say that rural areas benefit from the Rural Development Programme for England, but the fact is that much of the budget has been spent, and regional grant schemes are closing down."

He went on: "This means that rural economies are taking multiple hits, yet they are being badly affected by public spending cuts.

"We would urge that rural communities get a fair crack of the whip when future Government funds for regeneration are being distributed."

Mr Collier said that one way in which the Government could help was by directing those in charge of the Regional Growth Fund to be more open to bids from rural areas and to seek ways of using their money to foster rural job creation and combat youth unemployment in the countryside.