So its more ground taking than breaking - this is not what you were set up to do - I suggest re-reading the 2004 Rural Strategy and the Haskins Report on Modernising Rural Delivery and re-familiarising yourselves with what you should be doing not trying to gain ground of economic development bodies when you should be making headway into other community agendas!!!

Thanks for your comment. Roger Turner, head of our Strong and Prosperous Rural Economies programme has responded:

"We are sorry that you have drawn this view about the Rural Advocate's report and CRC's role in economic development.  Sadly it fails to acknowledge that:

• The Prime Minister asked our chairman, the Rural Advocate, to advise his government on steps to strengthen rural economies following last year's flooding and disease outbreaks, clearly believing that he and CRC are appropriate and experienced to offer such advice.  The report responds to this request, we did not put ourselves forward to prepare such an assessment and solutions

• The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2005 under which the Commission was established, tasks us with being the voice of rural residents, communities and businesses, advising government of their needs, but with particular remit for the socially disadvantaged and areas of poor economic performance.  Thus CRC does have clear statutory economic remits

• The proposals made in the report reflect concerns frequently conveyed by businesses and their representatives to the Rural Advocate in his visits and meetings, and were prepared with discussion and valued views from the economic departments in central government, regional development agencies and economic development departments in local authorities.  We were happy to reinforce the need in several places in the report for greater support to these bodies, through which development and delivery of many of the report's proposals should rightly be channelled.

We hope this advice from the Rural Advocate about the economic contribution of and challenges faced by our rural economies, to those at the heart of creating  economic policies and allocating resources for their delivery, will in turn help economic development bodies to make stronger, better resourced and appropriate interventions to release the unfulfilled economic potential of England's rural areas."