The problems of rurality appear to be intractable. Associated with access to services, employment, and leisure, they are functions of population sparsity, demography, opportunity, and geography. Relatively small numbers of people, living a long way from one another in remote places makes for expensive and possibly limited service provision. Opportunities in rural areas for young people, the poor, and those disadvantaged by, for example, a lack of transport, are also bound to be limited. The old and the frail are similarly disadvantaged. In addition, financially hard-pressed service providers find it difficult to meet people’s needs during a time of constant change in central and local government structures, priorities, and ways of working.
