Unit 6 topic 1 (changes in settlements - rural)

• Cornwall


  • Rural area in SW England surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean
  • Most jobs traditionally in primary industries like farming, fishing, mining and quarrying
  • These jobs are in decline
• Farming


  Cheaper to import food from other EU countries, as wages and goods are more expensive in Cornwall
• Fishing


  The sea has been over fished and there are few fish left
• Mining


  Reserves have been exhausted
• Quarrying


  New technology has meant people are no longer needed to work in quarries
• Cycle of multiple deprivation

  1. Job losses as traditional industries fold

  2. City becomes less attractive to business and workforce

  3. Reduced job opportunities

  4. Less spent in shops and services by population

  5. Less money available to individuals and city council to maintain housing and public buildings

  6. Results in further job losses in retail and services
• Problems with relying on tourism as an industry

  • Jobs are seasonal and low paid
  • Lack of opportunity for young people and low-wage earners to find housing
• High inward migration of the retired


  High out-migration of the 16-29 age group leading to a 'brain drain'
• Village stores and post offices

  Closing down, 72% of rural areas do not have a village shop
• Travel


  Expensive and slow, Penzance is 5 hours from London by the fastest train
• Withdrawal of EU subsidies and overseas supermarket sourcing


  Led to declining farming
• Road travel


  Slow, the M5 stops at Exeter
• EU quotas


  Limit the quantity of fish the UK can take from the sea, seriously damaging the fishing industry
• Poor transport links


  Increases transport costs which keeps manufacturing out of the county
• Exhaustion of tin reserves

  Led to the closure of Cornwall's last tin mine in 1998
• Such a weak transport infrastructure makes economic growth difficult
• Tourism employment is highly seasonal, part-time and poorly paid
• 33% of all households in Cornwall live in areas ranked within the 25% most deprived nationally
• The remoteness of Cornwall has led to a weakened local economy that has been unable to link effectively to national and international trade
• Terraced house in Cornwall


  Costs nearly eight times the average Cornish income compared to 5 times the average income in England and Wales
• The decline of traditional industry has left behind a legacy of abandoned buildings and run-down town centres in Cornwall
• Over the past 2 decades, there has been a serious decline in Cornwall's traditional economy
• Primary industries that have suffered a major decline in Cornwall

  • Farming
  • Fishing
  • Tin mining
  • Clay China quarrying
• Post-production countryside


  The decline of traditional primary industries
• Only 33% of the profits from tourism stays in Cornwall- the rest 'leaks out of the county, eg, going to national hotels or pub chains
• Eden Project


  Based in a worked-out clay pit in St Austell, Cornwall, with two vast greenhouses (biomes) and an education centre, housing plants from around the world to explore our dependence on nature
• Eden Project


  • A charity and social enterprise
  • Runs social and environmental projects
  • Creates unforgettable learning experiences for students
  • Does valuable research into plants and conservation
  • Runs operations in the greenest possible way
• Since the beginning of the Project Eden has brought over £900 million to the local economy
• Tourists questioned say they were 'extremely' or 'very' influenced by Eden to holiday in Cornwall
• Eden employs nearly 500 staff, and estimates that a further 3,000 jobs have been sustained locally due to its continuing success
• The benefits of the Eden Project are also felt by its 2,500 local suppliers and a range of other businesses such as hotels, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, pubs and taxis
• The Lake District National Park

  One of twelve National Parks in the United Kingdom
• The Lake District is situated in North-West England
• The Lake District lies entirely within Cumbria
• The Lake District is one of England's few mountainous regions
• The Lake District includes 15 lakes
• The Lake District was made famous during the early 19th Century by the poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets
• The Lake District National Park covers 230,000 ha of land
• The Lake District National Park is dominated by formations left by the last Ice Age
• Landscapes in the Lake District National Park

  • Moorland
  • Tarns & Lakes
  • Limestone pavement
  • Woodland
  • Marshes