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That's what the Government's own rural watchdog the Countryside Agency is calling for to help get rural communities back on their feet after foot and mouth. The Agency publishes its annual "State of the Countryside" report later today.

It identifies pockets of rural deprivation every bit as bad as conditions in the worst inner cities, with the proportion of people on low incomes or suffering poorer health greatest in the most remote areas.

Average earnings are lower, rural jobs are more likely to be part time, casual or seasonal, and hidden unemployment is higher. Access to shops, services and public transport is limited.

Cumbria, the South West, East Anglia and the East Midlands come off worst. The close correlation between these regions - particularly in Devon and Cumbria - and the incidence of foot and mouth disease, has led the Agency's chairman Ewen Cameron to call for heavy and ongoing investment to bring about regeneration once the immediate problems of disease have been overcome.