GOVERNMENT belt-tightening could see public funds redirected to urban areas while the countryside bears the brunt of cuts, the PM's top rural adviser warns today.

Stuart Burgess also fears the Commission for Rural Communities, which he chairs, could be cut or abolished as both Labour and the Tories look to make savings.

The bleak assessment of the potential impact of major reductions in state budgets comes just two weeks after the top civil servant at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted cuts would not impact on its frontline services.

However, it is feared health, education and police spending could be prioritised in high population areas where ministers believe limited funds could archive the biggest impact.

Mr Burgess told the Western Morning News: "There are going to be pressures about funding.

"And if we're not careful – if there is any money around, it's going to be very tight – on the whole it goes to more populated areas where there's a critical mass rather than to sparsely populated."

In a blunt message to whoever wins the next election he added: "We must have equity."

It has long been accepted that most public services are more expensive to deliver in rural areas, with higher transport costs and difficulty targeting those most in need.

"I actually think that many of the issues both in urban and rural areas are very similar – the solutions are very different," Mr Burgess said.

A report for the Commission for Rural Communities found life for families in more remote areas was made "extremely harsh", caused by poor transport links, a lack of childcare and difficulty accessing help to find work. The Commission for Rural Communities said everyone should have an equal right to access public services.

Westcountry councils are already braced for "swingeing cuts" from 2011 as the effects of the economic downturn bite.

Next month Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to forecast the steepest annual slump since modern records began. Government borrowing in October topped £11.4 billion – the highest ever for that month – and independent forecasts suggest the total deficit will reach £200 billion.

Helen Ghosh, permanent secretary at Defra, revealed this month that every government department has been told to look at half of all their programmes for savings.

"We have said to our delivery bodies 'can you live within a smaller budget' and they have come back to us and said yes they could. So we are now getting data together on how they would be able to do that."

The CRC is among Defra's 67 quangos. In the Saturday Interview, Mr Burgess admits his organisation will face "questions about whether we are worth it".

"We all know that money is going to be limited and our funds are going to be reduced but I would much prefer to operate on less money but still be there for the sake of people in rural communities."

He also called for a multi-million investment in broadband – on a scale not seen since the creation of the motorway network – to ensure Internet access in rural areas is equal to homes and businesses in towns and cities.

Read more in the Big Interview in today's Western Morning News.