Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Pathfinders lead way to better rural services

Pathfinders lead way to better rural services

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (News Release ref :61/08) issued by The Government News Network on 28 February 2008

Results of a Government programme aimed at improving rural services have been published today by Defra.

As part of the Rural Delivery Pathfinder programme eight Pathfinders were set up across England to build on improvements being made in response to local challenges in service delivery. The results of the two year programme are published today in the national report 'Rural challenges, local solutions'.

The report highlights the finding that partnership working is critical to success, and that communities must be directly engaged in defining what they want and how to deliver it. It also demonstrated that local authorities that show leadership and innovate, play an important role in delivering solutions.

Launching the report at the Local Government Association's Annual Improvement Conference in Bristol, Minister for Local Government, John Healey said:

"This innovative programme has achieved important improvements for people in rural areas, and gives us a better understanding of the issues affecting rural services. The rural delivery Pathfinders also show that when local authorities have a stronger voice and greater freedom to find solutions, they can better meet the needs of their communities."

Minister for Rural Affairs, Jonathan Shaw welcomed the report saying:

"The achievements of each Pathfinder are distinctive, reflecting local priorities and circumstances. They have worked together to get more value out of funding streams and have brought strong leadership to improving rural services. I congratulate the local authorities involved for the success they've achieved and I look forward to seeing them and others share the learning and build on that success."

Successes have been achieved across England. The Lancashire Pathfinder worked with childcare and library services to find ways of taking services to the people. The project was funded by the Pathfinder, and supported by Lancashire County Council. Following the consultation with local people, four villages were identified as suitable sites for development. One of these villages was Caton, where a People's Network point was installed in a former police house, being used as a youth drop-in centre, to encourage young people to use the internet and join the library. It allows residents to reserve books online and have them delivered via the mobile library service.

Another example is the Shropshire Rural Pathfinder, which tested a range of different methods of delivering services to remote communities. Video conferencing was used to deliver Citizens Advice Bureau services, and council services were provided to rural communities in village halls or by working in partnership with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service using their outreach vehicle. The outcome of these pilots has been the roll out of a network of video conferencing units, known as Telly Talk, to deliver council and partner services face to face with communities, who live many miles away from where the customer advisers are located.

The Humber Rural Pathfinder has worked with public and private sector partners to support the installation of a wood fuel boiler and local fuel supply chain agreement at Luddington and Garthorpe Primary School, North Lincolnshire. A local farmer less than a mile from the school supplies wood. The school has reduced its carbon emissions by 50 tonnes per year and halved its heating bills. Pupils have experienced a real life example of action to tackle climate change.

The Rural Delivery Pathfinder programme was launched jointly by Defra and local government in March 2005 to look at innovation in the delivery of rural services, test opportunities for more joined-up, flexible working and look at local priorities. Actions and outcomes are being embedded in a number of delivery plans, including Local Area Agreements.

Notes for editors

1. Pathfinders have broadly made three types of achievements:

* Demonstrating new approaches to managing rural delivery and using the results to influence policy at national, regional, sub-regional and local levels;

* Developing and road-testing tools and other resources that can be applied more widely (e.g. "how to do" guidance and toolkits, information resources and joined up service delivery);

* Generating learning and good practice which can be acted on by policy makers, service delivery managers and solution facilitators.

The learning from the programme is being shared widely - elements of the approaches could be transferable to other authorities, service planners and deliverers. The report also contains a number of recommendations at national, regional and local levels to build on the work for sustaining the momentum for improvement over the medium to long term.

2. The rural delivery pathfinders each developed a shared, agreed action plan to tackle priorities and identify practical solutions to identified gaps, blockages or failures in service delivery.

The eight pathfinders are Shropshire County Council; Lancashire County Council; Fens (jointly Cambridgeshire and Norfolk County Councils); Humber (East Riding of Yorkshire County Council); Dorset County Council; Hampshire County Council; Peak District (Derbyshire Dales District Council); West Durham (Durham County Council).

3. As part of the Rural Strategy 2004 announcement on 21 July 2004, each Government Office was tasked with bringing forward a suggestion for a regional pathfinder. In bringing forward nominations, each Government Office was asked to have regard to a range of relevant factors, such as work focusing on rural economies, communities and the environment and the capacity and willingness of local partners to take on the challenge.

4. 40 case studies from the Pathfinders have been published this week on the IDeA Knowledge website. For further information on the programme and an electronic copy of the report visit Defra's rural Pathfinder webpages at http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/ruraldelivery/pathfinders/default.htm. For details of the case studies visit IDeA Knowledge at http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5569390 . Links to the individual pathfinder websites can also be accessed via these links. Hard copies of the report are available from Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London, SW1A 2XX. Tel: 08459 556000, Fax: 01709 881673

Email: defra@cambertown.com Quote publication reference PB12675.

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