Results of a Government programme aimed at improving rural services have been published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (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 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."

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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.

(CD/JM)