Rural Services research

Shropshire Rural Pathfinder undertook a wide range of research into how access to services in rural communities can be improved:

• Community consultation events have been held to understand how we can better meet the access needs of rural communities. This included seven Parish Cluster Events and a Local Scrutiny on Access to Services (see publications and video link on this page).
• A study of Parish Plans was undertaken to find out more about local need. To date, 65 parishes have completed a parish plan which represents 43% of all parishes (see link to Community Council of Shropshire).
• Interviews with service providers to discuss possibilities for improving services in rural areas.
• New methods of rural service delivery have been piloted including rural Shropshire Customer First Points, leaflets in rural venues, Citizens Advice videoconferencing and Telly Talk access points (see publications and link to Shropshire Customer First webpages).
• Research into examples of good practice in community engagement and service delivery across Shropshire.

The final evaluation of the projects undertaken by Shropshire Rural Pathfinder and the national evaluation of Rural Pathfinders can be found on this page. For more detailed information on any of these projects and case studies, please contact the Rural Services team.