Rural Pathfinder and Beacon

Rural Pathfinder

Shropshire County Council was awarded Rural Pathfinder status in 2005, a two year Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) initiative aimed at making better use of resources and trying new ideas to see what works best locally.

Shropshire Rural Pathfinder focused on improving access to services. We have worked closely with our rural communities and local service providers to find out how we could improve service delivery in rural areas. We have also worked with regional partners to support the development of regional policy and delivery frameworks.

More information about Rural Pathfinder can be found on these webpages.

Improving Rural Services : Empowering Communities Beacon Award

The Beacon Scheme is run by IDeA (Improvement and Development Agency) to identify excellence in local government and to ensure examples of new and successful ways of working are shared between authorities.

Shropshire County Council was awarded Beacon status in summer 2006 for 'Improving Rural Services, Empowering Communities'. Rural Beacon status is awarded to local authorities who can show that they are working with partners to deliver fair access to services for the rural public and also involving local communities in the development and delivery of those services. Other authorities awarded this status were Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council, South Somerset District Council and West Berkshire Council.

This Beacon has now ended, but we have taken part in activities aimed at disseminating our knowledge and learning about how services can be effectively delivered in rural areas. This included a Beacon Open Day and Study Tour, mentoring visits, events and producing a DVD on community empowerment (see publications). We have also submitted a successful Peer Support Bid in conjunction with fellow Beacon authorities to produce information to help other local authorities - led by West Berkshire (see publications).

Please contact Rural Services for more information on Rural Beacon.