HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to determine the allocation of funding for projects arising from priorities identified by Hampshire County Council's Rural Delivery Strategy. The Strategy was presented to the Corporate Management Team and Cabinet in April 2009. These projects will be funded from the £200,000 identified in the Cabinet report and following the priorities agreed by Cabinet. The paper identifies six specific projects and recommends match funding to deliver them.

2. Contextual information

2.1. The focus of Hampshire County Council's Rural Delivery Strategy is on improving the quality of services delivered by Hampshire County Council and its partners in rural areas, and increasing value for money.

2.2. Cabinet was updated on the Strategy's development and progress in June 2008, and March and April 2009. Cabinet also agreed the priorities for ongoing work and these are listed in 4.1.

3. Budget position

3.1. The Executive Member for Rural Affairs, Human Resources and Skills Development has available £200,000 of funding. Of this, £144,000 has been identified for the specific improvement projects listed in this report. This is in parallel with the departmental action plans which list in the region of 150 specific actions in support of the work.

3.2. Of the remainder, up to £10,000 has been allocated to a Community Challenge Fund to enable parish councils and community and voluntary groups to bring forward small scale projects or improvements in their communities. The costs of the member of staff seconded to help drive this work forward is also drawn from this fund.

4. Funding Criteria

4.1. Projects are required to meet one or more of the following priorities agreed by Cabinet in April 2009.

· Supporting sustainable rural communities. (To include affordable housing, rural broadband, access to services, supporting volunteering, and community engagement.)

· Providing effective rural transport

· Farming, food and access to the countryside

· Economic prosperity

· Climate change, including renewable energy, and making better use of the county's wood-fuel resource.

Projects also need to meet LAA targets where relevant (detailed in the Cabinet report of April 2009), Corporate Plan priorities, and areas of concern identified in the Corporate Improvement plan. They also need to be consistent with rural proofing guidance.

4.2. All projects are required to focus on deliverable outcomes and to be implemented within a reasonable time-scale. Projects were requested to lever in additional external funding, though this has been very challenging in the current economic climate. SEEDA has traditionally been a major funder in this area but massive budget cuts are threatening existing, let alone new initiatives. Project leads were also asked to identify how their projects would continue once this one off funding has ceased in order to identify interventions that should be sustainable in the future.

5. List of Projects

5.1. Nine outline bids were submitted to the Executive Member by the deadline of June 2009. These were reviewed by the Executive Member in conjunction with officers, who short-listed six bids to go forward for detailed consideration. As a result the projects, summarised below, have now been finalised and are the subject of the detailed recommendations set out in section 8.

5.1.1. Local food distribution service

A project to pump-prime a private sector local food distribution service for village shops will be led by the Economic Development Office, with Hampshire Fare. In time it is hoped to expand this to local pubs, restaurants and B&Bs. It is hoped to obtain substantial match funding from the Loddon and Eversley LEADER programme. If successful, it is anticipated that the project will generate sufficient sales and profit to ensure the distribution service is financially viable and sustainable, without subsidy.

5.1.2. Hants Direct Mobile Plus

A project led by Adult Services, but in conjunction with Children's Services, Chief Executives and CCRA will use `down-time' in the new mobile Children's Centres to increase access to a range of council services in very rural parts of Hampshire. These will include health and wellbeing services, such as chiropody, library services, trading standards advice, benefits advice, and inter-generational activities. It is intended that these will complement Personalisation and the emerging Customer Access Strategy. If successful, it is anticipated that this project would be mainstreamed.

5.1.3. Little London broadband pilot

A pilot led by e-Hampshire will explore how the HPSN2 fibre-optic network to schools can be used by communities in rural areas which currently have no broadband access. A community has been identified for the pilot at Little London near Andover. Working with the community, Test Valley BC, and a private sector provider, this programme will test the viability of this approach for other parts of Hampshire. If this project succeeds in creating a successful business model, as is anticipated, it is hoped that the private sector would be able to deliver similar schemes in future.

5.1.4. Community Buildings Fund

It is intended to support the existing Community Buildings Fund, which helps support rural communities' capital assets. HCC funding covers only a maximum of one third of costs, ensuring that public money levers in 2x its investment. Village halls provide essential space for local people including sporting facilities, nurseries, theatrical productions, together with venues for doctor's surgeries, after school clubs, police surgeries, and day centres. There may be an opportunity to use some of this resource to provide partial match funding for the Wallops Village Hall to release Big Lottery grant funding if they remain unable to obtain sufficient match funding from other sources.

5.1.5. Emotional literacy

Children's Services are proposing a project to provide support for rural schools to develop emotional literacy and support vulnerable children. This is currently difficult due to the small size of many rural schools and the distance to training. Once trained, the Emotional Literacy Support Assistants will work with vulnerable children: evidence shows they have a proven positive impact on children's well-being, and therefore their ability to succeed in school. The project is linked to the East Hampshire Education Improvement Partnership. This project will address several Children's Services and LAA priorities. If successful, it is anticipated that the project will be mainstreamed through the Partnership.

5.1.6. Gifted and talented children

Children's Services are proposing to lead a project to improve provision for gifted and talented children by enabling them to work together to meet outcomes for more able children. They will work with the East Hampshire Education Improvement Partnership. This project will address several Departmental priorities. If successful, it is anticipated that the project will be mainstreamed through the Education Improvement Partnership.

6. Risks

6.1. Inevitably there are risks associated with these projects but they have been assessed as part of the feasibility process and there is a high degree of confidence that they can be managed or overcome.

6.2. Risks that not all external match funding will be obtained, meaning projects cannot go ahead without additional HCC funding or significant reduction in the impact of specific projects. Much of the funding has been identified or is close to being secured - (assessed as low level risk).

6.3. All projects are reliant on partnership working. Should partnerships not flourish there is a risk of projects not being completed. The partnerships involved are both internal and external but build upon established and tested relationships rather than solely new and untried arrangements - (assessed as low level risk).

6.4. Reputational damage if any project fails to deliver; any pilot project or innovation must carry some risk of failure and this underpins the ability and willingness to try new approaches. These projects have been assessed against specific criteria and priorities and link strongly to the expertise and experience of colleagues across the organisation. (As such this risk is assessed as low / moderate). In the event of any underspend or failure of an individual project consideration will be given to reallocating any residual funds across the other projects and in line with the priorities agree by Cabinet.

7. Timescale

The projects identified are ready for immediate implementation and although there will be variation within each project, the majority of projects are scheduled for completion by April 2010.The two most complex projects will run for a 12 month period.

8. Recommendation

That the following projects are supported from the Rural Strategy budget as set out below:

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

a) Successful implementation will reduce inequalities by improving service delivery in rural areas and increase access to services. Please refer to full Equalities Impact Assessment.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

a) None noted.

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

More effective and efficient service delivery is expected to reduce the County Council's carbon footprint and energy consumption.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

Adaptation to climate change is a key theme in this strategy.