APPENDIX 6A

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report

Hampshire County Council Affordable Housing and Key Worker Housing Strategy Update

1. Purpose

1.1 To provide an update on the County Council's Affordable Housing and Key Worker Strategy as it relates to rural areas of Hampshire.

2. Summary and General Issues Update

2.1 Following a desire by Members to ensure that the County Council was looking to both assist its own key workers and contribute towards the wider affordable housing solution, the Hampshire County Council Cabinet approved its own Affordable and Key Worker Housing Strategy in January 2006. Although the County Council is not a Statutory Housing Authority, it recognised it had a role to play.

2.2 An update report to Cabinet in February 2007 identified the key elements that should now form the practical components of the Hampshire County Council Affordable and Key Worker Strategy. The elements which are currently being progressed include bringing forward potential rural exception sites and projects. These are intended for both Hampshire County Council key worker and wider affordable housing purposes on County Council land in priority areas of the County.

3. Strategy Update

3.1 Existing Disposal Sites Update

3.1.1 Progress to date towards the five year target of 500 Key Worker and Affordable dwellings is as follows:

3.1.2 In the first three years of the five year programme, 2005-1010, 370 affordable dwellings have already been facilitated via County Council land development projects. Whilst the majority of these sites involved the rationalisation of the County Council's Property Portfolio in urban areas, three sites have been successfully negotiated in rural areas. These were Mill Lane, Brockenhurst (ten dwellings); Yew Tree Cottage, Stockbridge (four dwellings) and Merryfields, Liss (six dwellings).

3.2 Use of Developer Contributions

3.2.1 The appointment of the new position of a Corporate Developer Contributions Co-ordinator within Legal Services of the Chief Executive's Department is due to be advertised shortly. This position will focus upon achieving planning contributions across the County from all types of appropriate planning approvals and developments towards County Council work and services. Part of this will be to explore opportunities to secure appropriate contributions towards the Affordable and Key Worker Housing Strategy objectives in both urban and rural locations.

3.3 Hampshire County Council Key Worker Needs Survey Update

3.3.1 The County Council commissioned Consultants, David Couttie Associates, to undertake a survey of the potential key worker housing requirements of its own staff. This work was completed in 2007 and included the following amongst its key findings.

3.3.2 The main reasons given by households who wish to move but cannot do so, were as follows:

- Unable to afford to buy a home (74.5%) and unable to afford moving costs (48.2%), followed by lack of affordable rented housing (13.5%).

- Households who wish to move but cannot were interested in schemes that would help reduce the cost of housing.

- 88.2% expressed an interest in shared equity and a further 61.8% in shared ownership.

- When moving, 80.5% would prefer owner occupied paying a mortgage in a semi-detached house (44.1%) with three bedrooms (39.8%).

- The majority would prefer to move to Winchester (22.6%) and Basingstoke & Deane (22.6%), followed by New Forest (16.5%).

3.3.3 The survey confirms that there is a key worker housing requirement for County Council staff of around 10% but this rises up to around 30% to 40% for Children's Services and School staff. Shared equity or shared ownership would be the preferred model for most requiring some form of supported family housing. The preferred locations and demand localities are primarily in Winchester and Basingstoke followed by the New Forest area.

3.4 Exception Sites & Partnerships

3.4.1 Sixteen possible "exception" sites have been identified that may have potential for affordable and/or key worker housing and which may otherwise have little or no development potential for market housing. Work is underway to bring forward these projects which include a number of rural exception sites.

4. County Council Membership of the Hampshire Alliance for Rural

Affordable Housing (HARAH)

4.1 Towards the end of 2007, the County Council was invited to join the Hampshire Alliance for Rural Affordable Housing (HARAH) at both Member and Officer level despite not being a statutory housing authority. HARAH was founded in 2005 to address the need for affordable housing in the villages of Hampshire by the Hampshire Rural Housing Enablers, (RHEs) the Housing Corporation and six of the County's rural local authorities which are: Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Hart, New Forest, Test Valley and Winchester.

4.2 These Authorities have the strategic housing responsibility to meet housing needs whilst the RHEs, based at Community Action Hampshire in Winchester, work closely with parish councils and local communities to facilitate the provision of rural affordable housing. HARAH has selected Hyde Housing Association as its partner and the Housing Corporation is the Government agency responsible for investing in new affordable homes.

4.3 Since joining HARAH, the County Council has become actively involved in the organisation during 2008 via the following initiatives:

a) Future support of £40,000 per annum, commencing in 2008/9, to help finance the Rural Housing Enabler officer positions currently employed by Community Action Hampshire.

b) Contribution towards the promotion of the role of HARAH to the parish councils.

4.4 In practice, involvement in HARAH could result in the following implications for the County Council: that if County Council land within the HARAH area of operation is identified as a planning rural "exception site", that this is offered initially to the HARAH Partnership to ascertain if they can assess its potential to deliver rural affordable housing and provide the vehicle for achieving this.

4.5 It is considered that the HARAH initiatives will compliment the County Council's own Affordable and Key Worker Strategy and provide a suitable vehicle for aspects of its further development in relation to rural areas.

5. The Potential use of "Park Homes" to provide Affordable Housing

5.1 The concept of using mobile or "Park Homes" as they are referred to, to provide more affordable housing is already firmly established in the UK. There are over 2,100 such parks in England with some 69,000 households currently residing in park homes in England and Wales, principally in rural areas. This represents a population of approximately 114,000 adults and 2,400 Children. Nearly two thirds of the Park Home households live on parks in the south of England and the majority of the park homes are occupied by elderly people.

5.2 Based upon initial research it would appear that there may be a potential role for mobile or Park Homes to be able to assist in the provision of affordable housing. However, this will require further and more detailed research into the practicalities, policies, finance and legal basis of such a proposal.

APPENDIX 6B

Rural Delivery Workstream Report

Transport and accessibility

1. Current Service Delivery

1.1 Transport is a key consideration across all aspects of service delivery in rural Hampshire. The development and implementation of transport policies and strategy is led by the Environment Department through the consideration of priorities for the rural areas and smaller settlements. It is recognised that the car will remain the dominant mode of transport. However, this creates problems in terms of the impact on the environment and the degree of isolation it can create for those without access to a car. The aim of current service delivery is therefore to manage this demand with the need to protect the environment and to seek to improve accessibility for all.

1.2 We provide support to rural communities in the following key ways:

· Maintaining the local road network;

· Managing traffic speeds;

· Routeing of traffic including goods vehicles;

· Promoting safety, especially for those walking and cycling;

· Tailoring public transport provision to suit the particular and generally low demand in rural areas;

· Overcoming the accessibility issues for the young and old and those without access to a car;

· Increasing the use of demand responsive transport services, community schemes and shared taxi schemes.

2. Issues

2.1 An initial literature review of rural strategies adopted by local authorities in England has highlighted two dominant themes: accessibility and the rural economy. This is no surprise as these are the two issues that feature prominently in national and regional transport and planning policy and are consistent with the key issues identified within Hampshire. Access to services is one of the seven current County Council Local Transport Plan objectives, whilst the importance of economic growth is patently clear in the recent Draft Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Development consultation and the current discussions regarding the Sub-National-Review.

2.2 Whilst car ownership is generally high in rural areas of Hampshire, the provision of facilities and services in such areas is generally poor - in line with recent trends to concentrate service provision in single centralised locations - generally urban. At the same time, rural bus networks have contracted in response to increasing bus industry costs and the linked trends of falling rural patronage and rising car ownership. These significant changes have converged to result in instances of rural isolation and social exclusion.

2.3 Work undertaken has consistently shown that accessibility difficulties in rural areas of Hampshire are fragmented with small numbers of people affected. Indeed, there are only very small pockets of Hampshire that are more than 8 miles from a significant service centre. It has also become clear from our work and from experience elsewhere, that these issues are generally difficult to target with

conventional transport responses and that each accessibility issue is likely to require a specific solution. This requires an innovative approach to tackle the issues. Furthermore, experience is showing increasingly that opportunities for both horizontal integration (between service providers) and vertical integration (with community groups) are essential to the success and thus longevity of resolving transport related social exclusion.

2.4 Highways are essential for any area to operate successfully and in rural areas where there is a particular reliance on private transport a good highway network is essential. The new Hampshire LAA has recognised the importance of highway condition by introducing both NI168 principal (A class) road condition and (NI169) Non Principal (B and C) roads condition as a priority for improvement in the new agreement running to 2010. The addition of the B and C roads was particularly in recognition of their importance in rural areas. Reducing village speeds is also a Local Hampshire LAA priority.

On-going work

3. Current service delivery

3.1. The Council supports 200 bus services in Hampshire at a cost of £6 million p.a. with 5 million bus passenger journeys - many of which are in rural areas. Community transport is also supported, resulting in over 90,000 trips p.a. and grants for 47 new minibuses.

3.2. Hampshire County Council arranges transport for 11,500 children to get to school. Recent innovations include the `Home to School Transport' project with `yellow buses' in Basingstoke and `Bus IT' fares and service promotions in Eastleigh and Waterside.

3.3. The Council has pioneered the CANGO demand responsive services, connecting rural residents with service centres. Other initiatives include Wheels to Work - a moped loan scheme for young people, along with significant efforts to improve rail services in Hampshire. The Council has formed two Community Rail Partnerships to encourage local participation with rail service and infrastructure planning - "Three Rivers" and "Lymington Branch line".

3.4. Concessionary travel schemes - coordinated by HCC, but funded by districts - target the elderly and disabled. These groups often find themselves isolated and particularly transport disadvantaged in rural areas.

3.5. Production of travel guides, maps and general public transport information: brochures at a cost of £180,000 p.a. and 600,000 area travel guides are delivered door to door in many areas each year.

3.6. Accessibility was a `shared priority' (DfT and LGA) for the second round of Local Transport Plans. Hampshire County Council was an initial member of the national group developing Accessibility Planning and has used `Accession' - a computer model - to identify areas with poor or no access to services.

4 Pilots and early interventions

4.1 HCC has undertaken accessibility `pilots' in partnership with district councils, community groups and the health sector looking at:

o access to Winchester hospital from northern Test Valley

o access to services from Whitehill/Bordon/Lindford, and

o health care in part of the New Forest.

For each of these an action plan has been developed and the partners are committed to delivering a series of actions to improve accessibility in targeted areas.

4.2 Rural Transport Pilots - recognising the challenges which the authority faces in improving access in the more rural areas of Hampshire and that a `one size fits all' approach will not be the answer in the future. Five very different approaches are being trialled through these pilots in order to understand which approaches may best be applied across a wider area in the future.

4.3 The new LAA has identified accessibility as a local priority. The aim is to develop a local accessibility project within each district including measuring perceptions of problems. Households without access to a car will be weighted accordingly to represent the specific access problems that such households tend to experience. Another LAA local priority is to reduce village speeds.

4.4 Following a review of community transport in 2007 the Executive Member for the Environment asked for a consultant's study to be carried out on a `Review of Community Transport and Demand Responsive Services in Hampshire'. This study is expected to be commissioned in the next two months.

4.5 There is a lot of good work being done already and an immediate impact could be realised by simply letting people know about this good practice and using the results from pilots to inform transport policy and provide opportunities for wider usage where need and funding exist.

5. Opportunities

5.1 There are clear opportunities to learn from best practice elsewhere - as evidenced in an initial literature review. In addition, a brief review of transport initiatives in rural areas of the County has shown numerous examples of good work, much of which is pioneering and innovative. Lessons will be learnt from the pilots being progressed that will better inform and provide a wider selection of tools to tackle rural accessibility issues.

5.2 There are links between the themes of access and the rural economy. If jobs are retained and created in rural areas, opportunities will exist for people to make sustainable journeys to local places of work. In turn, this may improve the viability of rural public transport services, which may promote greater use for non-work journeys.

5.3 Accessibility modelling work has shown that only very small pockets of Hampshire are more than 8 miles from a service centre. In view of this, small improvements for these groups would have the potential to realise big percentage gains.

5.4 There is an opportunity to embrace community planning. However, expectations need to be managed so that desired outcomes are realistic and achievable.

5. Cross-Cutting Issues

5.1 Transport is a key consideration across all aspects of service delivery in rural Hampshire It is clear from the literature review and the ongoing work being undertaken on the accessibility and rural transport pilots and on community planning, that the importance of horizontal and vertical integration is imperative to deliver successful outcomes. Opportunities exist for working with key stakeholders to bring services to rural areas (e.g. mobile libraries, "Hosted" post offices, etc).

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report APPENDIX 6C

Economy, employment and skills

1. Introduction

The key to building and maintaining sustainable communities in rural areas is economic prosperity. Through its economic development and business support activities the County Council is making a significant contribution to sustaining the economy in the rural areas of Hampshire. We set out below the context for our actions and the programmes being followed.

2. Issues

2.1 Our rural areas have faced many challenges in recent years:-

· young people tend to leave to seek work in urban centres;

· labour resources are scarce and are often sought amongst the migrant population;

· residents tend no longer to work locally; many settlements have become "dormitory communities" as housing and employment locations become separated;

· consolidation of resources from the public sector has tended to lead to closures of small rural facilities - schools, pubs, health care, post offices etc;

· the huge increase in car ownership has made it possible for people to live and work at separate locations and to shop at supermarkets rather than locally;

· housing in rural areas of Hampshire has become unaffordable to many people;

· farming is no longer a significant employer though it still contributes wealth to the area in which it operates - ( see Appendix 6D - Farming and Forestry )

2.2 However, there are also opportunities:

· the ICT revolution and potential to access the workplace "virtually" has made it possible for more people to work from home, including in rural areas;

· often, the threatened closure of local rural facilities can galvanise the community and lead to new business models such as the community association run shop.

3. Responses

3.1 In order to strengthen local economies in rural areas, a number of measures are necessary.

3.2 We need to support market towns as local service centres with new investment in the infrastructure and the community.

3.3 We need to help local rural businesses run efficiently and build markets with innovative niche-market products and services.

3.4 Farming needs assistance to deal with animal diseases, rising commodity prices and develop products more compatible with a market-driven CAP. ( see Appendix 6D )

3.5 A rural renaissance is possible if we can re-balance our communities with effective use of ICT for home working or skills training, with more affordable housing provision and with more flexible planning policies which allow the development of new small-scale workplaces.

3.6 There are also opportunities for economic development through green tourism, leisure activities, short breaks etc.

4. Role of the County Council

4.1 The County Council is committed to helping maintain and improve the economic vitality of our rural communities and help them adapt to change and make the most of the opportunities. In the following section, we set out our response to the economic, employment and skills issues, detailing programmes which help.

4.2 We also need to consider how we as a Council can utilise our assets and services in a way that adapts to change but is also capable of supporting the viability of rural communities.

4.3 Resources are generally applied in partnership and often draw on other external funders or commercial sponsors. For example, the total annual cost to the County Council of the Economic Development office's rural programme is approx £175,000 and the investment `levers' approx £650,000pa. 2.5 FTE (excluding those involved directly in farming).

5. Programmes - context and actions

5.1 Support for rural communities - Economic Development Office action

e.VOLve is a database driven website with details of voluntary and community services available across Hampshire (currently over 5,000 entries) and is a valuable source of local information for rural Hampshire residents.

Access to Services - the new Village Community Grant Scheme - to support village communities threatened with the loss of their Post Office and/or their village shop, this new scheme is supported with SEEDA and HCC LABGI (Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme) funds of £400,000.

The Hampshire Market Towns Project facilitates regeneration projects in small rural

towns, total value around £2.4 million with SEEDA funds and match funding. New Milton, Alton, Stockbridge, Whitchurch and Whitehill/Bordon have projects underway with others, including Alresford and Kingsclere, at the planning stage.

5.2 Rural Businesses and employment

Context - Most rural businesses have a connection either with farming or with local services. However, there are also other opportunities to use the benefits of, for example, broadband provision to support small service industry type companies (design agencies/ architects/ marketing etc). There is limited provision of workspace for local rural businesses and often planning permission is difficult.

5.3 Actions

a) The Hampshire Employment Strategy has been developed by the EDO (Economic Development Office) in partnership with others including Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council. Its aim is to reduce economic inactivity in groups furthest from the labour market. Of the three target areas for the Strategy one is a largely rural district, the New Forest, and pilot projects are being developed.

b) Positive Planning - the EDO promotes and lobbies for the application of more flexible planning approaches to farm diversification, workshops and live/work space in rural areas amongst District Planning Authorities.

c) Showcasing Rural Business Excellence - outstanding rural businesses are promoted through the Hampshire Ambassadors scheme, Rural Business Excellence Awards, Film Hampshire and Conference Hampshire.

d) The Sustainable Business Partnership based in the EDO provides advice, information and support to rural and urban businesses across Hampshire on a broad range of sustainability issues through a partnership and project-based approach.

e) ICT - promoting home-working and smart working through the partnership work of the eHampshire Partnership, run by the EDO. A new project - Rural Touchdown Centres can help offset the daily out-pouring of commuters by providing a local, ICT-enabled, supported work-place for new start-up businesses, commuters, visitors and voluntary and community organisations, as in the case of Whitchurch.

5.4 Tourism - Recreation and Heritage Department

5.4.1 Context - Hampshire has a strong rural tourism product but competition is growing from better-resourced tourist areas at home and abroad, so the county continues to need to attract visitors. There is also a need to use careful visitor management and sustainable development to optimise returns for communities and the environment.

Key issues include a possible recession, proposed development in South Hampshire, fly-tipping, and the threats to rural pubs.

Hampshire County Council's priorities for Rural Tourism include; supporting rural tourism development for our countryside, villages and small towns; managing, developing and promoting Hampshire County Council-owned assets and the Rights of Way network with visitors in mind; and supporting the development and delivery of protected area management strategies related to tourism. Service delivery issues include; declining public sector support for tourism at the national, regional and local level; uncertainty about SEEDA's future tourism support; and a patchwork of tourism service delivery at district, borough and unitary levels.

5.4.2 Specific current rural projects for 2008/9 include:

· Open ten self-catering tented units holiday facility at Manor Farm Country Park.

· Developing a `County of Culture' campaign

· Winchester and Hampshire's Downs visitor guide for 2010.

· Extend the Pilgrims' Trail from Winchester to St Michael's Mount

· Supporting local supply chains and local produce with Hampshire Fare.

· EU funded green tourism project for Hampshire

6. Conclusion

6.1 The economy in rural areas faces continuing change as a result of CAP reforms, world and national trends in farming, and social changes. There is a substantial programme of work being undertaken by the Council as the foregoing demonstrates. However, there are also opportunities to improve the alignment of programmes, to make more use of the County Council's own physical assets, and to help promote business and employment in rural locations.

6.2 Working with its partners, the County Council should continue to capitalise on some of the positive trends working in favour of the economy in rural areas and encourage their further development. Rural areas of Hampshire do not suffer the much feared problems of depopulation - they are in high demand! The challenge is to capitalise on the high levels of demand to help create a rural renaissance with balanced, mixed communities, where local people can find local jobs, be provided with local services, and live in affordable houses. A thriving local economy will underpin this future and the following opportunities could help support and develop a strong rural economy.

7. Future interventions to support the Rural Economy

We would like to develop further projects to support rural communities in Hampshire including:-

a) Pilot rural Touch-Down Centres - providing a local, ICT-enabled, supported work-place in 2 small market towns.

b) Rural Skills and Employment Project - working with Adult Services to develop outreach services in rural communities (village halls, churches, etc) as part of the Employment Strategy, offering training in partnership with local colleges.

c) Collaborating in a Hampshire County Council led bid to the 2007-13 Rural Development Programme for England - this could focus on generating more resources to market Hampshire's rural product using new technology.

d) A `let's spruce up the county' campaign to address increased levels of littering, fly-tipping etc. This could be a corporate initiative.

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report APPENDIX 6D

Farming and Forestry

1. Introduction

This paper sets out the current prospects for farming together with Hampshire County Council's actions to support farming, drawing in contributions from a number of Hampshire County Council services (Economic Development, Property, Business and Regulatory Services and Environment).

1.1. Current situation and prospects for farming in Hampshire

The 2007 Hampshire Farming Study examined the impact of major reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2005) and revealed some worrying trends including reduced full-time agricultural employment; falling grazing livestock numbers; increased participation in government funded agri-environment schemes and increased reliance on non-farming diversification income. Continuing support for diversification throughout the farming community will provide a means of limiting uncertainties such as further CAP reform and world trade.

1.2 Hampshire Farming - Key Issues

Issue 1 - Livestock outlook poor; arable outlook good - There are signs of good recovery for Hampshire's arable sector due to changing global markets but the livestock sector is still in crisis, particularly with the ever-present threat of animal diseases. Whilst milk prices have risen recently, benefiting Hampshire dairy farmers, the viability of the pig sector is particularly at risk and may lead to a loss in production and shift to arable.

Issue 2 - Climate change - Agriculture is a very small generator of carbon dioxide, but farming generates large amounts of other greenhouse emissions in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. However, a key issue will be how the change in climate affects the seasons and traditional farming in Hampshire.

Issue 3 - Bio-fuels and World Food Shortages - HCC is currently investigating the appropriateness of various forms of bio-energy as an effective long term local solution to the energy crisis through research projects underway.

With many third world countries experiencing serious food shortages, a strategic decision will be required on the extent of the County Council's support for farmers to switch from production of crops to energy.

2. Key Hampshire County Council actions to support farming

2.1 PBRS Estates - Management of the County Farm Estate

The County Council holds approximately 2000 hectares (5000 acres) of agricultural land, being part of the County Council Smallholdings Estate with 37 fully equipped holdings (house, land and buildings) and a further 30 holdings being either bare land, houses or land and buildings. The department also manages an additional 440 hectares (1087 acres) of land for other County Council departments, primarily for grazing purposes. It also acts as managing agent on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for 817 hectares (2018 acres) of land it owns in conjunction with the County Council at Manydown, and acts as an independent planning advice to local planning authorities within Hampshire. (Budgets - the group has 4.5 FTE).

Specific service delivery issues include; having a reasonable turnover of tenants, increasingly difficult progression for County Farm tenants to move to the private sector and a lack of opportunity for tenants to farm intensively or diversify.

2.2 PBRS Regulatory Services - Summary of service delivery to support Farming

Current Key Actions:-

· Under its statutory duties, Trading Standards advise and enforce laws that impinge on rural activities - Animal Health & Welfare and Animal Feeding Stuffs, notifiable animal diseases and Food Legislation.

· Consumer Education initiatives

· Community Safety Officers now cover all Hampshire, including rural areas.

Budget - The Animal Health & Welfare Team has a direct impact on rural areas and has 5.6 FTE. Service Delivery Issues - there can be difficulties in co-ordinating of enforcement activities with many other agencies involved.

Best Practice Example - Hampshire Farmers' Markets have been recognised by the Food Standards Agency as an example of good practice in relation to a well controlled system meeting required legal standards.

2.3 Economic Development Office - key actions to support farming

Annual Hampshire Farming Conference - to debate key issues, listen to farmers' concerns and views and follow these up where possible.

Hampshire Fare, managed by the EDO, is one of the UK's most dynamic food groups and attracts support from both celebrity chef and private sector sponsors.

Hampshire Farmers' Markets were set up in 1999 by the Economic Development Office and are generating over £3million a year for farmers.

Diminishing Slaughter Facilities - helping non-organic livestock producers access new state-of-the-art abattoir and processing facilities at Laverstoke.

Public Sector Procurement - the recent Economic Development Office Rural Pathfinder Project increased public sector purchasing of local food by £1million.

Major Trade buyers - Work is underway with Waitrose, Asda, the Co-op, Tesco, and Southampton-based Cruise Industry, to source more local food.

LEADER Funding for Farming and Forestry - three Hampshire projects - the Loddon and Eversley Heritage Area, New Forest and rural East Hampshire & Winchester (known as `Fieldfare') - total value £7million over 6 years.

Resources - the Economic Development Office spend on support for farming is approx £85,000 with another £250,000 private sponsorship levered in. 5.5 fte

.

2.4 Environment Department - Forestry and Woodlands

Around 20% of Hampshire's land area (70,000ha) is covered by woodland or forest, (compared to a national average of about 8%). Hampshire is the third most wooded county with over 25% of the region's woodland resource, with a high value for both timber production and recreation.

Current HCC activity - HCC employs a Woodland Officer, in partnership with the Forestry Commission, based in the Environment Department to support sustainable management of Hampshire woodlands and raise the profile of woodland issues and their value. The Council supports the implementation of the Regional Forestry and Woodland Framework. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/seeingthewoodforthetrees

3. Future Interventions to support Farming and Forestry

3.1 County Farms -Early Interventions

· Link formally with Country Learning and CEVAS (Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme) -`free' tenant Health & Safety audits

· Conservation/Access - allocate specific funds to provide more hedge planting and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation/woodland management and uptake of Environmental Stewardship

· Continuing links with Fresh Start but link with Young Farmers' Clubs, National Farmers' Union and local colleges.

· Sustainability - water, power and heating - examine feasibility of projects to provide rainwater harvesting, reservoirs, boreholes, combined heat and power, anaerobic digestion and wind turbines.

· Create a reduced rate Tenant Farmer level of entry into Hampshire Fare

3.2 County Farms - Long-term Actions

· Re-invest in land to replace land used for development.

· Develop linkages with the private rented sector to enable tenants to move on.

· Develop long term strategies as more urban fringe identified for development.

· Explore Climate Change mitigation - look at how the Estate can help.

· Prepare for Sea Level Rise - develop strategies to deal with the issue.

· Set up a farm shop/craft centre for tenant produced goods and others.

3.3 Future Economic Development Office Interventions to support Farming

· Local Food for Health Campaign - using a Mobile Kitchen/ to promote "healthy local and fresh" to disadvantaged areas (including school meals).

· Update the Hampshire Farming Study

· Local Food Distribution Centre - local food delivered from a local hub.

3.4 Regulatory Services - Future Interventions

· Greater links with the EDO should be made to gain a fuller picture of enforcement activities and its effects on rural communities.

3.5 Forestry and Woodland - Future Interventions

· HCC providing further support for wood fuel, coppicing & timber production.

· Supplementary planning guidance needs to be developed to support the use of local material in new development and restoration projects

· Best practice examples of sustainable woodland management to support shooting/game interests to be developed and awareness to be raised through Hampshire Fare.

APPENDIX 6E

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report

Green Infrastructure and Environment

1. Introduction

The network of greenspaces and countryside that intersperses and connects settlements provide an essential link between rural and urban communities. It enhances quality of life through the multiple benefits it can provide and forms the environment within which people live, work and pass their leisure time. To ensure that this `green infrastructure' can deliver those multiple benefits into the future it will be increasingly important to work closely with and influence local communities, agencies and others.

2. Current Service Delivery

2.1 Hampshire enjoys a very diverse and high quality of environment, reflected in the extent of its statutory and local designations. Its environment is also under pressure from future planned development in the south and north east of the County, from the impacts of a changing climate and from financial uncertainties in the agriculture and forestry industries that are responsible for maintaining the quality of much of the landscape.

2.2 Much of the County Council's work in rural areas is delivered in partnership or through influencing others and includes:

· Coordinating cross-boundary green infrastructure planning and delivery involving district and borough councils and external stakeholders.

· Engaging and working with rural partners to plan and deliver local environmental enhancements including rural roads, towns and villages and rural recreation facilities through initiatives such as the Hampshire Country Towns and Villages Initiatives, Hampshire Countryside Access Plan and Hampshire Paths Partnership.

· Supporting and influencing the planning and delivery of environmental, economic and social initiatives in protected landscapes (National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and in geographic areas (e.g. Loddon/Eversley Project) in partnership with the voluntary sector, local communities, government agencies and local authorities.

· Providing advice and guidance to rural communities, agencies and land managers, either directly or through the payment of grants to charitable organisations, particularly in relation to: strategic land management, management of the historic environment and of 3,700 Sites of Importance to Nature Conservation (SINCs).

· Managing a network of over 80 countryside sites and visitor facilities, with statutory responsibilities to protect and maintain 4,500 km of public rights of way.

· Managing a farm estate of 69 holdings covering an area of almost 2,000 hectares.

· Delivering practical conservation in partnership to manage the countryside including Hampshire Grazing Project, woodland management initiatives and heathland restoration.

· Providing comprehensive information on the natural and historic environment of rural Hampshire and further developing an evidence base to influence strategic planning of rural development, green infrastructure provision and climate change adaptation.

3. Delivery issues

3.1 Engaging and working with rural communities is most effective in the protected landscapes or in areas where the County Council has a presence through land management initiatives and countryside sites. There is a significant area of central Hampshire, (between Basingstoke, Alton, Winchester and Andover) without protected landscape designation and with few County Council owned countryside assets, where opportunities to work with rural communities are limited.

3.2 The effective planning and delivery of green infrastructure requires extensive partnership working. It will also require resources for the delivery and long-term management of green infrastructure assets, at a time when more deeply rural areas are not attracting central government funds such as growth point funding, or any significant levels of developer contributions.

3.3 A lack of grazing infrastructure and mechanisms for achieving sustainable land management has left important areas for biodiversity across Hampshire unmanaged. This arises from economic uncertainty and concerns over the effectiveness of agri-environment support schemes and the effects of a changing climate on biodiversity.

3.4 The majority of the countryside sites and country parks that the County Council owns and manages are located on the rural urban fringe and concentrated in the south of the county. These play an important role in the wellbeing of local communities and in protecting and enhancing biodiversity, but require significant investment in their long-term management.

3.5 There is increasing pressure on the wider landscape and sensitive areas because of the cumulative effect of small scale housing growth.

3.6 In addition to the County Council's role as rural landowners, the delivery of its rural agenda for landscape, biodiversity and recreation management relies upon influencing the actions of others including local authorities, voluntary organisations, agencies, communities and individuals. To support its work in this area, the County Council needs to continue to build relationships and develop good quality evidence.

4. Key actions

4.1 Short-term actions

Green infrastructure planning

HCC has undertaken work in south Hampshire in partnership with rural and urban Districts and external organisations to plan for the future provision and management of green infrastructure. This has resulted in a range of potential initiatives and activities being identified, set against an evidence base, in both the rural and urban parts of the area. The approach that has been developed for planning for green infrastructure can be applied to the rest of Hampshire to provide an evidence base of needs and opportunities.

Environmental improvements in towns, villages and the highways

Sixteen environmental improvement schemes will be developed with the local communities and implemented over the next two years through the Country Towns Initiative and Hampshire Villages Initiative.

A pilot project to develop approaches to addressing safety and environmental quality issues on rural highways is being undertaken in the village of West Meon.

Develop a pilot joint working initiative with Parish Councils in East Hampshire District and the East Hampshire AONB section of the South Downs to improve countryside access.

Grant schemes to support environmental services and activities

Develop the potential to deliver local environmental improvements working in partnership with local communities through increased pump prime funding and support to the voluntary sector. Examples include the Small Grants Scheme to provide improvements to access provision and grants to environmental service providers working with land managers and rural communities.

`Leader' funding in Hampshire

Subject to final confirmation and agreement on contributory funding requirements, there are several successful bids for Leader funding for the delivery of the Rural Development Programme for England in Hampshire. The bids have been submitted by local action groups facilitated and supported by the County Council and will deliver environmental, social and economic benefits to Hampshire's rural communities over the next five years.

Web-based guidance to land managers and local communities

Based in the North Wessex Downs AONB, the development of the statutory management plan into a web-based spatial plan that provides integrated guidance and information to land managers and to local communities is underway. It is being developed in partnership with Natural England to trial web-accessible information on targeting for Environmental Stewardship schemes.

4.2 Long-term actions

Develop opportunities for community involvement

Continuing to develop opportunities for community partnerships will be essential. Projects with rural Parishes such as the Small Grant Scheme to improve access to the local environment are an example. There are opportunities for Parish Councils to lease and manage County Council assets.

Develop opportunities for initiatives that reinforce a local sense of place and distinctiveness.

Work in partnership to co-ordinate and influence an increase in the extent of SINCs to achieve sustainable management for biodiversity across Hampshire.

Develop a sound evidence base

A sound evidence base will inform future investment decisions. It will include: anticipating the likely impacts of climate change; mapping ecological networks and areas of opportunity for habitat enhancement; and building an understanding of the current and likely future requirements of the community. This should build on the landscape classification for Hampshire. The evidence base must also provide the basis for monitoring the effectiveness of a rural strategy.

5. Cross Cutting Issues

Much of the delivery of Hampshire's rural agenda is dependent on a commitment in land use policy frameworks at a regional and local level. Advice to land managers from the County Council needs to be coordinated with that from other advisors. There is a need for more support to land managers to minimise some of the problems attributed to access and maximise the benefits such as promotion of local produce. In order to further develop the County Council's policies for sustainable use of resources, there are opportunities to contribute to walking and cycling targets across the County.

APPENDIX 6F

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report

Children's Services

1. Service Delivery and Funding

Children's Services Department delivers a wide range of statutory services across rural and urban areas of the County. The issues associated with delivering services in rural areas are discussed fully in the later paragraphs of this note. Current budgets rarely allow analysis between rural and urban areas. There will be a considerable workload required to produce this information even in service areas where it might appear straightforward e.g. school budgets. Many secondary schools, for example have both urban and rural catchment areas with pupils from the rural areas entitled to free home to school transport. Rural primary schools pupil numbers are often boosted by parents driving from urban areas to smaller rural schools.

2. Accessing Services

The following points highlight both issues for "users" of the Children's Services Department services, and also the broad service delivery issues faced by the Department.

Isolation and distance to Services

2.1 Rural populations are often at some distance from the points where services are delivered. Access to services is therefore more demanding even when a car is available, but can produce very real difficulties and problems when there is a reliance on often inadequate public transport. A recent survey in Norfolk found that the number of visits to service provision decreased with increasing distance from the service location. This effect has been referred to as "distance decay".

2.2 Isolation can also be experienced by young families because even in a fairly large village there are few families with children and often not sufficient to make a nursery viable. This can be particularly true of those "rural" areas of Hampshire which attract well paid commuters who spend most of their time outside the village. These demographic patterns limit families with young children who may lack the peer support of other parents with young children. The local primary school may have many children attending from outside the catchment area. There are also positives about raising children in a rural areas including access to open space, in some villages strong community links and generally low levels of crime.

2.3 The impact of rural isolation can be felt particularly acutely by those needing to access particular specialist services. Parents of children with disabilities can face difficulties in organising short breaks. Their children already face longer than usual journeys to school in order to access specialist provision. There are similar issues for services for young carers. Other young people may be isolated from service for young people (youth clubs).

Rural Deprivation

2.4 Targeted funding for Children's Services tends to focus on urban rather than rural areas. Rural deprivation is scattered and found in small pockets which rarely show up in the existing statistical analysis. Individuals can be hidden in overall affluence. The issues about isolation from services described above are exacerbated when families do not, for example, have access to a car. The cost of car ownership can impact on other areas of family expenditure. National research suggests rural households spend 55% more on transport each week.

2.5 Traditional traveller families and children of migrant workers also face these difficulties in accessing services.

2.6 Raising levels of aspiration amongst children is key to raising their performance at school. This is also linked to parents aspirations and access to well paid employment.

3. Delivering Services

3.1 Affordability and value for money are key drivers in delivering services but in a rural context it is often difficult to bring sufficient numbers of service users together to justify service provision.

3.2 All schools are required to teach the national curriculum. This requires, particularly in secondary schools, sufficient staff with expertise across the curriculum. As school funding is driven by pupil numbers, as these decline the range of expertise within a school can also decline. Small primary schools rely on the headteachers teaching and with only a small number of teachers they can be very fragile institutions, heavily dependent on the commitment of a small number of staff. Adding curriculum led elements into the school funding model helps to mitigate but does not remove, the impact of falling rolls.

3.3 Entitlement to home to school transport lessens the transport burden on rural families, but national research has shown this to be a regressive provision with 80% of the children benefiting coming from social groups A and B. Many primary schools in rural areas have their pupil numbers supported by families driving their children to the schools from urban areas. This may boost school numbers, but does not necessarily help reduce rural isolation. Schools in rural areas can often act as centres of economic activity by providing jobs and opportunities for local services.

3.4 Increasingly schools are introducing a range of provision out of school. These "extended" schools initiatives seek to bring children from across an area together. Transport availability can have an impact as there is a need to bring together sufficient children to make the provision viable. Although largely funded through central government grants, the impact of rurality is not fully recognised. There are similar issues with the development of the 14-19 agenda and its potential impact on rural schools.

3.5 It is difficult to meet the demand of childcare and early years provision in rural areas. The problems associated with bringing together viable groups, already discussed, have an impact. Again support for families with disabled children presents additional problems.

3.6 Information and advice about services can be provided via the internet, but this depends on both coverage and the availability of the internet at home. The provision of fibre optic cables to schools has boosted the opportunity for the local community to have improved IT access.

4. Examples of actions under way

i) Build upon existing school funding formulae to add additional weighting for rurality. This has already been discussed with secondary heads. This would need agreement of the School's Forum.

ii) Given that Children's Centres are developing in partnership with the NHS mobile service delivery, to bring specialist services to rural areas.

iii) Extended schools are developing partnerships between groups of rural schools to build capacity and develop provision. From 2009 additional government grant will be available.

iv) The Early Years services will be including an additional rural weighting with the grant formulae.

v) A large scale consultation is under way under "Aiming Higher for Disabled Children". This recognises the impact rurality on services provided for rural children with disabilities, particularly the need to improve "respite" provision.

vi) Mobile provision is made for Services to Young People across many rural areas.

vii) Youth clubs help young people to pass their bike test (CBT) or learn to drive. More use could be made of basic low cost mobile caravans to provide services to young people.

APPENDIX 6G

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report

Adult Social Care

1. Current service delivery

1.1 Adult Social Care is a county-wide service that directly provides and commissions services in rural areas. Approximately 21% of care services are provided to people living in rural areas. Just over half of this is home care, but there is a significant amount of residential and nursing care provision as well. We have two in-house residential homes and we make 11% (by value) of residential placements into homes in rural areas. As well as providing vital services to vulnerable people, these services also provide local employment.

1.2 In addition we provide support to rural communities in other ways, including:

- Specific project such as the Out of Town project run as part of the Older People's Wellbeing programme. It is running in a number of villages with the aim of increasing social and support services for older people.

- Direct Payments allow service users to purchase their own care. This can be effective where traditional services are some distance away.

- Adult Placements provide residential and day care in the carer's own home. This provides equivalent care to a residential home or a day centre but in a more local setting. About 20% of our adult placement carers are based in rural areas.

- Rural communities can depend more on volunteers than urban populations, particularly to deal with transport and access issues. We support the umbrella body for 112 voluntary care groups who recruit and support volunteers who provide viral support such as transport to hospital, collection of prescriptions, shopping etc.

2. Delivery issues

2.1 The accessibility of services is a key issue for delivering in rural areas. Buildings based services tend to be located in areas of higher population, although we do have some located in areas designated as rural. Transport is therefore a key issue, hence we provide transport for many service users in partnership with the Passenger Transport Group. For those with low and moderate needs, transport can be a barrier to accessing universal services, amenities and community support that maintains their wellbeing. Isolation and accessibility of amenities are factors in wellbeing.

2.2 Transport is also an issue in relation to providing care and recruiting carers. Care workers are not always mobile, lacking cars or being unwilling to travel distances or through country areas at night. The localism of the workforce is also an issue in staffing services in rural areas where the labour market can be limited. The wellbeing and personalisation agendas do, however, present opportunities to improve our offer to rural communities. The delivery of advice and information is a key dimension of supporting wellbeing. This can be delivered through a range of access routes that can be tailored to rural needs. Personalisation will allow service users more flexibility to design their care plan to meet their circumstances, including the issues relating to rural living.

3. Key actions

3.1 The personalisation of adult social care is key to meeting the needs of vulnerable people in rural communities. Personalising social care through Self Directed Care means giving people more choice and more control to shape the support we give to their needs and circumstances. It will give people with social care needs and their families the tools to find solutions that work for them. It will cover a range of responses from choice over what goes into their care plan for us to deliver, through voucher based schemes to direct payments, where they take control of the money to purchase their own care.

3.2 We need to continue to develop community based solutions. This includes promoting Adult Placements. Adult Placements carers takes people into their own home to provide residential and day care. This is an effective solution in more sparsely populated areas that can keep people in their community. We also need to build on the Community Innovations Flagship Project to help people with low and moderate needs access local support, including voluntary & community support.

3.3 The development of information and advice services is a priority for Adult Services. Hantsdirect is a key vehicle for this. However, we need to ensure that rural communities are well served by a range of ways of accessing information and support. Whilst telephone and internet access will be county-wide, it does not suit everyone. We therefore need to look at how we can provide this service using existing rural resources, including mobile libraries, village halls, GP surgeries etc.

3.4 Housing is an important issue for all vulnerable people and ensuring that homes are fit for purpose is key to maintaining independence. Our Extra Care Housing Strategy for Older People and supported living arrangements for people with learning and physical disabilities provide community based alternatives to residential care. Whilst some of these are based in rural locations, like residential care, they tend to be located near population centres. If we are to maintain people in their own communities, the suitability of the general housing stock is a major issue. We are reviewing our approach to aids and adaptations to ensure that the service is accessible and flexible. The Lifetime Homes Standard is an important medium to long term aim, making sure that there is an adequate supply of housing that is suitable for people with disabilities and age related needs. The Standard includes issues such as wheelchair accessibility and adaptability for lifts and hoists.

3.5 In communities where services and amenities are limited, volunteering is a vital resource. Whether this is informal support from good neighbours or more organised through the WI, Voluntary Care Groups etc, it is a vital support system. We need to continue to work with the voluntary sector to promote volunteering.

Case study

Putting People First is the commission of inquiry launched by the Leader of the County Council. It is examining how social care can be transformed so that the emphasis is on the individual's dignity, right to self-determination, choice, control and power over the support services they receive. This is called personalisation.

Personalisation means moving away from traditional social care where people are fitted into a limited set of available statutory services. It involves considering a person as an individual with aspirations, as well as needs, and a circle of family, friends and other resources and support mechanisms around them. It considers the context of people's lives. Personalised social care will be more responsive to the needs of rural communities, allowing more flexibility to create personal and local solutions that do not require transport to a population centre.

The commission hearings are taking place between April and September. It will shape the future of social care in Hampshire and is key to meeting the social care needs of those in rural communities.

4. Cross cutting issues

4.1 Housing

Ensuring that the housing needs of vulnerable people are taken into account in the fulfilment of the County Council's strategic planning role, e.g. by adopting and promoting the Lifetime Homes Standard.

4.2 Transport

Universal access to transport is as important to vulnerable people as specialist transport, and is an important dimension of their social inclusion.

4.3 Access - Information and Advice

There is an opportunity to build on Hantsdirect to utilise rural resources to disseminate information and advice.

APPENDIX 6H

Rural Delivery Work Stream Report

Community, Leisure and Culture

1. Introduction

1.1 Developing a Rural Delivery Strategy fits strongly into the place-shaping and local community focus of the County Council and particularly the Recreation and Heritage Department. Through providing access to leisure and cultural opportunities a better quality of life can be enjoyed by all Hampshire's residents and visitors. The department offers a range of services to rural areas, but there is potential to develop our services to make the best use of the county's valuable assets and resources, to create services that are sustainable in the future that everyone can access.

1.2 The green space and countryside of Hampshire provides the backdrop for recreation and cultural activities and the character of cultural richness and diversity is a valuable Hampshire asset that can sustain healthy rural communities and attract businesses and people to live and work in both rural and urban areas. A sense of belonging can be engendered through encouraging people to have a better understanding of Hampshire's history and heritage and to be active participants in their local community.

2. Current service delivery to rural areas

2.1 Provision to rural areas is a combination of;

a) direct service access through local or mobile service points or managed sites

b) support, facilitation and enabling role e.g. funding, advice, information, volunteering opportunities

Direct service access is costly to sustain (staff, buildings). The support role provides a flexible and responsive way to meet local needs and work in partnership with other departments, external organisations and especially with local community organisations.

2.2 A diverse range of community services are provided by the County Council as follows:

Recreation and Heritage provision to rural areas includes;

_ Arts Service: Hog the Limelight touring events programme and grant funding of local community arts organisations and events.

_ Museum & Archives: Rural life collections, interpretation and understanding of the Hampshire landscape, society and rural communities - how they have evolved and are changing; core delivery and projects working with local communities; talks to community history groups; active collecting of the natural and geological history of Hampshire and its biodiversity; Community Museums with collections reflecting the changing landscape of an area setting the full story of a community and its environs in context defining the local sense of place; touring exhibitions tell the story of Hampshire's social, economic and rural life; management of rural heritage sites e.g. Bursledon Windmill, Basing House, Danebury Ring.

_ Library & Information Service: Rural Library Link and Community Library Link mobiles; a network of small community library buildings; market town libraries - very popular and well-used by rural populations as natural centres; Discovery Centre style shared facilities e.g. Botley, Whitchurch - a flexible approach adapting models to suit the local community.

_ Community Support Service: working in partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies to provide support to the community through its Community Associations and Village Halls including management advice, training and development; vital capital grant aid funding to over 100 Community Associations and just over 300 Village Halls.

_ Countryside & Rights of Way: a network of 80sites including 7 major country parks, nature reserves, historic sites, a variety of protected landscapes, 4,500km of public rights of way all managed to provide the opportunity for people to access and enjoy Hampshire's countryside. The service provides an extensive range of learning activities in the outdoors and a range of volunteer opportunities.

Property Business and Regulatory Services provision to rural areas includes:

_ Registration Service - provides registration of births/deaths/civil marriages/funerals/marriages - recent changes have simplified the arrangements for registration and improved accessibility and reduce the need to travel.

_ School Meals Provision - provision of meals by the HC3S business extend well beyond the local school and includes the provision of `Meals on Wheels' in some rural areas of the County and linkages to PCTs through dietary improvement.

_ Transport for Rural School Pupils - is provided by Hampshire Transport Management.

_ County Supplies - provide efficient procurement services for rural schools and parish councils.

_ Community Safety Partnerships - the deployment of Community Safety Officers has provided significant support for police officers operating in rural areas.

_ New Build, Refurbishment and Maintenance projects are undertaken across the full range of County Council buildings.

3. The delivery issues in rural areas

3.1 Providing cost-effective, efficient and sustainable delivery and improving access to leisure and cultural services for isolated communities or households in rural areas presents many challenges not all unique to rural areas. Communities on the edge of urban areas that are neither urban or rural can fall through the gap because there isn't the village community structure to provide and support access locally to leisure and cultural services. The issues that affect delivery include;

_ complexity of structures of local government; number of organisations and partners involved in local delivery and the difficulties of finding the best way of working with different local set-ups; the complexities and nuances of village politics mean that sometimes progress can be slow.

_ concerns about duplication of effort and `delivery' by different organisations (voluntary, district, parish) and how best to coordinate work with partners.

_ framework and structure within the County Council to deal with delivery in different areas; there is a need to work together, see the value of partnership, and draw agendas together to achieve better outcomes.

_ staff skills to work in local settings;

_ reliance on volunteers with commitment, and willingness to drive and coordinate at a local level. Are there enough volunteers and do they have the support to sustain participation and involve all age groups?

_ identifying the community focus (person and venue) in a local village is key to establish a network for delivery/contact.

_ transport access and the need to support/broker; some rural communities have organised transport and there may be an opportunity to ensure other county council services e.g. libraries, are included in the shopping visit or include a drop-off and pick-up at a countryside site on route.

_ state of village halls and county council policy on the future investment in local community buildings.

_ mobile service provision - County Council and services of other organisations are delivered to rural communities in an uncoordinated way; concern about fuel costs, environmental impact, and road congestion e.g. the mobile library service currently runs 19 vehicles which may not be sustainable in the long term.

_ to further enhance access to the Registration Service will be a key aim of changes which are underway to the Registration Service.

4. Key activities and opportunities

4.1 Expansion of Hog the Limelight touring arts programme

The Hog programme has a waiting list of 20 villages and potential for expansion at relatively little cost. It could be developed to work with village schools via the Extended Schools programme, or to offer more participatory activity and visual arts work rather than performance based activity to meet different needs. The investment in Hog has built capacity and growing this would enable more communities to organise, sustain and bear the risk of putting on events supported by popular delivery so that no village has to be turned down in future.

4.2 Promoting access to grant or funding support

Find better ways to promote access to County Council funding available for rural communities or organisations e.g. arts and sports grants perhaps via library mobiles. Providing advisory support or match funding to local lottery or other funding bids is also important for local communities.

4.3 Museum collections based in local or rural and accessible locations

The Museum and Countryside Services are already discussing options to relocate some of the rural life and agricultural collections to countryside sites to places such as Manor Farm, Queen Elizabeth and Staunton country parks.

4.4 Recreation and Heritage - `rural kit' a packaged offer to local communities

Through identified local community organisation contacts and through building partnerships in villages it would be possible to offer a package of delivery for communities to take up/buy-in. A `rural kit'(leisure and culture plus other services) for villages via the local community organisation would comprise a package of what can be facilitated and how to do it. It is essential to support and build the capacity and skills of people/volunteers in the local community so local people are able to select from what is available. A `rural kit' could cover a youth offer, activities for children and opportunities for older people; talks, displays, loan materials, advice service, community case displays, promote adult learning, local guided walks etc.

4.5 Better use of shared or local buildings

The development of the Extended Schools programme offers an opportunity to develop the cultural entitlement for young people, using a venue in the local community offering a directory of the types of work that could be facilitated. The Extended Schools programme could be key - village schools could be the hub venue and extend into holiday times with the involvement of partners and volunteers with the school via Governors/PTA and offer cross-generational activities. The County Council's extensive investment in schools in rural areas has enhanced the learning environment for pupils' facilities for community use. Examples are the new school hall at South Baddesley CoE Primary School and the new primary school for Abbott's Ann.

5. General suggestions and cross-cutting issues

5.1 Building the capacity of community organisations

The County Council may consider what it can do to help local communities to help themselves rather than doing it for them or to them and help to build the capacity of the main community organisation in each community/village. The County Council cannot always be the deliverer but can facilitate local communities to manage the responsibility for taking up an `offer' to respond to local needs. Working together with local districts, parishes and other partners are key to sustaining the local `delivery' partner organisation.

5.2 Develop a strategy to maintain and develop village halls

The condition of many village halls is deteriorating. Volunteers and local Parishes are facing more health and safety and administrative regulations. If funds are not available to maintain premises they may become unsafe, unattractive and consequently less-used and then close. The County could agree a strategy to invest more in the major capital grants scheme to ensure these are rebuilt as environmentally sustainable village halls that have doctors surgeries, shops and post office services - a shared community venue.

5.3 Funding the Village Halls Advisor

The Village Halls Advisor is a key role in community support. Currently a part-time post based in Community Action Hampshire (CAH). The funding provided through Defra is coming to an end leaving an unfunded deficit of 16K. The post is not currently funded through the County's core grant to CAH. CAH plays a key role in brokering the structure to support villages, through its national contacts, networks and role as a Rural Community Council. The options are;

- the Village Halls Advisor remain within CAH as an integral part of that network funded through the Service Level Agreement

- or is funded and sit within the County Council's Community Support function.

The role reflects the problems of a complicated delivery and facilitating structure to help local communities but is essential to work with the Parish Councils (who have the power to raise precept) and Village Hall Trustees.

5.4 Transport issues - advice on community transport

There are various models and good practice that could be facilitated e.g.;

- The County Council could allow staff time in lieu for volunteer work e.g. to drive a community bus to a weekend event at Calshot.

- Touring activities bus - taking the idea of rural activities play scheme and adapting it to combine roles e.g. Forest Bus. The bus would feature on the `Rural kit' offer/list as something that the community organisation can book/arrange to respond to local needs.

5.5 ICT access to services

Developing ICT access and making sure people can afford it and know where to find services is crucial. For example adult learning access in rural communities can be limited by numbers, lack of transport or cost but with more courses online there is an opportunity to target and support independent e-learning, including subsidies.

6. Summary

Community, culture and leisure can contribute across many agendas and the County Council already has a presence in many local communities that may offer potential for improving local access to the county's services.