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13/11/03 - Rural proofing makes for equal services to all

Cumbria County Council has agreed a method for `rural proofing’ policies to ensure that access to service across rural and urban Cumbria are comparable. The concept of `rural proofing’ is to build in a way of looking at the effect of Council policies on rural areas at an early stage of policy development. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has praised the county council for being among the first authorities in the north west to adopt such a procedure.   

County Councillor Rex Toft, Leader of Cumbria County Council explains,    

"The county council’s Corporate Strategy commits it to an action plan for rural communities. The action plan includes rural proofing as a means of taking account of the effects of new policies on rural communities. Rural proofing will be built into the policy-making process and will not merely be a last check when the policy has already been developed. This builds on the good work already undertaken through the Rural Action Zone and Rural Regeneration Company initiatives."   

Mr Prescott said:   

"Cumbria County Council is to be congratulated in taking the initiative to embed rural proofing in its mainstream policy and service delivery - the first local authority in the region to do so, I believe - to the benefit of rural communities throughout Cumbria. I agree with the council that rural proofing should be applied widely to cover matters such as land acquisition and disposal, strategic planning and sustainable communities plans."   

Cabinet has identified the Leader of the Council, Rex Toft, as a `Champion for Rural Proofing’ to work with Michael Hyatt, Head of Policy looking at ways councillors and officers can best achieve this. As rural champion, Rex Toft will speak up for the countryside, ensuring that the interests of the rural communities area taken into account and will lead a working group of officers from across departments to `rural proof’ past and future council policy.   

The Cabinet endorsed the `Rural Proofing’ methodology including proposals to    

  • Ensuring that all reviews of county council services look at the level of satisfaction in rural areas and suggestions for improvement from people living in them. Individual market towns could be targeted for possible reviews of all county council services   
  • Asking frontline staff in rural areas to suggest ways of improving policies and their implementation   
  • Giving scrutiny committees a watching brief enabling them to challenge the way services are delivered or how specific communities are served.    
  • Seeking feedback from neighbourhood forums on delivery of services in rural areas 
  • Setting up a rural focus group    
  • Raising awareness of rural issues among senior managers and other officers.   

Other practical steps include asking each rural neighbourhood forum to identify five key council activities to be reviewed.