Defra Rural Social and Communities Programme

Introduction

Lord Haskins’ Rural Delivery Review in 2003 recommended that key decisions about rural delivery should be taken more at regional and local levels, and that current funding programmes should be streamlined and simplified. Defra’s new Rural Social and Communities Programme is designed to do this by building on the Countryside Agency and Defra social and community programmes (such as parish plans, rural housing enablers, community development workers and rural transport partnerships) and bring them into a single funding programme, directed by local priorities. The Voluntary and Community Sector is intended to lead the preparation of sub-regional business cases, based on local evidence, through the appropriate sub-regional partnership.

The programme is relatively small and is not intended to provide ongoing support for delivery of services - it should be emphasised that it is not a grant aiding programme, but more an investment in building capacity to deliver key strategic priorities in the county. The programme may only make a limited impact in some areas e.g. affordable housing, but the aspiration is that it can at least play a part in enabling these issues to be picked up in other strategic work (e.g. community planning, Local Area Agreements) to help elevate rural issues up the agenda of local authorities, service providers and other relevant bodies.

The specific aims of Defra’s Rural Social and Community Programme are:

To enhance the community capacity building and entrepreneurial capability of rural communities so that those communities can work together to shape their own future
To help socially excluded individuals in rural communities improve their life chances
To develop the capacity of the voluntary and community sector, and of the town and parish council sector, to reinforce the delivery of the first two aims.

More information on the background to the RSCP can be found on the Defra website.

RSCP in Bedfordshire

BRAF was tasked with developing the business case in Bedfordshire. Funding for the new programme is for two years, starting in April 2006 ending March 2008, and is revenue funding. It is anticipated that Bedfordshire will receive around £203k revenue funding each year for the two years.

The Business Plan for Bedfordshire identifies five inter-related areas of activity for funding under the Rural Social and Community Programme. Each of the project areas has as its basis the use of community development processes that will, by working with individuals and communities collectively, contribute to improving and enhancing social capital and cohesion, community self-help, participatory governance and to sustainable involvement.

Developing collective rural community capacity through support of the Bedfordshire Rural Affairs Forum;
Building rural capacity at parish level;
Building capacity of the rural voluntary and community sector through sustainable volunteering and targeted development support;
Tackling rural disadvantage through improving access in rural Bedfordshire;
Ensuring affordable housing in rural Bedfordshire.