Winner: Breckland Economic Development Team, Norfolk

Rural areas tend to be neglected by economic development initiatives, but Breckland has shown how small rural communities can be helped and supported by committed and inspiring leadership and by engaging local communities through genuine partnership.

The Breckland Economic Development Team focused on the community and voluntary sectors, as well as businesses, to increase employability and local skills. Another aspect of its success was in providing office support for many small projects and initiatives which alone would have struggled to manage this area of responsibility.

The results have been wide-ranging, including town centre renewal, youth and community capacity building, transport infrastructure, childcare support and workforce training.

The project is an excellent demonstration of how dispersed rural communities can be effectively assisted and supported to meet their very real needs for regeneration and improvement.

There were other promising applications with a rural dimension that deserved recognition.

Dene Valley Community Partnership

A group of volunteers got together to tackle the problems of one of the most deprived districts in the North East. Some 3,100 people in nine former mining villages have benefited from the Partnership including training, children’s activities, youth facilities and a launderette service. The Partnership demonstrates how local people can tackle problems by taking full advantage of local as well as national and regional resources of all kinds.

Peak District National Park Youth Engagement Project

This project made a special effort to involve a group untypical of the `usual suspects` engaged in National Park affairs. Local school partnerships, a variety of events, and other communications have been used to hear more from a ‘hard to reach’ part of society.

Fenland District’s Customer First

Like Breckland, this project addressed the challenge of providing council services to dispersed rural communities. It has done this primarily by setting up four one-stop shops in selected market towns. Focusing on business support, decent and affordable homes, and the streetscape environment, the project has involved both staff and customers in developing a highly successful service.