The background to Parish Action Plans
The context for Parish Action Plans was outlined in the Rural White Paper 2000 ‘Our Countryside The Future’ that sets out the governments vision for the countryside and rural areas. External link to Rural White Paper (Please note this White Paper is a pdf file and is 176 pages long so may take some time to download depending upon your connection speed.)
The White Paper states that the Government wants ‘to give rural communities the chance to set out what their town or parish should look like and to guide its future development. The best decisions on these issues result from giving local people a share in those decisions.’
In response to the White Paper the Town and Parish Action Plan concept was developed by the Countryside Agency. Town and Parish Action Plans were part of the Vital Villages scheme which offered a range of grants to help rural communities take action for themselves on issues like transport and community activities.
Between March 2001 and March 2004 the Countryside Agency ran a pilot project giving 1000 rural communities across the country the resources to produce a Parish Plan. The Parish Action Plan process is now established in every region and over 1,250 communities have either completed or are working to complete their Parish Action Plan.
In April 2005 Defra was pleased to announce that £1 million would be available to offer continued support to Parish Action Plans until March 2006.
BRAF has recently obtained funding under Defra's Rural, Social & Communities Programme to continue to support the development of Parish Action Plans in the county, until March 2008. Please click this internal link for further information about funding for Parish Action Plans