Rural Delivery Pathfinders
What are the Rural Delivery Pathfinders?
The rural delivery pathfinder programme was launched jointly by Defra and local government in March 2005 to look at innovation in rural service delivery, test opportunities for more joined-up approaches to rural service delivery and look at local priority setting. Since then, the eight rural delivery pathfinder local authorities (one in each region, excluding London) have been engaged in intensive experimenting in numerous aspects of rural delivery.
The rural pathfinders were announced as part of the Government's Rural Strategy and formed a significant element of Defra's move to develop a more devolved and modernised approach to rural delivery.
The eight pathfinders are;
- Shropshire County Council;
- Lancashire County Council;
- Fens (jointly Cambridgeshire and Norfolk County Councils);
- Humber (East Riding of Yorkshire County Council);
- Dorset County Council;
- Hampshire County Council;
- Peak District (Derbyshire Dales District Council);
- West Durham (Durham County Council).
Amongst the many issues tackled by individual pathfinder projects were affordable housing, local transport, parish planning, economic development, and community broadband access.
Publication of national report – February 2008
Defra has published a report on behalf of the Pathfinders ‘Rural Challenges, local solutions’ 
(1.29 MB). The report is a summary of the outcomes and key messages of the programme.
The report highlights the achievements of the pathfinders which are broadly of three types:
- Demonstrating new approaches to managing rural delivery and using the results to influence policy at national, regional, sub-regional and local levels;
- Developing and road-testing tools and other resources that can be applied more widely (e.g. “how to do” guidance and toolkits, information resources and joined up service delivery);
- Generating learning and good practice which can be acted on by policy makers, service delivery managers and solution facilitators.
To build on what has been achieved, the report recommends action on three fronts:
- Mainstreaming the success and good practices generated by the Pathfinders, both within the Pathfinder authorities and more widely across local government in England;
- Improving the delivery pathways for effective delivery by building on the achievements of the Pathfinders and by responding to the factors that hindered delivery; and
- Capturing the learning from the Pathfinders and making it easily accessible to those who would benefit from applying it in the future.
The report also contains a number of recommendations at national, regional and local levels to build on the work for sustaining the momentum for improvement over the medium to long term. Defra is drawing up an action plan to take forward the recommendations addressed to Defra and is working with the Pathfinder authorities on ways to take forward the recommendations at local level.
Where can I find out more about the individual pathfinders?
The majority of the Pathfinder authorities have published their own regional pathfinder reports. These can be accessed, together with other information specific to the individual pathfinder, via the pathfinder websites opposite.
A wealth of case study material about the work of the pathfinders is also available via the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) website.
The rural delivery pathfinder prospectus [168KB] provided further details on the background, aims and purpose of the pathfinders.
Page last modified:
26 February, 2008
Page published: 25 November, 2004