Breadcrumbs
Stop Once, Shop Once - 9 December 2003
For many people living in the countryside just ‘popping in to the doctor’s for a repeat prescription, nipping into the library for a careers guide and picking up some leaflets at the jobcentre’ could well involve a 20 mile round trip lasting the whole day. If they could do all of this in just one place it would make a tremendous difference to their lives, according to Sir Ewen Cameron, chairman of the Countryside Agency and the government’s rural advocate.
Speaking at the launch of new guidance on how to deliver a variety of public services to rural people through single outlets - ‘one-stop shops’ today (Tuesday 9 December), Sir Ewen said: “Creating more one-stop shops in market towns not only benefits people living in the town and surrounding villages, but provides economies of scale for the service providers too. Our good practice guide uses case studies and examples that show that there is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’, but will encourage communities to learn from the problems and successes of these eight existing case studies across the country.
“Living in the countryside should not be a luxury for a few and a burden for others, one-stop shops are a way of ensuring that everyone living in the countryside has access to the basic services, and I hope that many communities, service providers, policy makers and practitioners will make good use of this guide”, Sir Ewen concluded.
After carrying out detailed research in eight English Market Towns and drawing on comment and information from over 50 others, the Countryside Agency has produced a good practice guide for market towns and their surrounding communities ‘Setting up one-stop shops – a good practice handbook on linking services in market towns’. The research has focused on market towns, however the Agency’s view is that it could be replicated in various forms across the range of rural settlements.
‘Setting up one-stop shops – a good practice handbook on linking services in market towns can be downloaded from our web site on www.countryside.gov.uk/publicationsor obtained free from Countryside Agency Publications, PO Box 125, Wetherby, West Yorkshire,
LS23 7EP, Tel 0870 120 6466.
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Notes to editors
The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.
The eight case studies in the guidance are:
Brandon Communities Partnership, Suffolk
Contact Cyril Brown Tel: 01842 816173
Email: cyril.brown@brandoncop.org.uk
Website: www.brandoncop.org.uk
It is planned that the Healthy Living Centre will accommodate 11 GPs and possibly a dentist, with associated meeting and counselling rooms. Other facilities planned for the same site include: a new library; Citizens’ Advice Bureau; offices and accommodation for the Town Council; tourist information; district council housing office; playgroup and nursery accommodation; retail and office space; a café/bar; an arts centre and conference facilities.
East Grinstead Help Point
Contacts Barbara Broadway Tel: 01342 300780
Email: east.grinstead.help.point@westsussex.gov.uk
Jennifer Elwood Tel: 01243 756665
Email: jennifer.elwood@westsussex.gov.uk
The aim of the Help Point is to give information about all levels of council services, as well as health services and central government advice. This is provided by leaflets and surgeries, with Help Point staff answering initial enquiries and directing the public to the appropriate information. In addition, there are a range of other services available within the building. These include the CVS, Tourist Information, the East Grinstead Access Office, Sussex Careers service, Housing Benefits and the Town Twinning Association. Public ICT access is available within the library.
Fakenham ConnectContact Anna Graves Tel: 01603 223254
Email: anna.graves@norfolk.gov.uk
Fakenham Connect provides information on town, district and county council services, community information, health information and benefits verification. It also answers tourism enquiries, when the adjacent tourist information office is closed. Other services available to the public in the building or immediate vicinity are the library, Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Registrar’s office and Town Council offices, as well as the Housing, Building Control, Environmental Health and Planning Services Departments of North Norfolk District Council. There is no separate confidential meeting room. Fakenham Connect opens five days a week during office hours and access for people with disabilities is good.
Haltwhistle Partnership
Contact Kirsten Francis Tel: 01434 321242
Email: admin@haltwhistle.org
Website: www.haltwhistle.org
The Partnership Office is a three-story building in the centre of Haltwhistle. It is open normal office hours five days a week. Disabled access is to the ground floor only. Office space and ancillary facilities are available for three staff on the ground floor together with a free-to-use public computer terminal with internet access. A large meeting room occupies the first floor together with a computer training suite, and a small meeting room. Additional office space on the second floor is occupied by voluntary sector tenants. In addition, a further twelve organisations use the office to deliver services on a ‘hot desk’ basis. Another ground floor shop unit owned by the Partnership is let out to a privately run café.
Ibstock Community Shop
Contact Rachel Elliott Tel: 01530 262 882
Email: info@ibstock.org.uk
Website: www.ibstock.org.uk
The Community Shop contains a large reception area providing a range of information. This area is screened off from a meeting room which also contains computer terminals for staff and public use. A separate confidential meeting room is being constructed. The Community Shop is open weekdays during normal office hours and Saturday mornings. It has good access for disabled users. Services offered include local information and publications, learning and employment advice, office and secretarial services with photocopier provision, room and equipment hire. There is also a cashier’s booth for the Hinckley and Rugby Building Society, with a cash machine outside the building operated by the Bank of Scotland. Other services offered by external organisations operating from the Community Shop include various voluntary and neighbourhood consultation surgeries. A range of local interest groups make use of the premises for meetings. At one time, the CAB also operated from the building but levels of use declined and it now operates from Coalville.
Longtown Investment Partnership
Contact Karen Johnson, Tel: 01228 791739
Email: karenjo@carlisle-city.gov.uk
Website: www.longtown-uk.net
The parish council and Market Towns Initiative are both based in the Arthuret council building in the centre of the town. The accommodation provides an office for the parish clerk and a meeting room with ancillary facilities on the ground floor. The MTI office is located on the first floor and a local church leases the remaining floorspace. The meeting room is used by a wide range of local organisations and includes surgeries provided by Carlisle City Council for benefits advice and advice by the Chamber of Commerce. In future it is hoped to encourage the CAB to work from the Centre. At the southern end of Longtown there is a community centre that provides health advice, a gym and sauna, a soft play area, playgroup and youth outreach project, as well as a lounge bar and conference room. Additional services available across the town are a Sure Start nursery and IT resources located in a primary school, a FE centre attached to the secondary school, a swimming pool, library and youth workers. There are also proposals in hand for a food project. Currently, health services are provided from two clinics although there is the possibility of combining them, if a suitable site can be found.
Moreton-in-Marsh Area Centre
Contact Rosemary Lynn Tel: 01285 623000
Email: rosemary.lynn@cotswold.gov.uk
The Centre offers a wide range of facilities, including assistance for elderly people and people with disabilities and hosts 42 voluntary organisations. It also provides display areas on local services and tourist information for the local area. Surgeries are held by the planning department of Cotswold District Council with drop in assistance for council tax and housing matters, as well as cashier facilities for council tax, business rates and building regulations fees. A Citizens’ Advice Bureau surgery is available one-and-a-half days a week. IT courses are offered by Gloucestershire College of Art and Technology (GLOSCAT), as well as Connexions careers advice and support service for young people. The launch of the first ever on-line CAB service took place in May 2003.
Walton Community Centre
Contact Sally Fisher/Brenda Page Tel: 01255 677006
Email: sallyfisher@walton-on-the-naze.com
brendapage@walton-on-the-naze.com
Website: www.walton-on-the-naze.com
The office provides: a base for the town centre manager; volunteer bureau and community voluntary services; careers service; general information service for local people and tourists; accommodation for adult community courses; an advice service by HSBC bank; monthly Busines