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Benefits and Costs of Co-locating Services in Rural Scotland

DescriptionCo-location of services (two or more services typically housed in one facility) is perceived as being a possible route to more efficient delivery in sparsely populated areas, but the benefits and costs of this have rarely been quantified. While costs of service delivery are generally observable, the social benefits are not. Accordingly, this research has attempted to measure benefits of co-located services relative to costs. The study found that the social benefits deriving from the presence o
ISBN09502254 (Web Only)
Official Print Publication DateMarch 2007
Website Publication DateMarch 28, 2007

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Dominic Moran, Clare Hall, Alistair McVittie, Scottish Agricultural College
ISSN 0950 2254
ISBN 978 0 7559 6559 5 (Web only publication)
This document is also available in pdf format Main document (960k) Appendices (806k)

Contents

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary

Chapter one: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Policy background
1.3 Defining co-location
1.4 Cost Benefit Analysis
1.5 The benefits of service provision
1.6 Approaches to Measuring benefits
1.7 Measuring costs
1.8 Project approach and report structure

Chapter two: Literature review of key rural services and co-location
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Service prioritisation
2.3 Services suitable for co-location based on service function
2.4 Services commonly co-located
2.5 Co-location examples
2.6 Conclusions

Chapter three: Stakeholder consultation workshop
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Methods
3.3 Exercise on service prioritisation
3.4 Hypothetical models of co-location
3.5 Recommended case studies
3.6 Conclusions

Chapter four: Qualitative research on service provision in case study areas
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methods
4.3 Case study one - Stornoway
4.4 Case study two - Eastriggs
4.5 Case study three - Applecross
4.6 Conclusions

Chapter five: Quantitative survey - Attitudes to services
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Methods
5.3 Attitudes towards rural service provision

Chapter six: Quantitative survey - Choice experiment
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Methods
6.3 Results
6.4 Relative preference orderings
6.5 Discussion of preference orderings
6.7 Conclusions

Chapter seven: Costs of service provision
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Costs
7.3 Cost of service delivery
7.4 Consideration of costs from stakeholder workshop in Perth
7.5 Case study area cost information
7.6 Conclusion

Chapter eight: Comparison of costs and benefits of service delivery options
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Methods
8.3 Non-market benefit scenarios
8.4 Cost benefit analysis of service provision scenarios
8.5 Conclusions

Chapter nine: Conclusions

References

APPENDIX 1: CASE STUDY SELECTION
APPENDIX 2: TOPIC GUIDE FOR CASE STUDY WORKSHOPS
APPENDIX 3: STATEMENT FROM SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE DISTRIBUTED AT WORKSHOPS
APPENDIX 4: STORNOWAY WORKSHOPS
APPENDIX 5: EASTRIGGS WORKSHOPS
APPENDIX 6: APPLECROSS WORKSHOPS
APPENDIX 7: INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHOICE SETS
APPENDIX 8: COST PROFORMA
APPENDIX 9: SAMPLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

List of Tables
Table 1: Service benefit categorisation
Table 2: The information, expert, social and physical functions of services
Table 3: Service prioritisation
Table 4: Selected case studies
Table 5: Suggested services for co-location.
Table 6: Choice experiment attributes and levels
Table 7: Choice experiment results for the three areas.
Table 8: Implicit prices (£/household/annum).
Table 9: Welfare losses of increasing distances to access services
Table 10: Annual costs for co-located services.
Table 11: Annual service provision costs for council services outlet co-located in Eastriggs Post Office (2005 £).
Table 12: Cost benefit analysis of Eastriggs council service outlet cost and service scenarios.
Table 13: Cost benefit analysis of Applecross library service scenarios.
Table 14: Cost benefit analysis of Stornoway Voluntary Resource Centre service scenarios.

List of figures
Figure 1: Stages of the methodology
Figure 2: Group one service prioritisation
Figure 3: Group two service prioritisation
Figure 4: Group one co-location model
Figure 5 : Group two co-location model
Figure 6: The completed mapping exercise at the afternoon workshop in Stornoway
Figure 7: Locations of sample areas and respondents.
Figure 8: Summary of attitudinal responses amongst Eastriggs respondents.
Figure 9: Summary of attitudinal responses amongst Applecross respondents.
Figure 10: Summary of attitudinal responses amongst Lewis respondents.
Figure 11: Usage frequencies for different services.
Figure 12: Service users' perceptions of quality.
Figure 13: Service users' distances from service.
Figure 14: Suitability of services for co-location.
Figure 15: Example choice set
Figure 16: Comparison of estimated coefficients.
Figure 17: Implicit prices.

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Page updated: Wednesday, March 28, 2007