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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW OF KEY RURAL SERVICES AND CO-LOCATION

2.1 Introduction

In order to inform feasible models of co-location we examined the issue of prioritisation of services for rural areas. A range of reports have detailed what services are considered to be most important for rural areas. This chapter summarises findings from the relevant literature. Consideration is also given to the suitability of particular services for co-location, and examples of existing co-location are presented. The information in this chapter provides the basis for the subsequent stages of research.

2.2 Service prioritisation

Key rural services

In England and Wales the Countryside Agency names ten services viewed as being key for rural areas. These are:

• Banks and building societies
• Cashpoints
• Post offices
• Supermarkets
• Petrol stations
• Primary schools
• Secondary schools
• GP surgeries
• Job centres
• Libraries

This list represents the 10 services that the Agency has been monitoring since 2000.

This is similar to a list provided by Edwards (2005) ²⁹, drawn from a Scottish Executive report ³⁰.

• Primary schools
• GPs
• Post offices
• Bank / building society
• Petrol stations
• General stores
• Supermarkets
• Higher and further education
• Hospitals
• Job centres

There may, however, be less than 10 services that could be considered to be key to vibrant rural communities. In a list derived from a survey of 2000 rural residents living in 50 localities across Scotland, Hope et al (2000) suggest only four ³¹:

• Shop
• Primary school
• GP
• Community Hall

During the 1990s, the (then) Rural Development Commission used a list of eight key services and a further 10 important services. As with the Countryside Agency list above, these were derived by policy makers for the purpose of monitoring rural areas.

Key: Permanent shop of any kind, general store, post office, village hall, public house, bus service, primary school, school for any age.

Important: Petrol station, bank, nursery, day care for the elderly, GP, dentist, pharmacy, library, community mini-bus, police station.

Council services

There are also council services ³² (provision of which is now overseen by Community Planning Partnerships) that are clearly of importance to all areas. The list below outlines the fundamental council services (a more detailed list of council services can be found in a Scottish Executive Discussion paper ³³). As will be shown in later chapters, many of these are considered to be crucial to rural areas by local residents.

• Education services:
• Primary schools
• Secondary schools
• Cultural and related services:
• Library services
• Other recreation and sport
• Social work:
• Older people - residential care
• Older people - home care
• People with learning disabilities
• Roads and transport services:
• Roads (winter maintenance)
• Environmental services:
• Cemetery, cremation and mortuary services
• Environmental health services
• Planning and development services:
• Building control
• Development control

2.3 Services suitable for co-location based on service function

As well as establishing priority services, the literature also provides some guidance on services appropriate for co-location ^34,35. For example, the process of identifying services suitable for co-location can be informed by a consideration of the functions performed by a service. Berry suggests that there are four possible functions that a service can perform: information function, expert function, social function and physical function. By considering what functions are performed it is possible to identify services that may need a local, physical presence, based on both the physical and social functions of a service. Services that are defined by their expert and information functions may not require a local, physical presence if they can be delivered remotely using ICT, and hence may not be a priority for co-location projects. Using this analysis of function it can be argued that only the physical and some social functions of services need a local presence. Thus, any process of identifying services suitable for co-location will need to establish how important the social functions of services are to users and providers. It is thus the social function of services that will be valued by this project. Based on examples given by Berry, Table 2 details the four functions of a range of services.

Table 2: The information, expert, social and physical functions of services

2.4 Services commonly co-located

By using the findings from the OSS report (Bryden et al., 2007) we can suggest services most suitable for co-location, based on frequency of occurrence. Hence we have a 'real-world' presentation of co-located rural services based on actual provision. This reveals the following:

Group one services: Most frequently co-located (50% of cases)

Computer and IT training

Tea-room, catering, bar

Group two services: 40% of cases

Community education activities

Computer and internet access

Health centre, surgery, nursing centre, ambulance, dentist

Sports and fitness facilities and activities

Group three services: 30% of cases

Further and higher education

Drugs, alcohol, and AIDS awareness and counselling

Youth club activities

Group four services: 20% of cases

Secondary school, nursery school, and / or playgroup

Parent and toddler group, morning and after school club

Library

Drug users support and rehabilitation

Theatre and performance facilities

Space for private functions

Group five services: 10% of cases

Social activities for older people

Day care for elderly

Handy person scheme for older people

Older people's network

Shopping schemes for the elderly, fitness centre

Support for voluntary sector, including drop-in centre and IT support

Key worker housing

Housing support with life skills, time management and other training

Pet care scheme

Credit union

Environmental improvement

Office space

Post office and shop

Local authority district office

Police office

Small workshops

What this does not reveal is whether provision is based on demand, need, ease of provision, or some other factor. In the next section of this chapter we present examples of actual co-location identified during the process of this research.

2.5 Co-location examples

Identification of those areas where co-located services already exist arose from our initial consultation and literature review. Here we present all examples of co-location identified during the initial stages of the project.

Co-located services used in OSS report

The ten case studies used in the recently completed one stop shop report are as follows:

• Acharacle Community Company, Acharacle, Argyll
• Ardnamurchan Community School Àrainn Shuaineirt (The Sunart Centre), Strontian, Acharacle, Argyll
• Coigach Community Hall, Achiltibuie, Ullapool
• Dalmellington Area Centre Dalmellington, East Ayrshire
• Gairloch Community Learning Centre Gairloch, Ross shire
• Kemnay Youth Café, Kemnay, Aberdeen
• Loganlea One Stop Shop, Addiewell, West Lothian
• Mearns Healthy Living Network, Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire
• Pultneytown People's Project, Wick
• Voluntary Action Lewis, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Co-location examples arising from initial consultations

In the following pages we present some initial examples of co-located services in rural Scotland. These arose from our initial consultation.

Presented here as examples of co-location are:

• Library services - Ross and Cromarty (6 examples of co-location)
• Wester Ross Alliance, Gairloch, Ross-shire
• Dumfries and Galloway Council (2 examples of co-location)
• Highland Council Service Point Network
• Countryside Rangers and Access Officers - Highland Council
• East Camp Trust, Benbecula
• Lauderdale Development Trust
• Voluntary Action Lewis - features in OSS report
• Sunart Centre - features in OSS report
• Loganlea One Stop Shop - features in OSS report

Library services - Ross and Cromarty

Ross & Cromarty is one of the eight areas which make up The Highland Council. There are libraries in very remote and rural areas and numerous examples of co-location. In Gairloch, Ullapool and Fortrose are examples of public libraries located in secondary community schools. In Lochcarron the public library is located as part of a residential home for the elderly, which is also open to day care visitors. This is unique in Highland and provides many opportunities for joint working and benefits to the community. Achiltibuie Library is located within a new community facility part funded by the community and part by Lottery money, which also houses the doctor's surgery, a large games hall and other community facilities. Applecross Library is located within the local primary school in a room which also acts as a nursery and the school dining room.

Wester Ross Alliance - Gairloch, Ross-shire

The Wester Ross Alliance works from a co-location office. The building is leased by the Highland Council and houses their local Service Point, registrars office, social services, estates services and technical services, along with the local community car scheme manager (non-council), Wester Ross Alliance (non-council), and a council-funded project worker involved in community planning (non-council).

Dumfries and Galloway Council

There is a pilot project whereby the Council share premises with the Post Office at Eastriggs to provide general customer services. The project opens two half days a week and started in July 2005. A range of services for the Police are provided from the Council Customer Service Centre at Moffat. Some 'back-up' services are now provided from the Town Hall which is open five days a week. The three month trial finished in 2005 and the Council intends to offer this service from three other Customer Service Centres in the area.

Highland Council Service point network

Many of the Council's 37 Service Points operate as shared facilities. Given the geography of the Highland area and the relative remoteness of so many communities, it has been essential to develop partnerships with other agencies and services. One such partnership is with the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board ( HOST), where three facilities provide successful shared access. A further seven Service Points also operate as Libraries and this enables integration with the Peoples Access Network ( PAN).

Countryside Rangers and Access Officers - Highland Council

There are a number of Highland Council countryside rangers co-located with other service providers primarily in remote rural areas where the Council has no presence or premises and where the rangers need accommodation. For the most part this is in Forestry Commission premises though in three cases there are staff located in Tourist Information Centres. The co-location is essentially a situation arising from the necessity of finding accommodation.

East Camp Trust, Benbecula
East Camp Trust consists of four community groups who have bought a disused RAF base (2.75 hectares) in Benbecula, Western Isles. Currently there is on site a community riding school, two community care organisations working with different service users, a volunteer centre, befriending project and Council for Voluntary Service. The Trust have also had discussions with commercial firms about having premises on site so as to have a mix of social enterprise, as well as traditional voluntary and community activity.

Lauderdale Development Trust

Lauder

This Trust is interested in service provision and actively seeking a co-location opportunity. Although co-location does not exist the Trust has the opportunity to use the present primary school buildings when the new school is built.

Voluntary Action Lewis - features in OSS report

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Voluntary Action Lewis evolved from the former Lewis Council of Social Service. It exists to support the voluntary sector and to promote voluntary action of all types on the Isle of Lewis. VAL has office space and drop-in premises in Stornoway that are used by local voluntary groups from all over the island, and offers a wide range of support for the voluntary sector,

Sunart Centre - features in OSS report

Strontian, Acharacle, Argyll

Ardnamurchan Community School at Strontian was the result of 17 years campaigning by the local community and its Councillor, for a secondary school to serve the remote and scattered peninsulas of Ardnamurchan and Morvern. The head teacher of the Secondary School line manages the building and everyone employed in it, with one or two notable exceptions. The exceptions are the community staff who are line managed by the Highland Council's Community Manager, the Outreach staff member from Lochaber College of UHI and the Nursery Staff (managed by the local Primary School Head). The community staff includes a full-time Centre Development Co-ordinator who deals with uses of school facilities by the general public and specific groups such as the youth group. The school is designed to meet the needs of the entire community. It comprises IT facilities, a sports centre, an all-weather pitch, an arts venue, a library and a canteen.

Loganlea One Stop Shop - features in OSS report

This one-stop shop is owned by Loganlea Miners' Welfare Charitable Society [ LMWCS]. The society set out to redevelop the Miners' Welfare into a multi-functional community facility, open to all.

The building houses outreach services from coalfield-specific social workers and the local CAB. It also provides a computer for community use, a collection point for the credit union, games room and fitness suite, youth facilities, a bar (it is the only licensed social/ function facility in the village) and development of day-care provision for older people. A food co-operative was planned, but has not yet come to fruition.

2.6 Conclusions

Not all services will be suitable for co-locating. Suitability may be based on the nature of the information, expert, social and physical functions provided by the service. Nevertheless, there exists a wide range of examples of co-located services in Scotland, some of which are commonly included in priority lists of services important to the survival of rural areas, suggesting that co-location is already playing an important role in the sustainability of rural services. The findings drawn from the literature review, reported above, were built upon by the next phase of the research. This is reported in the following chapter and comprised a stakeholder consultation workshop.

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