What happens next – Bespoke mentoring?

One benefit of being a Beacon Council is, not only learning from the examples of best practice set by other Beacon Councils, but also passing on Richmondshire's own examples of good practice.

Following a very successful Beacon year, the eight Supporting the Rural Economy Beacon Councils submitted a joint bid for capacity building funding. We were successful, and between April 2004 and April 2005, we have mentored five underachieving/rural English authorities.

This was a unique and innovative programme. Mixed authority teams made up of both members and officers, delivered a bespoke programme of mentoring to meet the needs of the individual authority. The whole ethos behind the programme was that of joint learning.

The five mentored councils were East Lindsey District Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Penwith District Council and Purbeck District Council.

The pilot programme was successful. For 2005-6 we are running a bigger programme and have attracted funding and support from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Improvement and Development Agency and the Local Government Association. In total 12 local authorities will be mentored and the pool of mentors will go up to 60. The Rural Economy Beacon Councils (including Richmondshire) will work closely with the Rural Pathfinders.