Access to Services in Rural Surrey

Delta-innovation worked with Surrey Community Action to develop the baseline research and needs assessment of rural Surrey's access to services.

The project drew together evidence from Defra's Rural Evidence Hub, Surrey Community Action's own surveys of village shops and village halls, Parish Plans and Healthchecks, academic literature and reports from government agencies and charities.

The report put forward the case for community hubs as a means to maintain and increase access to services, underpin social enterprise and resolve issues of social deprivation and isolation.

However, the report also highlights that the transition from the currently separate operations of public services, private (mainly retail) business and community-owned facilities into a single or combined operation is made more difficult by the lack of clarity over roles and responsibilities, costs and benefits and beneficiaries.