By Stephen P Osborne, Rona S Beattie and Arthur P Williamson. To function successfully regeneration partnerships must involve local communities. The authors found that views about the level of involvement in rural areas are too optimistic. They set out the barriers to involvement and outline the components of good practice that would enhance community learning and promote the sustainability of community involvement in rural regeneration partnerships.

A health and social care knowledge management project will be launched next month. The National Knowledge Service is viewed by the Department of Health as a significant tool in delivering the ten year NHS Plan. Its aim is to exploit the different types of knowledge available from a variety of sources to fight disease and improve patient care. The key tasks of the Service will be to bring consistency to the sources of knowledge, provide better access and integrate the knowledge streams.The NKS, which will meet the needs of professionals and the public, will bring together all organizations that currently provide knowledge. The partnership will also include the NHS Library Service and the National Patient Safety Agency.

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A new model of one stop shop has been launched in the village of Waters Upton in Shropshire. It is housed in a custom built building designed to link people, services, facilities and activities. The building incorporates a post office, village shop and community office in which regular police surgeries will be held as well as other activities. On line facilities will give access to a growing range of public services, as well as to the full range of Internet sites. There is also an ATM cash machine.The project was initiated through a partnership between Waters Upton Parish Council and Telford and Wrekin Council. It was supported by the Countryside Agency, which provided a government grant of 250,000 pounds to develop the centre as its first “National Demonstration Project”. The building is owned by the local community, through the parish council.

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