Nursery World - Across country

How do you plan for children's services that reach all over a rural area? Simon Vevers finds out Strategic planning and partnership working are the twin mantras which most local authorities believe underpin success in joining up services to children and families and making them effective. But Frances Phelps, head of prevention services in Shropshire, reckons they are doubly important in tackling isolated pockets of deprivation in the predominantly rural county.

Strategic planning and partnership working are the twin mantras which most local authorities believe underpin success in joining up services to children and families and making them effective. But Frances Phelps, head of prevention services in Shropshire, reckons they are doubly important in tackling isolated pockets of deprivation in the predominantly rural county.

She says they were clearly key factors in Shropshire County Council, and six other local authorities, securing outstanding grades during the recent annual performance assessment of children's services conducted by Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

The rural dimension can be best illustrated by the stark statistic that the population of Kensington and Chelsea is more than 130 times more densely populated than Shropshire. According to the 2001 census, there are roughly 131 people per hectare in the London borough, compared with 0.9 people in Shropshire.

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