THE key to improving rural areas is to involve local people, claims an annual report by a pilot project in the North York Moors.

The Farm and Rural Community Scheme was set up to test and demonstrate how communities can play a huge role in the development of the countryside.

The project is a partnership between the North York Moors National Park Authority and the Countryside Agency.

The authority's chief executive, Andy Wilson, said: "The key to this scheme is not just what it does, but how it does it. The way it has engaged with the local community and given them control is what makes it unique."

The five-year initiative operates in the Upper Esk Valley, in an area encompassing Castleton, Commondale, Westerdale and Danby.

Project officer Frasier Hugill, who has worked with residents to help set up community groups, said: "The scheme is successful because the people to whom it matters have much more input into how things are done.

"In the long-term, after the pilot project ceases in August 2004, we hope to have new ideas off the ground that will be continued. Perhaps the National Park will take them on or they may be funded at a national level."

One community project completed over the past year has been an Access for All route between Commondale and Castleton, suitable for wheelchair users and pushchairs.

Funding for the project was sought from the European Union, the Sports Lottery Fund and North Yorkshire County Council's cycle route funding.