THE long-awaited rural White Paper is due to be published next month. It is the government's chance to answer those critics who question its commitment to the countryside.

Speculation about its contents has centred on what it might do to regenerate rural areas in a state of real decline, a decline caused not just by the never-ending crisis in agriculture but also the growth of commuting to cities from country areas and changes in shopping habits.

As speaker after speaker at last Friday's annual Action for Market Towns convention in Ripon suggested, there is a widespread feeling that the government has accepted the argument that the engines for growth in the countryside are the market towns. If we can revive those small towns and find new roles for them we can go a long way towards solving the problems of rural areas.

What should we look for in the White Paper then? Certainly there should be some form of assistance for the work already being carried out by various organisations in market towns, be it the regional development agency, the Countryside Agency or local authorities.

There should be direct or indirect assistance for the employment of town centre managers and/or the administration of partnerships begin to flourish in towns like Richmond and Ripon. Every small town facing the threat posed by out-of-town shopping should have one.

The government could go a step further and sponsor an initiative like the Main Street programme in the US. History tells us that consumer patterns in the States tend to be repeated later in this country. Walmart decimated small-town America between ten and 20 years ago. Walmart has just arrived in this country and although the US retailing giant will not have the same cataclysmic effect thanks to our planning regime, it will exacerbate the existing less than rosy situation caused by the shopping mall concept - again an imported retailing phenomenon.

A workshop at last week's convention examined whether the Main Street programme could work in the UK. A pilot study in Ely, Cambridgeshire, has had some success but has highlighted a crucial difference in volunteer culture. Basically, bright and talented Americans, are much more willing to give voluntary effort to such initiatives than their UK counterparts. The reasons for that remain something of a mystery but it is nevertheless a widely accepted fact.

In the States the most successful Main Street programmes are often initiated by groups of town residents, sometimes led by a one or two charismatic individuals. The fact that government is not directly involved at that stage is seen as advantageous in an American culture generally more suspicious of state or federal involvement in anything. The likelihood of these people coming forward in this country is less, so the role of the publicaly-funded town centre manager in co-ordinating regeneration is going to be greater. Cue the Countryside Agency, backed by some suitable funding in the White Paper.

Last week's convention helped establish the argument for market town revival initiatives. The D&S Times is proud to have played a small part in spreading the word. There is evidence that government has been listening. Now it is to be hoped the White Paper will be the springboard for action that makes a real difference to the future of our market towns