The scheme is administered by the Countryside Agency on behalf of DETR and is currently 4.2m a year. The scheme is aimed at encouraging imaginative new partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors working together to develop local solutions to local needs. More than partnerships have been established to date. Funding for partnerships works in two stages. The first of these is to establish a partnership officer who, working with key local stakeholders, undertakes an audit of local needs and draw up an action plan to meet them.
Partnerships then draw down funding to meet the costs of implementing the action plans.