Stronger Communities with Excellent and Accessible Services is one of the Council's Corporate Priorities.

The District is made up of a number of diverse communities with different needs.  In a large, rural and sparsely populated district such as Craven there are a number of barriers to accessing services and information about them.

The Council is committed to developing stronger communities across the District – communities where everyone has access to high quality services provided to their satisfaction, where people feel engaged and involved in shaping service provision, and where they feel safe.

Over the next three years, we will work to improve access to and the quality of services we provide to all the communities of Craven; implementing initiatives to connect communities electronically to Council information and services, working in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council to create joint customer service access points and improving access to services to all our communities through the delivery of our ‘Craven Pride’ - Corporate Equalities Scheme.

We will improve our approach to engaging and empowering communities to be involved in shaping the services they receive; implementing communication initiatives to inform about the services we provide and undertaking consultation initiatives to enable people to give their views, and strengthening voluntary community organisations through increased support and working in partnership to increase volunteering opportunities throughout the District.

We will continue to work in partnership to promote safer communities placing a particular emphasis on reducing anti-social behaviour in known ‘hot-spots’ across the District and improving safety in our town and village centres.