RURAL communities hit by foot-and-mouth are to receive a £500,000 "first aid fund" in a bid to kick-start the regeneration process.

The sum is a slice of £1.5 million set aside by Cumbria County Council to help fund the Government-endorsed Rural Action Zone.

RAZ, billed as a trail-blazing package of measures with the potential to transform the region's rural economy, was first mooted last October in the immediate aftermath of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

But, despite backing from the North West Development Agency, the radical five-year programme designed to regenerate and modernise rural Cumbria has yet to fully get off the ground.

This week CCC's cabinet backed plans to release £ 500,000 into the community as a type of "first aid" for smaller projects leaving larger-scale more expensive schemes would be funded by RAZ when it finally gets the go ahead.

CCC cabinet member Coun Donald Jefferson said the money would be a boost to sections of the rural community who were beginning to lose faith in RAZ.

Coun Jefferson said: "In rural areas people have got to the stage where they hardly believe this money is available - they have been told it is there but it all seems to be at arms length."

He urged the cabinet to cut as much red tape as possible and to ensure the bidding process was straight forward

He added people should not feel they needed a tax expert or local councillor to tell them how to fill the forms in.

CCC leader Rex Toft said RAZ had attracted "significant" regional and national support but added: "We are extremely conscious that, up to now, the people of Cumbria have seen little evidence of the Rural Action Zone delivering on the ground.

We know that there are projects around Cumbria that need funding now."

Councillors expect most grants will be in the region of a few thousand pounds.

The "first aid" fund is intended for small-scale projects and could include:

l Promoting local food.

l Developing community facilities.

l Improving local attractions affected by closure during foot-and-mouth.

l Footpath improvements.

l Feasibility studies for larger community and tourism projects.

CCC plans to publish further details about how to apply for the scheme by the end of this month.