A BLUEPRINT to improve life in Malton and Norton has been approved and is in the hands of the Cabinet Office.

The action plan drawn up by the Malton and Norton Area Partnership is the second to win approval in the Yorkshire and Humber region from the Countryside Agency and regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

County councillor Geoff Rennie, partnership chairman, said: "It is an action plan, but a developing and growing one."

David Gluck, of the Countryside Agency, told the partnership's latest meeting that the towns had been written up as a case study and a report submitted to the Cabinet Office. A response was awaited.

He said the agency was equally concerned about villages around Malton and Norton.

"We want them to develop parish plans and the agency will fund them to a great extent. The villages will then be able to apply for more funding from the agency and Yorkshire Forward," he said.

The agency wants to see villages maximise such facilities as village halls, pubs, shops, post offices and churches.

Peter Beanland, of the Town Centre Management Company, said there was considerable interest from information technology companies in moving to the area.

Partnership manager Donna Lee said there was a need for better rural transport services to enable people to travel into the towns.

She said 29 grant-aid applications had already been submitted to the partnership but no scheme would get under way before the summer