GOVERNMENT news releases and media coverage sometimes makes it seem as if the entire framework of rural life is supported by grant aid.

But headlines trumpeting £1m towards this and £500,000 towards that are often tempered by a general feeling in the scattered villages of the North-East and North Yorkshire that very little cash trickles down to grassroots level.

One fledgling scheme, however, looks set to buck that trend and is already proving that grants don't need to carry six-figure sums to make a valued difference.

The Vital Villages project, launched somewhat quietly by the Countryside Agency earlier this year, has already notched up a number of successes.

The three-year scheme basically aims to help small rural communities tackle problems unique to them by providing small grants and, often even more valuable, expert advice.

It can help introduce or improve services such as transport, childcare, shops, youth groups, facilities for older people and community internet projects.

Cash awards, which can fund up to 50pc of a project, are miniscule by European standards - for example, just £300,000 for the whole of the Yorkshire and Humber region in the first year - but those who have benefited so far are clamouring to recommend the scheme to others.

One of the early success stories is the saving of the post office at Osmotherley, near Northallerton, thanks to a grant of just over £5,000.

The cash enabled the owner of the village's Top Shop general store to incorporate a post office counter service when the village office closed.

Mr David Burgon, who runs the shop with his wife, Sybil, submitted his application before details of the scheme were even finalised after hearing about it from the village retail services association, which advises communities on their shops.

"When the post office closed and I first was looking at taking on the service, I made lots of inquiries," said Mr Burgon, who has had the shop for 11 years and opened the post office four weeks ago. "I kept hearing that money was available but was unable to find the sources. The association put me in touch with the Countryside Agency just as the Vital Villages scheme was being set up. I was waving my application in April while they were still finalising the programme."

Alteration of his shop to incorporate the post office was costly - more than £11,000 - and included moving fitments, re-shelving, new flooring, signs and installing the counter and security required.

"The grant was a godsend. If I hadn't had that financial help, I would only have been able to provide a much poorer service because I couldn't afford the refitting needed.

"The post office was a central service in the village because the nearest one is at Brompton, near Northallerton, which means a round trip that is difficult for some villagers and impossible for others, particularly the elderly."

Mr Burgon urged other communities to embrace the scheme.

"There are a lot of people that could benefit," he said. "The Countryside Agency appoints an adviser - in my case it was a retail expert called Jenny Stokeld - and she was a great help in advising about the alterations and helping me to fill in the necessary forms and gather the information required for my application."

MR David Fanaroff, senior countryside officer for the Countryside Agency in Yorkshire and Humber, said the Osmotherley project was a good example of the sort of benefits the Vital Villages programme was set up to achieve.

"The scheme works because we are not just providing cash, but the expert advice on how to use that cash to the best advantage for the village," he said. "It shows that even a small amount of money can make an important difference to a community.

"But it is not just post offices and shops, we can help with community buildings, information technology links for village halls, and a whole range of other services."

Transport schemes could also benefit, with grants of up to £10,000 available for parish transport projects which could include providing bus shelters, better signposting, cycle racks, bus information or car share schemes.

Help was also available for communities to produce parish plans, which identified the main issues affecting a village and provided a framework and action plan to address them. Grants of up to £5,000 were available to parish and town councils for these.

Although Vital Villages was conceived before foot-and-mouth disease struck rural Britain, the crisis meant countryside communities needed even more support than ever to survive.

"In the light of foot-and-mouth, people are struggling to find the other 50pc match funding, so paying for large projects is more difficult than ever," said Mr Fanaroff. "A small amount of money, which requires only a small amount of match funding, seems to be the way forward for many village projects."

A rural services survey carried out by the Countryside Agency last year showed that 46pc of parishes had no post office, 91pc no community internet access, 16pc no bus service, 49pc no youth group and 58pc no recreational club for the over-60s.