A raft of measures to help more than 130,000 council residents living in South and West Devon has won financial backing from the Government.

West Devon Borough and South Hams District councils have been awarded £165,000 to make it easier for people in both areas to take advantage of the hundreds of council and public services available to them.

The money, from the Government-funded South West Regional Improvement Efficiency Partnership (SWRIEP), means each council will be able to offer a new service to residents.

As public transport is limited in rural communities, many residents, particularly the disadvantaged, find it difficult to visit the councils' offices.

The grant will be used for new schemes that will strengthen communication links between residents and the councils.

In West Devon, council advisors will visit housing benefit applicants in their homes to complete application forms by gathering the information electronically.

This system has been pioneered by South Hams Council since 2006 and has proved popular with residents. It led to a more efficient service with the time taken to process new benefit claims halved in the last three years and costs reduced.

West Devon Connect's ground-breaking West Devon surgeries, which began in January 2007, are now regularly held in seven villages and towns across the borough with council staff meeting residents to help them find out about the services the council, and other public services, have to offer.

The surgeries are events that bring together many different agencies and organisations, including Jobcentre Plus, Devon County Council, NHS Primary Care Trusts, the police and fire services, and voluntary organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureaux.

The latest funding will be used to set up a similar scheme in South Hams.

By working together, both councils hope to gain a better knowledge of the difficulties that residents in rural areas face in accessing services. The councils hope to produce a 'Rural Access Toolkit' to help other rural councils and organisations across the country.

Cllr James McInnes, Leader of West Devon Borough Council, said: 'Making services easily accessible in large rural areas such as ours can be a real problem and this will certainly help many of our residents enormously.'