A RURAL "Dragons' Den" will decide how millions of pounds of EU money is spent to support countryside communities under Tory plans to wrestle the funding away from unelected quangos.

Inspired by the BBC television programme – which sees entrepreneurs pitch for investment to successful businessmen and women – the Conservatives want to make it easier for people to access money aimed at improving the quality of life in rural areas and expanding the rural economy.

Councils would become responsible for handing out millions of pounds from the EU's Rural Development Programme for England.

Instead of having a complex bidding process which relies heavily on filling out thick forms, a panel of councillors could hold open meetings where businesses, charities or individuals would make their initial pitch for money.

Of the £156.8 million currently allocated to the South West Regional Development Agency as part of the RDPE, £101.8 million is ring-fenced for Cornwall in recognition for its status as one of the poorest parts of the country.

According to the Tories, around half of the RDA's allocation is meant to be spent on supporting the rural economy.

It includes helping farmers diversify into non-agriculture industries, providing funding for small businesses to get off the ground, developing tourism or restoring cultural and heritage features of villages and the rural landscape.

But they claim the system discriminates against smaller bids. Shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert said: "There is considerable concern in rural communities that this money has limited reach into deep rural areas and focuses too heavily on large-scale flagship projects at the expense of small investments.

"For example, opportunities to develop local food production, processing and procurement are often ineligible yet provide considerable scope for rural enterprise.

"We do not believe that unelected regional bodies should be able to take such important potential funding streams for rural communities off the table.

"Indeed, we are not satisfied that RDAs are best placed to allocate funding for community regeneration in rural England."

A Conservative government would hand responsibility for the funding to local authorities because they "know best the needs of their communities".

Councils will be urged to allocate funding across the full range of permitted areas, including village renewal and basic services.

Mr Herbert is also planning to set-up informal panels of rural advisors picked from across the country with a direct line into his team.

If elected, Conservative ministers would be able to draw on the advice and experience of people from a wide selection of sectors, from farming and food production to every aspect of rural life.

Former Cabinet ministers, including ex-Environment Secretary John Gummer, say similar boards were invaluable as an "early warning system" in previous Conservative governments but the Labour party scrapped them on taking office in 1997.

Mr Herbert said the panels would draw together voluntary representatives from a wide range of countryside interests to ensure that "ministers understand rural concerns and decisions are taken in full knowledge of their impact on rural areas".

"People who live in rural communities feel increasingly cut off from the political process and in some cases completely ignored," he said. "An increasing amount of central funding is ring-fenced, planning powers are being handed to remote regional authorities, and the impact of policy on rural areas is neither rigorously nor systematically assessed before it is implemented."