VILLAGERS will be promised a say in almost every aspect of their lives under radical Tory plans to "revitalise" the countryside unveiled today.

Local people will be able to vote through planning permission for new affordable homes, demand tax breaks to keep the village shop or pub open and harness funding to ensure much-loved small schools survive.

Rural communities will also have greater control over how billions of pounds of public money is spent, with councils handed block grants instead of large sums being ring-fenced by Whitehall. And a Conservative government would face the wrath of grassroots campaigners and frontline workers when ministers failed to live up to expectations.

Shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert will launch the party's Rural Action blueprint at the Royal Show today as part of efforts to woo the countryside vote.

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Party insiders point to several marginal seats in rural areas which will be key to Conservative hopes of victory at the next election.

The party is keen to capitalise on gains made in recent local elections – notably in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset – to overturn Liberal Democrat majorities when the country goes to the polls.

The Rural Action policy paper draws together the party's proposals for communities and businesses in the countryside. It repeats the Tory mantra that Labour has no "gut instinct" for the countryside and accuses ministers of "overlooking the social value" of things like post offices, village schools and small shops. Mr Herbert said last night: "There is a danger that decisions have been taken in the short-term, either for bureaucratic reasons or to create savings, when in fact in the long term it can be more expensive.

"Rural England has suffered a decade of disrespect from Labour, the withdrawal of services and power by a remote and arrogant government."

The party is also launching a "grassroots campaign" aimed at mobilising disaffected rural voters into action.

The pledges will heap responsibility on local communities to seize control – and raises the prospect of different parts of the country have different services.

Mr Herbert said the "radical" schools policy would scrap Labour's surplus places rule, which forces schools to fill empty seats of face being shutdown.

Charities and parent groups would be able to create new independent state schools, "free from interference" from the local education authority and politicians.

Parents would be given control of the money the government spends on each child – around £3,800 in the Westcountry. They would be able to take their children out of a ailing school and enrol them in a new Academy, taking the allocated funding with them.

Councils would be given the power to offer local tax breaks for businesses which they believe provide a social service – including the village pub, shop or post office – if the alternative would be the community loses another lifeline.

On housing, villagers will be given the power to build their own affordable homes – through the parish council or campaign group – forcing through the outline planning permission to tackle the chronic housing shortages in many rural areas.

The rules on councils taking over empty properties will also be relaxed. There are believed to be some 22,000 homes standing idle in the Westcountry, which the Conservatives believe would be better used to reduce the region's housing waiting list which now numbers 52,000 families.

However, the party has ruled out taking action against the spread of second homes, which blighted many parts of Devon and Cornwall during the boom years when Londoners used big bonuses to buy-up holiday homes, pricing local people out of the market. Shadow rural affairs minister Jim Paice said: "We take the view that if people aspire to have a second home they should do so.

"But if in certain parts of the area they are deemed to be a problem, they can do something by using planning consent and so on."

The Regional Development Agency would be stripped of control of the £3.9 billion Rural Development Programme for England, with county councils put in charge of distributing the cash available for socio-economic improvements.

The Conservatives will also promise to tear up red-tape where it is an obstacle to community events like fetes or social activities, while small B&Bs might no longer face the same tough safety regulations imposed on major hotel chains.