Communities and parishes planning for the future in the Lake District
30th November 2022
ACTion with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) Cumbria’s rural community development charity, helps communities to plan for an uncertain future, and to take action. A two-year funded project will support new ways of working with communities in the Lake District as they plan for the future. Working with members of the Lake District National Park Partnership, ACT is now actively seeking communities to work with.
ACT has been helping Cumbrian communities plan for their future for over 70 years. The Collaboration Hub project funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation makes it possible for communities to really ‘think outside the box’ when they gather information from residents. Creative ways of talking about long-standing issues locally, will challenge the ‘business as usual’ approach of the local authorities, statutory bodies and others who are needed to cement change.
Examples of some of the issues local communities want to take action on include traffic flow and parking, sustainability of local services or businesses, lack of housing affordable on local wages and taking care of the natural environment. These things remain a priority even where some action has been taken, and often where achieving what the community wants remains a challenge years later.
Project Lead, ACT Development Officer, Fran Richardson says “We are keen to work with communities where they feel an issue has got stuck, with no likely resolution. We can’t promise instant success; the issues for instance around housing and planning or infrastructure for water and transport, these are difficult for a reason. We will build stronger bridges between where we are now and where we need to be for our communities, by talking about the issues differently and engaging stakeholders more collaboratively.”
As well as using tried and tested engagement and co-design techniques, the Collaboration Hub project will support a variety of community engagement tools which are largely untested. Arts based conversations around the use of words, theatre, audio and visual interpretation can be used to explore a tricky issue from a different perspective.
ACT CEO, Lorrainne Smyth, is delighted with this opportunity to try new things with communities and partners in the Lake District National Park. She says, “ACT wants to support people who live in and feel ownership of their local area to drive delivery of the vision of sustainable, thriving communities. This will help to make the Lake District National Park the best place it can be for those that live, work and visit, by tackling some of the most intractable issues raised by communities as they plan for their future.”
Fran Richardson continues, “This is an exciting opportunity for our ambitious communities to state clearly what they want, and to work with the right partners to make it happen. Everything the project teaches us about moving difficult conversations along will be important for us to use in all the communities we work with across Cumbria.”
For more information contact franrichardson@cumbriaaction.org.uk