A Locality Plan for Cockermouth

 A Partners Seminar took place on November 24th giving service providers from the public and community and voluntary sectors an opportunity to review the findings to date and discuss how elements of action plan can be delivered.  To see a copy of the presentation click HERE

 Meetings have been held with the town council, the parish councils, local community organisations and, of course, service providers themselves.   During August we analysed the outcomes of our community meetings and those with service providers.  In September we ran sessions with less often heard groups including the elderly, young people and people with disabilities.   On October 13th we ran an Open House event to present the interim findings and gather additional views from the wider community on the ideas emerging.  If you missed the event and would like to view the exhibition boards please click on this link OPEN HOUSE or the link on the left.

BACKGROUND

Commissioned by Allerdale Borough Council and working closely with Cockermouth Town Council and local parish councils.

Developing a pilot Locality Plan in one of five new Locality Areas in Allerdale which includes the town of Cockermouth and 14 surrounding parishes. 

Locality plans are mainly about influencing and improving the way local services such as community facilities, environmental services, crime and safety etc are delivered, based around community needs and priorities. What needs to change? How could things be done differently?

Now is a particularly good time to be thinking about this. The town is recovering from last year’s floods, Allerdale Council is reorganising many of its services and devolving some of its decision-making to five localities – one of which is Cockermouth and the surrounding parishes. There is strong Government interest in greater community involvement in the provision of local services and in owning or managing public assets.

Our work involves mapping service provision across the locality at county, borough and local level.  We have focused on public services but involved those in the community and voluntary sector too.  We will establish community needs and priorities to improve the delivery of local services and enable local people to more directly influence how their services are provided. The Plan will build on the extensive work which is currently underway after last year’s flooding, but will focus mainly how local services should be provided in the future.

Contract Period

7 months, June - December 2010

Click here to view Locality Plan area map

Click here to view West Cumbria Localities and Parishes