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South Lakeland Locality Board holds four formal meetings a year. These meetings are held in public and all papers are published on the Westmorland and Furness website. Town and Parish Councils are represented on the Board by a co-opted Parish/Town councillor. In addition, the priorities of the Board are progressed through four working groups, namely:
- Building Community Assets and Addressing Inequalities
- Climate Action and Biodiversity
- Children and Young People
- Highways
These working groups provide members with the opportunity to explore issues of interest in depth and working groups frequently invite those with particular expertise to join meetings. Each working group is supported by an officer of the council who can assist members with identifying those, either within the council or outside, who can provide specialist advice. Working groups make recommendations to the Board with respect to devolved budgets.
In its first year, South Lakeland Locality Board has overseen an investment of some £750,000 in local projects across the area - some examples are provided below.
Destination Hawkshead
Over £16,000 was provided to Hawkshead Parish Council for investment in ‘Destination Hawkshead'.
This is a collaborative initiative with local business and Cumbria Tourism to promote Hawkshead as a destination.
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Changing facilities, solar panels and parish centres
Other examples include a grant of £6,500 to assist Arnside Sailing Club with building changing facilities; £3,350 for Burton Memorial Hall to undertake a feasibility study into the installation of solar panels; and £7,000 to support Ambleside Parish Centre. |
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Supporting those affected by costs of living
Grants were also made to assist those struggling with increased costs of living. Over £30,000 was provided to support groups across South Lakeland that are providing food for those struggling.
A further £30,000 was used to enable Action for Children to support local families with household essentials.
Grants have also been made to groups providing ‘warm spots’ where those finding it hard to keep a home warm can go, get a warm drink and have some company.
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Promoting local biodiversity
To promote increased local biodiversity the Board invested £35,000 in Cumbria Wildlife Trust (supporting community projects across South Lakeland) and has made grants to local groups to support the Climate Action priority e.g. £400 to Sustainability & Energy Network in Staveley; and £500 to Greenside Kendal.
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Supporting youth work and other initiatives
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The board has been able to support a number of youth work projects (Brewery Arts, Brathay Trust, Youth Presence etc.) and has supported initiatives such as improved children’s literacy, comic arts, local breastfeeding support and playing field improvements. |
Together we are powered by communities
At a meeting at Cabinet this week, Members unanimously agreed a new Community Power Strategy: ‘Together we are powered by communities’ which sets out a new way of working with our communities, putting them at the heart of everything we do.
The strategy’s shared vision and approach for the area has been developed with communities, the public sector and third sector to ensure that communities in the Westmorland and Furness area have a greater say over the places they live and more influence over their lives so that they are:
- Strong, vibrant and resilient with greater social connectedness; and
- Happier and healthier with better long-term health and wellbeing outcomes.
The new strategy supports the ambitions set out in the council’s Council Plan and Delivery Framework and is an invitation for all communities, organisations, networks and businesses to work with the council to support community power to flourish in Westmorland and Furness.
We recognise that embedding a community powered approach is going to be a long-term commitment and we will now be focusing on shaping and agreeing a delivery plan to guide our future activity, laying the foundations for this ambitious longer-term shift in our ‘ways of working’.
We look forward to sharing further updates with you as this important piece of work progresses.
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Boosting 30 bus routes across Westmorland and Furness
At a meeting of Cabinet this month, an ambitious spending plan was agreed which will see communities benefiting from significant improvements to bus services across Westmorland and Furness.
Thanks to the Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus (BSIP)+ funding awarded to the council by the Department for Transport, 30 bus routes and services across the area will be restored and improved.
The services for the South Lakeland Locality, which are subject to confirmation after going out to tender to find an operator, include:
- 11 Ulverston to Barrow via Coast Road; improve service through increased frequency
- 40 Kendal Town; maintain Sunday service
- 106 Kendal to Penrith via Shap; improve service through increased times and days, and possible extension to Settle-Carlisle line at Langwathby
- 505 Coniston to Ambleside; improve peak service
- 516 Dungeon Ghyll to Ambleside; improve times of service to offer early access to the area for walkers and reduce car parking pressure
- 508 Windermere to Penrith; improve frequency in Summer, including at peak times for workers
- 532 Cartmel to Grange; maintain more frequent service and potentially increase to five days per week
- 552 Arnside to Kendal; improve service through links to other bus services and possible extension into Lancashire
- 555 Keswick to Kendal; improve evening service
- 564 Sedbergh to Kendal; improve service in conjunction with Western Dales Volunteer/Community bus service
- 597 Windermere Town Service; provide service on an extra day
- X12 Ulverston to Coniston; improve the service by adding more journeys.
Read more about the bus service spending plan and see the full list of suggested services.
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Children’s Services rated “Good” by Ofsted after first inspection
The council’s Children’s Services have received a rating of “Good” overall following their first routine Ofsted inspection since replacing the former Cumbria County Council.
Ofsted recognised significant improvement has been made in the council’s first year as a new council and highlighted how the council has established its own unique identity, concluding that the overall effectiveness of children’s services at Westmorland and Furness Council are “Good”.
Inspectors rated four of the five key assessment areas rated as "Good".
This shows considerable improvement since children’s services was last assessed as part of the former Cumbria County Council when it was rated as "requires improvement".
Ofsted conducted the full inspection of the council’s Children Services in April 2024, and included assessments of children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.
Read the full release.
Read the published report from the inspection.
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Brigsteer and Underbarrow bridges
 Brigsteer and Underbarrow bridges, which run over the A591 near Kendal, closed Wednesday 12 June as a precautionary measure due to structural concerns.
Jacobs' external expert report commissioned by the council identified structural concerns and recommended a closure on both bridges to allow for further detailed assessment and monitoring.
On Thursday 11 July, lead officers met with residents to deliver an update on the situation and provided information on next steps.
The council has commissioned a consulting engineer to undertake a peer review (second opinion) on the findings of Jacobs' assessment. WSP are world leading in half-joint and post-tensioned bridge assessments and have led on the production of the relevant National Standards referred to previously. They are also appointing a specialist to project manage and conduct an options and feasibility study that will confirm the best short-term solution for restoring the link across the bridges.
The council plans to keep residents and local businesses informed by:
- Providing updates in the community via the local Parish and Town Councils
- Setting up a monthly email newsletter - first issue planned for Friday 26 July 2024
- Sharing updates across the Westmorland and Furness Council social media pages.
Read the first monthly Brigsteer and Underbarrow Bridge closures newsletter.
A new biodiversity toolkit is available!
As a council, we are committed to protecting and enhancing biodiversity and nature, and are committed to working collaboratively with town and parish councils, communities and other partner organisations in tackling the biodiversity crisis in a just and fair manner.
To encourage and inspire support for our biodiversity, we have created a toolkit for anyone who is already doing great work to support biodiversity, would like to know more about what options are available, and what benefits they would bring for both our environment and communities.
The document looks at the ways we can work collaboratively with and support town and parish councils, community groups and partner organisations, and share some ideas and examples of biodiversity features.
There are also some handy tips and information, from how to go about starting a biodiversity project to a list of biodiversity features such as bee hotels, bird boxes and tree planting.
We hope to encourage and inspire everyone to do more for biodiversity so that together we can help make a difference for our environment and communities.
Take a look at the new biodiversity toolkit.
For more information and any queries, get in touch with us.
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Local Nature Recovery Strategy update
We are excited to share our progress on the Local Nature Recovery Strategy through our latest newsletter which you can view online.
To learn how you can contribute to the strategy development process, please visit our website, for the latest updates, including our draft priorities and measures.
The LNRS team will be looking to attend your relevant Locality Board meetings very soon to discuss their ongoing work and answer any questions you may have.
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We carry out consultations on the way we plan, manage and deliver our services. We have a number of consultations and surveys currently open in order to receive views and input from our residents, communities, partners and stakeholders.
Take a look below for more information and please help us by completing and/or sharing further.
Preferred option for Ulverston Library and The Coro
 The council has been launched a consultation asking for feedback on proposals that would see considerable investment in The Coro to create an enhanced and expanded library - including new children’s library and community activity spaces - along with re-modelling of The Coro to include a new café and more flexible spaces for community use.
The council has worked with architects and independent consultants to explore a range of options for protecting, enhancing and revitalising The Coro and library services in Ulverston.
In total eight options have been analysed, all with different scope and costs. These ranged from ‘do nothing’ to light-touch upgrades and full refurbishments of the King’s Road Library building and The Coro, and various combinations of these approaches.
For more information about the preferred option, plans, illustrations and a ‘walk-through’ video showing how the library and re-modelled Coro could look, visit the consultation page.
You can also read more background and answers to questions on costs and options in our updated FAQs.
Deadline for responses is Friday 23 August 2024.
A new Public Space Protection Order
The Council has recently launched a consultation asking for residents’ input for a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).
Following Local Government Reorganisation last year, the three separate PSPOs for the former district councils have or are due to expire and given their important role, the council is proposing a new order for the Westmorland and Furness area.
A PSPO is a tool available to councils under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and are intended to be used to deal with a particular nuisance or problem in a specific area that is having a detrimental effect to the local community’s quality of life, by imposing conditions on the use of that area which apply to everyone.
They are intended to help ensure that the law-abiding majority can use and enjoy public spaces, safe from anti-social behaviour.
We would be grateful for any support you can give in helping to promote the survey within your communities.
The link to survey is: bit.ly/WFPSPO and it closes Sunday 1 September.
You can also download a poster.
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Improving leisure and active wellbeing across Westmorland and Furness
To support more people in our communities to live happier and healthier lives, the council is looking to reshape sport and leisure facilities and services across the area.
We are inviting residents, sports and community groups, leisure centre users and anyone interested in playing a part in shaping the future of health and wellbeing in Westmorland and Furness, to fill out a survey and share their thoughts on how the council can best use its sport and leisure facilities in the future.
The survey aims to understand how the current Westmorland and Furness Council facilities are used, how they could be improved, what challenges there are for local sports groups that use these facilities and thoughts on what could be done differently to support physical activity and enabling people to lead healthier lives.
Complete the online survey.
Download and share the poster.
The survey closing date is Friday 2 August 2024.
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A new Local Plan for Westmorland and Furness
We are starting work on a new Local Plan for Westmorland and Furness (excluding the National Parks). When this is adopted, it will replace all the existing Local Plans that were adopted by the former Councils.
The Local Plan will:
- set out how much new development (e.g. homes and employment sites) is needed to support our communities
- make sure new development is built in the right places and in a way which is best for people and the environment
- allocate sites for new housing and other development
- protect some areas and green spaces from development
- include policies that are used to decide planning applications
- plan for development relating to minerals and waste
For more information, a map of drop-in events, to suggest land/sites for development and take part in the consultation, please visit our Local Plan Consultations Page.
You can contact Westmorland and Furness Council at any time to make an enquiry about one of our services.
If you can't use the contact form, or find what you need online, you can call us on: 0300 373 3300, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
You can also report any issues on the highway online or by calling 0300 373 3306 Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm.
However, if you would like to have a conversation about a service development or local project then please do get in touch with the Community Development Team by emailing: southlakeland.areasupport@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk and we will be in touch. Alternatively, you can contact your local ward councillor.
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Not on the mailing list for these updates?
If you or one of your colleagues has received this indirectly and would like to be added to the South Lakeland town and parish council distribution list, please contact southlakeland.areasupport@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk.
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