Towards Greater Prosperity Executive Summary

APPENDIX B Allerdale 2010 Towards Greater Prosperity

Draft Executive Summary

Allerdale Regeneration Group 2005

Introduction

Allerdale District is a relatively small local authority with a population of only 96,000, but with diverse landscape characteristics and very different local economies. Its principal towns are Workington and Maryport on the West Coast, and Keswick, a hive of tourist activity, in the heart of the English Lake District. In West Allerdale, with its relatively high resident concentrations, the tourist pound has not made much of an impact and this area has never really recovered from the decline of its traditional industries of Mining and Steel-making, which together with their supply and distribution chains, were the area’s major sources of employment. Whilst various Government Initiatives have assisted in diversifying the employment base, the result is an imbalanced economy, with an unhealthy emphasis on manufacturing which is still well above regional and national averages and which remains vulnerable. The BNFL Power Station at Sellafield employs some 4000 Allerdale residents, but decommissioning starts in 2005 and since the government is uncertain about the future of Nuclear Power for the nation, the long term loss of employment cannot be ignored. The economy of the area therefore remains fragile and is unlikely to change without strong, long-term interventionist policies based on a sound understanding of the economic factors. Allerdale Council has established itself as a strong leader in Regeneration, with a good track record of meeting the challenges with wise expenditure delivering sustainable change. ‘Economic Regeneration’ can be interpreted in a number of ways and varies according to its context. This is also true between the areas within a local authority. For example, economic regeneration in a town centre, or in a National Park context, may be one of control, whereas in a deprived area, it will be one of encouragement and support. The Allerdale Borough includes town centres large and small, national park areas of breathtaking natural beauty, plus areas of substantial deprivation. Any economic regeneration must therefore be tailored more precisely, recognising the real differences in geography, need and opportunity.

Purpose of the Strategy We are proud of our record in helping to safeguard and improve the economy of the area. We believe we are good at what we do, we know where we want to be, are clear about our priorities and we know what resources are needed to achieve our aims. This first Economic Regeneration Strategy for the Borough has four key aims: • To put the issues, needs and opportunities for economic regeneration into context for the benefit of Council members and stakeholders • To act as a support document to underpin bids for resources from investors in Allerdale’s future • To ensure that the Borough gets (at least) its fair share of such investment • To provide a firm but flexible platform from which to plan for and cope with new threats or opportunities.

1. Allerdale in Context Any Economic Regeneration Strategy must be aligned with the policies and strategies already existing or emerging from all relevant sources: • From within its own organisation – Allerdale Council’s Corporate and other theme strategies and the Allerdale Regeneration Group Service Plans • From within West Cumbria - West Cumbria Local Strategic Partnership and its West Cumbria Community Strategy (Copeland and Allerdale) • From the Sub Regional / Cumbria County Level – Cumbria Vision, Rural Regeneration Cumbria, West Lakes Renaissance, Cumbria Community Strategy, Cumbria Economic Strategy • From the Northwest Region, The Regional Economic Strategy from NWRDA • From Central Government giving the National perspective with a whole raft of policies from all government departments which may not always be entirely linked • From Europe, which is presently experiencing some major changes owing to its growth The policy framework that operates around our regeneration actions is at best confusing, especially for people and businesses not ‘within the system’. It remains a key challenge to be able to maximise the opportunities of the system, whilst preserving the ability to take unitary action where appropriate. Within the field of Regeneration, a local authority was traditionally seen as being best placed to act as a kind of funnel for funding, information, policy and to set priorities. It can act as the link and filter between how the European and national agenda can be actioned at the local level. This is still the case, but in a small council such as Allerdale, the capacity to take large scale actions cannot be tackled and so we must rely more on collaborative partnerships with the Regeneration Companies created for the purpose.

2. Allerdale’s Regeneration Policies Allerdale is a small authority with only 96,000 residents living in 31 wards, with 55 members of council to represent their views. With only 362 staff, it must maintain high standards in service delivery and carry out all the statutory functions like gathering in the Council Tax, housing the homeless and determining planning applications, as well as the obligated but non statutory functions like Economic Regeneration.

Regeneration Delivery The Council has recognised that it cannot expect to achieve results alone and it therefore chooses alternative suitable delivery mechanisms. Among these will be formal arrangements like Limited Companies with Councillors on the Board of Directors, and also simple informal partnership arrangements. In this way there is less restriction on the amount of regeneration activity that can be undertaken, and the process allows for even the smallest community groups to get involved, learn and grow.

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Partnerships Our commitment to Partnership working will be put to the test during the next couple of years, as we are to become instrumental in the Government’s new agenda in Local Service Agreements. Effectively, the Local Strategic Partnership will act as the catalyst for meeting Targets in 3 areas of service: • Children and Young people • Healthy Communities and Older People • Safer & Stronger Communities Mainstream providers, including council services, will need to work much more closely to provide local services that meet local need.

Targeting Communities in Need The most deprived communities in Allerdale have had the benefit of Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) since 2002, but we are unsure whether further NRF funding will be available. We shall continue to direct most effort and resources to addressing the needs of the communities in those areas via whatever resources become available. Equally, other funding opportunities, which may be for communities of interest (i.e. Disability access) rather than neighbourhoods, will continue to gain assistance. We are now in the best position to access as much funding as possible since we have now completed a thorough mapping exercise for the whole Borough which can show where need exists.

External Funding Given the very limited funds available from council revenues, we shall continue to access as much external funding as possible. As well as applying for as much mainstream government funding as possible from a variety of departments, we shall continue to offer support in assistance to community groups to access Lottery funding streams. There is an expertise within the ARG1 in successfully bidding for all types of external funding. In the future it is likely that more officer time will need to be devoted to seeking out and applying for external funding. We will therefore ensure that training in funding applications and its consequent management is made as widely available as possible.

The Spatial Context As part of the Government’s drive towards greater community participation in all local government matters, there is to be a change to the way local planning and development decisions are carried out. In Allerdale this will mean that by 2008 the present Local Plan will be replaced by the Local Development Framework (LDF). The new document will serve much the same purpose as the old, but it is the way this plan is arrived at that will change. The Local Development Framework will be a collection of strategies, as well clear guidance, which pull together all elements of planned changes (or not) to the land and buildings. There will be a shift in the balance from the production of a plan which is open to objections which need to be heard at Public Inquiry, to a plan which has been

1 Allerdale Regeneration Group

thoroughly consulted and agreed prior to its production. It will become the responsibility of the Council to ensure that all the individual strategies and other supporting documents have been consulted and tested by all interested parties before the plan is produced. Regeneration practitioners welcome the changes the LDF will bring, as it should become the basis upon which the forward planning function is carried out. The ARG has recognised for some time the need to strengthen our Planning Policy function to provide a more proactive and speedy approach to changing circumstances.

3. Allerdale Council’s 7 Strategic Themes Jobs for Local People Whilst the ability of the Council to influence overall rates of economic activity is limited, it is the role of the ARG to encourage, facilitate and support agencies and organisations to address some of the underlying issues and thus create joint initiatives. However, without external funding from the full variety of sources little can be achieved. Thus, there is a balance to be struck between addressing the needs of neighbourhood communities and groups of people like the unemployed, with the availability of funding and delivery capacity. We try to consider all aspects of job creation through projects which will: Reduce the barriers to employment – looking for solutions in travel to work, childcare, skills requirements of business and training requirements of individual’s career aspirations Support Business – encouraging the creation, growth and diversification of business, inward investment, and in the workforce through training and upskilling being made easier Encourage enterprise - in all forms: self employment, Social Enterprise and Young Enterprise Stimulate skills development – through investment in the workforce by business and through providers offering courses that are lacking and needed, and lobbying for a University for Cumbria We will continue to support the agencies and organisations in the field, but expect to see some realignment taking place which will fill gaps in provision, address duplication and ensure that Council funding and any other funding which we can influence is being spent in accordance with performance.

Rural Renewal The Council provides support for rural communities through the three Market Towns Initiatives. Up to £1m could be available for the right projects, and since this NWRDA funding must be matched, there is a strong likelihood that up to £2m will be spent within each of the 3 areas during the next 3 years. Areas covered are Keswick – which also has a Business Improvement District scheme proposal in place, Cockermouth, and a partnership made up of the three market towns Silloth, Aspatria and Wigton. Not all of the actions can be funded via this route so they will each be pursuing other funding opportunities to address the less economic, more social projects which they feel are equally important.

A major source of funding throughout the rural areas is available from Rural Regeneration Cumbria.

Housing Allerdale has a diverse housing market. It has areas with affordability issues at one extreme and areas of low demand at the other. The effects of this are revealed on the one hand by the difficulty facing young ‘homebuilders’ or migrant workers in the seasonal tourism industry in getting local accommodation, and on the other, by housing estates with high levels of vacancies and some evidence of neglect. The Government’s present national housing policies are interpreted regionally to ensure that there is the potential for everyone to have a choice in where they live. A major concern for us in Allerdale, however, is that a regional policy will actually compound the local affordability issue rather than providing guidance to address it. West Cumbria has a regeneration zone designation within government departments – this enhances the proper links between job creation, funding and physical development funding for example, but would appear to fall short of linking up with housing policy at the regional level. One of the Government’s objectives is to alleviate the national shortage of all types of homes by concentrating resources in certain worst affected areas. With Housing Renewal Pathfinder Funding, whole areas are being rebuilt with mixed tenure, mixed type and mixed sizes of homes to meet the full variety of needs of people in the 21st century. An independent study has been commissioned to gather all housing and socio-economic information for the whole of West Cumbria. This should accurately forecast where, when and what interventions should be considered if we are to meet our local housing needs in the future. The work is due for completion in spring 2005 In order to meet the need for low cost housing this Council intends to utilise the new ‘well being’ powers given to local authorities. These have been widely interpreted by some councils to provide innovative solutions to affordability problems and we can learn from these good practice models.

Image & the Environment Heritage-led regeneration is now recognised as a key regeneration driver at the national and local level, backed up with funding to facilitate the process. This Council has had a number of such successes in the past 5 years, which have led to investment of over £1m of public and private funding going into improving over 100 properties. We shall build on those successes and continue to generate funding to maintain our local heritage.

Young People The economic issues facing young people are key to the future of Allerdale and are included in the cross-cutting elements of the Strategy, e.g. entrepreneurship, skills development and accessibility to work.

Feeling Safer Adequate provision to reduce crime and address the fear of crime and other community safety issues is recognised as being fundamental to a stable community. Our Housing Renewal Area projects include investment to help people feel safer in their homes, including a comprehensive programme of improvements to back lanes and rear cartilages.

Transport and Access to Services As Allerdale is within a 2 tier Local Authority system, it has limited capacity to influence our transport infrastructure. We are consulted by the County Council on all matters connected with transport. Equally, we can attempt to persuade the Highways Authority to invest in more dual carriageways to cross Cumbria, but since the need for investment has been consistently ignored by successive governments, it seems prudent to act on the basis that a major change in priority is unlikely. Difficult transport conditions coupled with low wages means that those living in the remoter rural areas can be severely isolated from work. Jobs are available on the west coast in Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport and further east towards the M6 corridor and beyond. Accessing those jobs is not easy without personal transport as public transport is at best very poor and at worst non-existent. The railway system does not offer any solutions either, as again there has been no investment in the existing west-coast line, which offers little assistance to the majority of residents anyway. This Council will continue to lobby and participate in cross Cumbrian working groups for better transport. Currently our best opportunity for improvements to the infrastructure lies in the West Cumbria Strategic Forum, which has recognised this need and pledged its support to consider the issues.

Allerdale Regeneration Group 2005

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Section 4

1. Current Regeneration Actions

Key Actions Jobs for Local People 1. Re-align our financial support to the agencies and organisations delivering Business Support functions in conjunction with other Cumbrian Local Authorities to fill the gaps in provision and address any overlaps. 2. Better utilise the existing levels of Council resources to create more Social Enterprises and support all forms of entrepreneurship across the Borough 3. Support all efforts to secure a University for Cumbria 4. Support all efforts to secure the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency base in West Cumbria 5. Implement the change from the Local Plan to the Local Development Framework 6. Work with Cumbria County Council to secure European funding streams post 2006 Rural Renewal 7. Provide resources and other support to Keswick Business Improvement District initiative Housing 8. Maximise ODPM funding for Housing Market Renewal for West Cumbria Low Demand areas. 9. Re-align our Development Control functions with Planning Policy to maximise opportunities for Affordable Housing and Regeneration / job creation opportunities Transport and Access to Services 10. Support all efforts to secure a better transport infrastructure across Cumbria 11. Re-align Neighbourhood Renewal Funds to address the new Government Floor Targets in our deprived neighbourhoods. Image & Environment 12. Implement the Townscape Heritage Initiative Programme in Maryport.

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In addition to any actions mentioned above, the following regeneration activities are planned or already being carried out within individual settlements

1.1. Workington including Seaton, Harrington, Dearham & Broughton Moor

Funding / Programme Theme Project Title 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Title

Buildings/ Built Workington SRB – Town Centre Retail Redevelopment environment NWRDA, Private

Workington SRB – Public Realm NWRDA, Private

ABC Capital Derwent Valley Recreation Scheme

ABC Capital, West Port of Workington Investment Lakes Renaissance – Programme & Masterplan NWRDA, Cumbria CC

ABC Capital / WLR Harrington Harbour redevelopment

ABC Capital / Workington Facelift Scheme Workington SRB

ABC Capital / HLF / Workington Townscape Heritage Initiative WLR / Private.

Housing Improvement Housing Derwentside Renewal Area Programme

Housing Improvement Clearance Areas Moss bay and Senhouse

Programme Terrace

Approved Development Older Persons Housing Programme

Economic Workington SRB & Intermediate Labour Market Development ERDF NRF

Workington SRB & Construction Training ERDF, NRF

Workington SRB, Support for Disabled into work ERDF, NRF

Town Centre Management Business Improvement Districts WLR – Step Forward Access to Employment Tomorrows Entrepreneurs

WLR – Step Forward Derwent Howe Regeneration

West Lakes Derwent Forest – Redevelopment of the Renaissance - NWRDA Former Broughton Moor RNAD site & ERDF

Environmental WLR - Step Forward Curwen Park Improvements Improvements

WLR - Step Forward Your Back Yard St. Michaels Renaissance

Neighbourhood Learning Mentors Scheme NRF Renewal Fit 4 Life – Community Health Initiative

Wheels to Work Neighbourhood Support Team

Workington SRB / WLR Young Peoples Resource Centre / Other

Community Chest Training for Basic Skills etc. NW Coalfields

Communities Fund Improvements to Community Buildings and open spaces Social Enterprise Scheme

1.2. Maryport

Programme Theme Project Title 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Title

ABC Capital, Buildings/ Built NWRDA Maryport Harbour Authority environment Endowment

WLR – Step Maryport Harbour reconfiguration Forward

WLR – Step Maryport Harbour bridges Forward

WLR – Step Marina Development Forward

WLR – Step Railway Station Improvement s Forward

WLR – Step Maryport Strategic Sites Forward

WLR – Step Maryport Educational Settlement Forward / NRF

Housing Housing Investment Maryport Renewal Area Programme

Economic NRF, ERDF Routes to Work Development

NRF, ERDF Construction Training

NRF, ERDF Support for Disabled into work

WLR – Step West Coast Festivals Forward

WLR – Step Sustainable Communities Maryport

Forward Programme

ABC, Heritage Environmental Lottery Funds, Maryport Townscape Heritage Initiative Improvements WLR

NRF Flimby Green Areas Improvements

Maryport Arts Neighbourhood NRF Learning Mentors Scheme Renewal Fit 4 Life – Community Health Initiative

1.3. North Allerdale including the towns of Silloth, Wigton and Aspatria and the hinterlands

Funding / Theme Programme Project Title 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Title

Buildings/ Built NWRDA / MTI Wigton Town Centre Masterplanning environment

ABC Capital/ NWRDA North Allerdale Area Commercial Facelift

NWDA and others to be Silloth Public Realm Works confirmed

NWRDA / MTI Silloth Mini-Masterplan for the Dock Area

Approved Development Programme / Housing Affordable homes in Silloth Derwent & Solway Housing Association

Housing Investment Rural Improvement Grants Programme Programme

Economic RRC / ERDF & Viking Tourist Attraction - Aspatria Development Others

NWRDA – MTI / Project Development & Further Feasibilities Private Sector

NWRDA / MTI Silloth Childcare Needs Assessment

ABC Revenue/ North Allerdale Rural Business Initiative NWDA

Neighbourhood NWRDA – MTI / Training & Support Centre - Wigton Renewal Lottery

NWRDA - MTI / Family Development & Training Centre - Surestart / Wigton Barnado’s

NWRDA – MTI Aspatria & District Resource Centre /Francis Scott/Lottery/ Surestart

ABC Capital / English Heritage Environmental / Wigton Town Wigton Heritage Economic Regeneration

Improvements Council / Scheme NWRDA / Cumbria CC.

ABC Capital Facelift Scheme across Partnership area.

1.4. Keswick and the hinterlands

Funding / Theme Programme Project Title 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Title

Buildings & Built ABC Capital Keswick Area Business Facelift Scheme Environment /NWRDA

Approved Development Programme / Housing Affordable homes in Keswick Derwent & Solway Housing Association

Economic ABC Revenue/ Keswick Area Rural Business Support Development NWRDA - MTI

NWRDA – MTI / LSC - Learn 2 Earn Connexions +

Sure Start/ Keswick Childcare Centre NWRDA

NWRDA – MTI / Speciality Retailers Marketing Pilot Project Private Sector

NWRDA – MTI / Proposed Tourism Development Leader +

NWRDA – MTI / Keswick Local Produce Market CCC

NWRDA – MTI / Keswick Tourism Association/ Keswick Business Improvement District LNDP/Private Sector

ABC / Private Keswick Small Grants Award Scheme Sector

ABC Revenue Rural Business Initiative

1.5. Cockermouth

Funding / Theme Programme Project Title 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Title

Buildings & Built NWRDA - MTI Mini Masterplan for Market Place Area Environment

Conservation Area Characterisation Guide & NWRDA - MTI Design Study

NWRDA – MTI & Delivery of the Masterplan through a

Others programme of public realm works

ABC Capital/ Cockermouth Area Commercial Facelift NWRDA – MTI / Scheme Private

Housing ABC Capital Affordable homes in Cockermouth

Economic ABC Revenue/ Business Development Support Development NWRDA - MTI

NWDA – MTI Small grants award scheme /Private Sector

NWRDA - MTI Marketing Officer

ABC Revenue Rural Business Initiative