ACT Gazette: Issue 4: Winter 2010 Hill Farming Gathering - Date for your Diary The next Hill Farming Gathering will be held on 25 January 2011 Venue to be confirmed. For further information or to reserve a place please contact Dani Hudson on Tel: 01768 869511 or Email: [email protected] BASIS - Developing Youth & Rural Organisations in Cumbria To find out more about how this project can support your group please follow this link to view the latest newsletter ‘Basis Newsletter 2’. www.cumbriaaction.org.uk/basis/basis_newsletter 2011 Census Merry Christmas and The next Census in England and Wales is on Sunday 27th March 2011. We recommend a Happy New Year communities avoid carrying out questionnaire from all at ACT consultations during March and April. What’s inside this issue: Community Led Planning & Development Case Study: Crosthwaite Exchange The Rural Challenge - Updated and republished Whole Valley Planning in Borrowdale Community Led Planning in Cumbria Community Assets Case Study: Gamblesby Village Hall Renewable Energy Project Alcohol Licensing Conditions ACT Project Updates & Upcoming Events ACRE Headlines - Selection of articles from the ACRE website Other News - New programmes, events, seminars, funding information etc Working with the people and communities of Cumbria to realise their potential Charity Registration Number 1080875 Company Limited by Guarantee 3957858 ACT uses 100% recycled unbleached paper as part of its commitment to tackling climate change 2 Community Led Planning & Development The Project In November 2005 a steering group was formed to take forward the coffee shop idea. At that meeting the name, format, timings, finances, products to sell, promotion and start date were all agreed and responsibilities allocated. The recently refurbished village hall was chosen as the venue and the “coffee shop” opened in February 2006 . It runs every Wednesday 2pm to 4pm with lunch at 1pm Case Study: once a month. Crosthwaite Exchange The organisers wanted the “Exchange” to look and feel smart and to create an atmosphere Community where all ages would be welcome. Besides the The village of Crosthwaite lies in the Lyth café, there are a range of stalls selling Valley between Windermere and Kendal and Traidcraft goods, home baking, seasonal north of Grange-over-Sands. garden produce and second-hand books. Children’s activities are also provided in the The population of the parish of Crosthwaite holidays. and Lyth is approximately 570, which includes a number of small, outlying settlements as well A loan was obtained from a local trust to buy as the main village. A quarter of the population crockery, table cloths, aprons and to cover is of pensionable age which is slightly higher other start-up costs. The Exchange was than the Cumbrian average. quickly in profit and was able to pay back the loan. It is an active community with a church, primary school, village pub, and a number of What has been achieved? clubs and groups. On average over 60 people attend each week and people exchange news, views, concerns Background and learn of people who may need help and In October 2005 the shop and Post Office in support. Friends have been made and support Crosthwaite closed. The following month the is given when it’s needed. The Exchange Parish Council called a public meeting to makes a profit and is able to make donations discuss the implications. back to the community. It was recognised that the shop had been Besides the main café and stalls a wide-range important because it was a place where people of activities are run at the Exchange including met and exchanged news as well as a place to fish deliveries, the library van, a chiropodist, buy goods. and musical performances. The result of this initial meeting was that a Post There are themes at the café for seasonal Office was opened in the village pub and the events; Easter, Halloween, Valentines etc. and idea of starting a coffee shop was mooted. The there have also been visits by the Fire Service aim of this would be to bring people together and Community Nurses and energy efficiency and provide a focal point in the community. information provided by the District Council. Working with the people and communities of Cumbria to realise their potential Charity Registration Number 1080875 Company Limited by Guarantee 3957858 ACT uses 100% recycled unbleached paper as part of its commitment to tackling climate change 3 Community Led Planning & Development The Rural Challenge - 2010 Part of ACT’s role as an advocate for rural communities involves raising awareness of the challenges that rural residents face. Working with Cumbria Rural Forum, we have recently updated and republished ‘The Rural Challenge’. Now in its third edition, this leaflet brings together the individual experience and views and evidence of Forum participants. Crosthwaite Exchange 4th Birthday ‘The Rural Challenge’ identifies the six most The Learning difficult challenges facing rural communities in A large team of volunteers helps to spread the the next few years as (in order of priority): load of running the weekly event. Thirty helpers 1. Access to Services contribute to running and baking for the Exchange. There are four coordinators on the 2. Affordability of Housing main committee of eight who between them 3. Fuel Poverty take responsibility for the café, home-baking 4. Ageing Population and produce, Traidcraft, children’s activities and finances. 5. Sparsity and Rurality 6. Low Incomes A wide range of publicity materials have been produced including ‘A boards’ outside the It is notable that, across Cumbria, we have village hall, posters, flyers, leaflets, a quarterly pockets of rural residents that are among the newsletter and a page on the community most disadvantaged in England for each of website: www.crosthwaiteandlyth.co.uk these challenges, and some who may well be affected by more than one. Being clear about their remit has meant the committee has sometimes turned down The publication isn’t just about problems requests to diversify as they don’t want to however, it is also about solutions. In it we compromise their original aims. highlight the critical value of using the knowledge and capacity of local people to Contact details develop and deliver sustainable solutions, very If you would like more information about much in the “Big Society” model which has Crosthwaite Exchange, please contact operated in Cumbria for many years. committee members: These include Community Led Planning, to Penny Mutch Tel: 015395 68797 identify locally relevant actions; managing Email: [email protected] locally owned assets (e.g. the village hall) in a businesslike way; and developing local projects Caroline Holmes Tel: 015395 68599 to provide locally needed services and facilities. Email: [email protected] There are of course many more! If you would like more information about setting ‘The Rural Challenge’ can be found at: up an Exchange in your area, please contact www.cumbriaaction.org.uk/resources ACT on Tel: 01768 840 827 or Email: [email protected] Or by contacting ACT on Tel: 01768 840827 Email: [email protected] Working with the people and communities of Cumbria to realise their potential Charity Registration Number 1080875 Company Limited by Guarantee 3957858 ACT uses 100% recycled unbleached paper as part of its commitment to tackling climate change 4 Community Led Planning & Development ACT invited farmers in Borrowdale affected by the river and floods, to form The Borrowdale Whole Valley Planning Group, together with the above agencies, the National Farmers Union, and community representatives, all committed to developing a collaborative approach to land management and Community Led Planning in the area. The Borrowdale Whole Valley Planning Group Whole Valley Planning first met in June 2010 with the aim: in Borrowdale ‘to maintain and strengthen the farming and natural environment assets for the benefit of Integrating Community Action farmers, residents and the wider community’. & Land Management Guided by the farmers, the group initially identified flooding ‘hot-spots’ along the river Challenges and its tributaries. It was agreed that the group The destructive effect of the November 2009 should commission a river/gravel management floods on Borrowdale, settlements around the plan. river Derwent, and downstream to Keswick. This will provide a technical and legal The impact on farm land productivity. The framework for decision making about ‘little and flooding left extensive deposits of gravel on often’ interventions along the river Derwent and the ‘in-bye’, the main productive land in this its tributaries. A successful application was steep sided valley. Farmers are concerned made to the Rural Development Programme for that they are also at higher risk of more England (Cumbria Fells & Dales) to fund this frequent flooding because of gravel deposits work. left in the river bed. The Borrowdale Whole Valley Planning Group Flood management in this area can no longer be the sole responsibility of a single public will now liaise closely with the appointed agency, as limited resources are directed consultants and plan to share the findings with the wider Borrowdale community in February. towards more densely populated areas. Innovative approaches are required to develop new and efficient methods of carrying The Future out these interventions, and farmers are best The Borrowdale Whole Valley Planning Group placed to undertake this work. recognises that there are many other issues in this sensitive high profile valley which will Despite numerous site visits by agencies and require a collaborative approach, and aims to experts between November 2009 and April engage with these, once the immediate 2010, little progress had been made in challenge of flood mitigation is in hand. addressing the continuing risk of localised flooding. This approach may form a model for how to manage flood mitigation and other land Community Action management issues in other Cumbrian valleys.