Community Projects in South Lakeland

Representatives from every secondary school and college in the district got the chance to grill their County, District and Parish Councillors.   The event aimed to raise young people’s understanding of democracy and provide an opportunity   to be heard. As a part of Local Democracy Week, the event allowed young people to find out the responsibilities of all three tiers of local government, and how their needs could be addressed. 

A community co-operative formed to establish a new, sustainable community enterprise shop to replace the privately owned shop/post office that was lost in 1996 due to retirement. The group were offered two rooms in the local pub, The Derby Arms, to use until they can find permanent accommodation. The shop, which is owned by the community, is now up and running. To help with start-up costs, they were granted £1000 by the Neighbourhood Forum towards shelving and shop fittings. The County Council's Community Regeneration Fund has also awarded £15,000 to the project.

Following the disruption caused to the centre of Windermere during the implementation of the Windermere Enhancement Scheme, Local Committee has allocated £3,000 to promote the town and encourage shoppers to come to Windermere. The local County Councillor is meeting with traders in the town to discuss how this can best be achieved.

Milnthorpe Film Stars are an enterprising group of young people, formed out of the Youth Matters Forum held in Milnthorpe last year. They had the idea of having film shows for families so that people don't have to travel to Kendal or Lancaster to see the latest releases. The group secured grants from the Kent Estuary Neighbourhood Forum and Milnthorpe Memorial Hall fund to get things moving. The first showing was watched by a mixture of children, their parents and family and friends of the organisers. The event ran smoothly, with the box office, refreshment stand and front of house all being staffed by the Milnthorpe Film Stars volunteers. Following the success of the event, more film shows are planned.

A free bus scheme for 11 - 16 year olds has been funded by the Grange & Cartmel Community Board during the school holidays this year. As well as promoting the use of buses, the scheme provides young people the opportunity to access activities available during the holidays. The scheme continues to be a great success.

In recognition that festivals have a positive economic impact on local economies, South Lakeland Local Committee has awarded grants ranging between £500 and £5000 to: Kendal International Arts Festival; Windermere Air Show; Kendal Torchlight; Coniston Walking Festival; Kendal Mountain Festival; Kirkland Festival and a leaflet for all Ulverston Festivals.

Following the relocation of a health centre, from one end of Ulverston to another, the Local Committee for South Lakeland funded a bus service to help people get to the new centre. The route was designed to incorporate a local estate and was initially funded for six months. Due to growing passenger numbers, the service has been funded since. It has now developed sufficient passenger numbers to be included as part of the core transport services.

Aimed at reducing the number of road traffic accidents involving young people in South Lakeland, the Pass Plus+ scheme provides additional training with driving instructors for newly qualified drivers. Although subsidised by the Safer Roads for Cumbria campaign, the Grange & Cartmel Community Board have further subsidised the scheme to make it free for young people in the area.