Councils seek residents views
(Date of issue: Monday 8 September 2008)
A new project gets underway,next week, which provides residents
living in the Harraby ward of Carlisle an opportunity to have a
bigger say about the services provided by Carlisle City Council,
Cumbria County Council, Police and other agencies.
More than 3,200 leaflets will be going to every household, in
the ward, inviting residents to drop-in to the Harraby Catholic
Club, on Thursday 18 September, from 3pm to 6pm to talk to
councillors and officers about things they would like to see happen
in their area and community.
From this event, the organisers would also like to discuss how
residents can become more involved with shaping future projects
from identifying what is needed to planning and the delivery of
these projects.
Cllr Cyril Weber, Carlisle City Council Ward Member for Harraby
and a County Councillor, said:
"This is a pilot scheme to see how we can develop
services which are centred on what residents know will benefit
their local neighbourhood. Part of that process is for us, as local
authorities and other public organisations, to go out into the
community to not only hear first hand from residents what is on
their minds about the services we provide but also to encourage
them to be more involved in identifying what is important to
them.
"The drop-in session is just the first step and
solutions will not be found overnight but our aim is to help
residents to get the skills and abilities to be able to work with
us so that together we can tackle any issues facing them now and in
the future."
This new initiative is in response to the Government’s Local
Government and Public Involvement in Health Act, 2007, which
encourages local authorities to engage more with communities and
give more power to local people to be more involved in making
decisions.
The drop-in session will be followed by a meeting of Harraby’s
Neighbourhood Forum at 7pm which will continue the theme of
community engagement.
A similar pilot scheme is planned for Longtown.