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Localism Bill
Rural Cumbria is driving national policy in the Localism Bill
The Eden Valley in Cumbria has played a crucial role in shaping the Government’s new Localism Bill. Rory Stewart said “Eden was selected as the Rural Vanguard for the government’s flagship Big Society initiative because of the tremendous energy and imagination these communities are putting into running local projects. Now I’m happy to say we have become a model for national legislation which will allow communities across the country to follow Eden’s lead.”
The Localism Bill will radically shift power from central government into the hands of communities. The Bill will give communities powers to grant their own planning permission, bid to run council services,
such as local buses; and club together to buy ‘community assets’ such as pubs, or Tourist Information centres.
Rory said “Many of these approaches to local action have made their way into the Localism Bill after being piloted in Eden. In Lyvennet, around Crosby Ravensworth, they have pioneered community affordable
housing and are in process of buying out the local pub, the Butchers Arms. In Upper Eden, the takeover of the Kirby Stephen Community Centre has informed thinking about the Community Right to Buy local
assets, a key provision of the Bill. Eden has also been at the forefront of approaches to neighbourhood planning. Since we became a Vanguard in June, we have welcomed officials from the Departments of
Communities and Local Government, Environment, Food and Rural affairs, and Business Industry and Skills to Cumbria to learn about the Eden model, and I am delighted that they have taken the lessons back to
London.”
“My colleague, Eric Pickles, who visited Penrith during my election campaign and was incredibly impressed by the wealth of local knowledge and expertise – has said that this is a ‘new era of people power’. Yet the reason we are so rich in home-grown charities and volunteering is because here in Cumbria people have been rolling up their sleeves and doing it for themselves for centuries. The pilot and the Bill build on this strength and give more power to Cumbrian communities to achieve what they want. The key word here is local.
This Bill will recognise local communities who know more, care more and can do more than Central Government. Whether it is a community in Lyne opposed to wind-turbines, or a cluster of parishes such as the Upper Eden Community Plan who choose to create their own neighbourhood plan; a group in Warcop or in Garrigill who want to save their local pub with a community buyout, or residents and businesses in Alston
wishing to set up their own credit union, all of these groups will be given the tools to achieve their communities’ goals. I see this as real recognition for all the hard work that the people of Penrith and the Border have been doing for years and continue to do.”
An Essential Guide to the Localism Bill
Churches
To find out more about the many churches in Cumbria please click here to visit the Churches Trust for Cumbria website.
Housing
To see the government’s current Green Paper on Planning, please scroll through the document below: