Locality working
Locality working is being developed by
Allerdale Borough Council across the borough of Allerdale to
influence and improve the delivery of public services. We want
our local communities to have a better say in the way services
are delivered. The 5 localities in Allerdale are:
- Cockermouth
- Keswick
- Maryport
- North Allerdale (Wigton, Aspatria and Silloth)
- Workington
Allerdale Borough Council is also working with
other service providers to engage much more at a local level in
order to make services more tailored to meet local needs and to
strengthen communication, understanding and awareness to provide a
“voice” in each locality and to agree a strategic framework for the
allocation of resources for this key area of work. The
Council also recognises the contribution of other organisations –
public, private, voluntary and third sectors and see its task as
enabling (not controlling) that contribution.
During 2010/2011 Allerdale has been developing
a programme of Locality Working across the Borough to develop
Locality Plans in line with the clear ambition by the Coalition
Government to decentralise power from Central Government to the
communities of Great Britain.
It was clear from the Decentralisation and
Localism Bill published by Government on 13th December
2010 focuses on 6 key areas:
- Lift the burden of bureaucracy
- Empower Communities to do things their way
- Increase local control of public finance
- Diversify the supply of public services
- Public service providers should be subject to transparency not
bureaucracy
- Strengthen accountability to local people
Locality working and partnership processes
will be needed as the Council becomes more open and
outward-looking. Whilst none of this is new there is a
significant shift in emphasis. Change is necessary as it is
more about making changes to the ways things are done than it is
about physical change.
The initial emphasis within the Locality
programme from the Council will begin with pilots. Firstly in
Cockermouth, followed by Maryport and then rolled out across
the Borough over the next four years. A Locality Plan was
finalised for Cockermouth and the surrounding area at the
beginning of 2011 and is due to be delivered in the next
12 months. Following on from Cockermouth a Locality Plan is
also in the process of being developed and delivered in
Maryport during 2011/12. The Council wishes to see each
locality with its own locality plan over the course of the next
four years which will operate through each locality’s local
partnership arrangements.