Introduction to Local Matters

Over the last 10 years Cumbria County Council has been recognised for its excellent community engagement framework of Local Committees and Neighbourhood Forums.  

The Council is now building on that success and for the first time has produced A Framework for Community Engagement  called Local Matters. It is part of an ongoing commitment to provide high quality services that are relevant to the changing needs of the County’s diverse communities.

The County Council recognises that in all sectors of society the demand for improved quality, choice and more personalised products continues to rise.   Services to the public are no exception.   Additionally, there has also been a commitment from successive governments to achieve these improvements without increasing burdens on the tax payer.   

Cumbria County Council understands that more effective collaboration with local people and their communities is the best way to bring about the developments that Cumbrian people are looking for.   This includes continued joint working with the Cumbria-wide and Local Strategic Partnerships.

The purpose of Local Mattersis therefore to help shape services that are:

• What people want -  Built around aspirations of local people rather than around requirements of departments or organizations that deliver them
• What people need -  Locally tailored to more accurately meet varying needs
• Where, when and how people want them -  Accessible, flexible and relevant to the ways in which people live their lives

Local Matters  supports the County Council’s overall communication and customer focused programmes to ‘put people first’.  

Who is this Framework for?

Local Matters is a comprehensive guide to community engagement.   It has been written to help the County Council, partners and local communities work together as effectively as possible.  Local Matterswill also be useful to others who are interested in this dynamic and worthwhile activity. 

High quality community engagement enables public services to continuously improve by creating active relationships with local people.   This ensures that service providers and communities are looking ahead together, building resources into services that are relevant to changing local needs.

Applying the principles of Local Mattersoffers many benefits:

• Improved decision making  – helping decisions to be firmly based on evidence of local needs 
• Improved savings  – providing services that people actually want, removing what is not needed and varying provision according to local requirements   
• Improved quality  – through effective feedback that 'reality checks' the quality of service delivery where it is received 
• Improved investment– creating a fuller picture of community experiences to support fairness in resource distribution.  

Current arrangements

Cumbria County Council has a number of well established Community Engagement arrangements in place. These include:

• 84 Elected Councillors working in their community leadership roles
• Six Local Committees and 63 Neighbourhood Forums providing ongoing opportunities where people can meet regularly with their local elected representatives
• Local Community Teams including Neighbourhood Development Officers providing close working arrangements with voluntary, charitable and community groups
• County Council Internet and Intranet sites providing ‘virtual’ engagement opportunities through discussion forums 
• Specific departmental arrangements
• Partnership arrangements such as the Cumbria Strategic Partnership and Local Strategic Partnerships
• The Cumbria Multicultural Centre
• Developing themed Scrutiny Panels to create new and improved opportunities for face-to-face discussion on all council services.

It is also helpful to mention two other elements of the Council’s communication programmes that provide regular interactive opportunities.

A regular household newspaper describes achievements, new services, how the County Council is performing, and offers opportunities for feedback. 

A Citizens’ Panel,  ‘Community Voice’, established in 1999, represents a partnership between Cumbria County Council, five District Councils, the Police and NHS.   The panel consists of a representative cross section of the population of Cumbria.   It acts as a basis for qualitative and quantitative market research. 

Continuous Improvement

Local Matters  has been produced by the County Council’s Community Unit to provide a thorough explanation of Community Engagement.   The aim is to ensure that the Council works with communities along a path of continuous improvement in ways that are coherent, consistent and coordinated.

• Coherent - by making Community Engagement easy to understand so that everyone knows what is going on
• Consistent - by explaining what is expected; and by providing resources, contacts and advice on the best ways to develop engagement in particular situations
• Coordinated  - by co-ordinating all Community Engagement activity to improve effectiveness and avoid duplication