Published: 04/01/2018
COPELAND Council are launching a scheme to encourage residents and businesses to take pride in their borough.
The Copeland Pride of Place initiative aims to encourage locals to take pride in their area and work towards making Copeland a better place to live, work and visit.
The scheme will also help to tackle issues that blight the borough, such as fly-tipping, littering and dog-fouling, and will encourage businesses to improve commercial premises through the £1m Town Centre Regeneration scheme.
Residents can get involved by taking part in a short survey which invites them to share their thoughts on what makes them proud of their area and the issues they feel should be tackled. The survey which ends on January 12 can be found by visiting the council’s website www.copeland.gov.uk.
The council are also asking residents and businesses to support the campaign by following its facebook (facebook.com/Copeland-Pride-of-Place) and twitter (@CBCPrideofPlace) pages.
Mike Starkie Mayor of Copeland said: “I’m extremely proud to be the Elected Mayor of this wonderful part of the world, and myself and Copeland Council are delighted to be leading this campaign to harness a sense of civic pride in our towns and villages.
“Copeland has such a tremendous sense of community spirit, and the people here are the finest anywhere. We have scenery on our doorstep that is second to none, with two-thirds of the borough sitting in the Lake District National Park, a World Heritage Site.
“We have high hopes for the campaign and our aim is for it to be embraced by all corners of the Copeland community. The initial response has been overwhelming, with schools, businesses, churches, town and parish councils, charities and sports clubs all signing up to play their part.
“It’s easy to be critical of local authorities, but the truth is that we all have a role to play in improving our surroundings and shining a light on those who detract from it.
“We are asking people in our community to shout up loud about why they are proud of Copeland – why they’re proud to live, work, visit or go to school here – and we’ll be sharing and promoting examples of pride and good citizenship throughout the campaign.
“At the same time, we’ll be putting the focus on some of the negatives that blight our communities, such as fly-tipping, littering and dog-fouling. Our ambition is to improve the behaviour of the minority who do not share our sense of pride in Copeland.”
The campaign is an extension of the £1 million Pride of Place Town Centre Regeneration project that was launched by the Mayor in the summer. The council are offering grants to businesses for improvements to their premises and the response from the business community has been extremely encouraging with over 150 enquires so far.
For more information including details on how you can support the campaign, and how to apply for a Town Centre Regeneration grant visit www.copeland.gov.uk/content/copeland-pride-place.
