You might consider it strange to think that Keswick, set in the glorious countryside of the northern half of the Lake District National Park and a favourite location for millions of visitors a year, should be in any need of help and regeneration. Yet the apparent prosperity and well being of this community masks serious concern on issues such as the shortage of affordable housing for local people, a narrow range of employment and low wage levels, inadequate public transport and car parking, few facilities for young families and youth and many others.
That said, there have been some notable achievements in Keswick and area over recent years. The Theatre by the Lake has become an enormous year round asset for the whole region. Keswick School (1000+pupils) has Beacon status and draws in pupils from a wide area. To the relief of visitors, the centre of town is now a paved pedestrian priority zone. The strong junior sections of the sports clubs must be the envy of many larger towns. Significantly, the independent Keswick Tourism Association has over 450 business members.
It is this philosophy of self help which encouraged local people to come together to bid for a place on the Market Towns Initiative in 2001, a government scheme to promote community involvement in the regeneration of rural areas. Concerns and issues raised at community workshops in Keswick and the neighbouring rural parishes were developed into an Action Plan of projects in 2003 and the Keswick Area Partnership (KAP) was registered as a Limited Company.KAP is a community-based organisation, with a Board of Directors made up of local volunteers. The Steering Group membership is representative of a wide range of local interests, including members from the local business, tourist and visitor accommodation sectors and of parish councils and local authorities.
The Keswick Area Partnership aims to reinforce the role of Keswick as the local service centre, for both Keswick residents, businesses and visitors and for neighbouring rural communities: to promote and engage local people in the development of community projects, to relieve social deprivation and to facilitate co-operation with other organisations, for the benefit of the local community.
Some of the projects identified in the Action Plan were successful in attracting funding from the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) in 2005 and since then, KAP has implemented several major projects in the Keswick area, working in partnership with other community organisations, the private sector and local authorities. These projects include:
For information on these and all other KAP projects and activities please follow the links to download the most recent KAP Newsletter and Annual Report.
Whilst the NWDA programme and funding ended in March 2008, there are still plenty of ongoing needs and development possibilities in Keswick, as identified in the Keswick Masterplan. During the past four years the Keswick Area Partnership has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and skills and a proven track record, both in project management and in joint partnership working with the private and public sector, making it well placed to facilitate and deliver projects that address this need, for the benefit of the community. KAP is therefore currently working hard to try to secure funds to enable it to continue for this purpose.
KAP has an ‘open door’ policy and we are always happy to have people drop by with ideas and information that can help us initiate and develop projects. We are an organisation looking to promote ideas that are inspired by and benefit the community and, as such, we appeal to the Keswick community for new volunteers, to join us in taking forward this important and practical process of regeneration in Keswick and the neighbouring parishes.
For further information call 017687 74144 or email enquiry@keswickap.co.uk.
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