Mail Weekly Column: 04 July 2022
A few weeks ago I attended a meeting of local businesspeople and entrepreneurs in Barrow to hear about their plans, and discuss their concerns too.
Anti-social behaviour and crime came up again and again. Graffiti tags were appearing across town and a number of businesses had faced the grim reality of having their windows put in by vandals overnight. Thankfully the Police have increased patrols and it would seem that the worst of this has stopped. But it set me thinking about community pride and how to grow it.
Pride in our communities is something we’re blessed with in abundance in Furness but, like everything, there are peaks and troughs. On Saturday I managed to attend two festivals and also one carnival (the amazing Unity Festival in Barrow, another celebrating wool at the Farmers’ at Lowick, and also the Ulverston Carnival. In fact, as I write this, I’m kicking myself because I realise that I forgot to stop in at the Lindal fete on my way home!
We are fortunate to have strong and resilient communities and a wealth of very generous people who are willing to step up and put these events on. But sometimes a community needs a bit more than that. I suspect that during the pandemic many of us were a little bit surprised by the generosity of others in a crisis - people who instead of turning inward and looking after themselves when it would have been most understandable to do so, did the exact opposite. I saw over a dozen local groups set up across Furness in that exact same spirit, helping those who most needed it.
The pandemic was - I hope - an exceptional circumstance. But I’ve been thinking about how to get that same community spirit back up and going in different ways. Yesterday marked the first day of my All Together Alleys project - something which has been designed to do just that: bring the community together and restore pride in something that is neglected.
After a public vote, my team and I started working with residents of Smeaton and Rawlinson Streets to tidy up their back streets and turn it in to a safe community space that they can use and enjoy.
We met with the residents last week to hear about what they wanted to get fixed, and since then have been working with Barrow Council to remove abandoned vehicles, and do things like link up street sweeping with bin collection days.
Yesterday we started cleaning up in earnest, litter picking from top to bottom, tidying up some long-abandoned fly-tipping, and emptying out a garden or two. We amassed a huge pile of rubbish as a result - thank you to FCC for taking it away so quickly.
There’s lots more to be done but we’ve made a great start and it was fantastic to see so many people out and supporting, not least The Well and Holiday Inn who lent a brilliant team of volunteers (and brought snacks).
We’ve started painting some of the back walls - the next step is resurfacing, arranging some planters, and making the street more secure. It’s a big job, but very satisfying to see it start to come together.
