My name is Dawn Stobbart and I am a Councillor on Eden
District Council – but please, don’t hold that against me! I was elected onto the Council last May for
the area in which I live, Penrith West; I grew up spending a lot of time here
and have lived here for the past 8 years as an adult, so I can honestly say I
am intimately familiar with the area.
Penrith,
and the Eden Valley, I think is one of the most beautiful places in Britain and
its beauty is quite breathtaking; sitting on the shore of Ullswater looking
towards the Lakeland Fells is unparalleled for its tranquillity and beauty and
Penrith, with its history and setting is a jewel in the Crown of the Lake
District.
Living in Penrith, I have noticed
a change over the last few years in the way that we are living and interacting
with our environment and each other. I
grew up in a town where there was a sense of community; where people smiled at
each other and said hello to total strangers and events were held that fostered
this sense of community. I remember that
Castletown had its own Pageant and we all went to the ‘Rec’ for the day; the
older people went on organised trips and there was always help if a person
needed it and it saddens me that this is disappearing from the town, little by
little.
So, one
of the first things I did when I was elected onto the council was to send out a
leaflet saying that I wanted to start up a Neighbourhood Forum, for the
residents of my ward to try to do something for the immediate locality– I did
not any response to this; not one person of the thousand or so that I am
responsible showed an interest in being part of a community, despite being
contacted frequently about problems in the area.
One of
the side effects of this is a general decline in the pride of the area; walking
round Penrith, there is dropped litter everywhere, despite the presence of
litter bins. Similarly, the presence of
dog mess on the streets and along public footpaths is an increasing problem,
with this being one of the biggest complaints I hear about my local
‘patch’. I recently went for a walk
around the newly finished nature reserve at Thacka Beck, where both the
presence of litter and dog mess made me wonder what has happened that this is
accepted behaviour anywhere. This
malaise is evident in town too – litter is dropped on the pavement, bottles and
other detritus flies out of car windows, chewing gum and cigarette ends are a
constant companion when walking round the town.
It’s hard to feel pride in an environment that is used as a dustbin
everyday and this turns into a vicious circle.
People drop litter and so people stop caring and drop litter and people
stop caring…. Then people don’t do anything when something really important
happens, because they stopped caring about what goes on around them; until
someone comes along and gets them wound up about things.
This is
just what happened last year with our local cinema; it was being closed down to
make way for another business, allegedly a large pub chain. I and a few other people got upset and made a
fuss – and we managed to keep our cinema – and for a while, there was a sense
of pride and community as thousands of people in the Eden Valley worked
together for the same purpose; this is why I became a councillor, because I
realised that there is still a community and pride in the area, it’s just gone
into hiding under a pile of litter!
BUT, I have a plan. There are a number of people out there who
are willing to do something to try to create pride in Penrith and these people
are trying to do something about the general malaise in Penrith, including
myself. People like the group PACT (Penrith
Action for Community Transition) are trying to encourage people to have a pride
in the place they live, and this, while not bringing back the community spirit
I grew up with, will most definitely make Penrith a nicer place to live, for
all of us. Therefore, I am going to keep
on suggesting things like litter picking at local places and keep complaining
about dog mess and grass verges being ruined by wagons. I am a councillor for Eden District Council,
one of the most beautiful places in Britain, and it is my job.
So, has the pride disappeared from
Penrith? Do you take your litter away
with you, or do you think that it doesn’t matter if you make a mess? What would it take for YOU to get out into
your street or neighbourhood and keep it clean and tidy? Let me know what you think – and what it will
take to change things.
