Staveley with Ings Community Plan

The Vision for Staveley with Ings in the the Community Plan is…

A flourishing mixed and balanced community where everyone is valued, cared for and listened to and can take an active role. A community that actively addresses the climate emergency, strengthens biodiversity and makes our built environment more resilient so that our locality is protected now and for the future.

If you talk to anybody in the locality they say that Staveley with Ings is a great place to live, with an active and vibrant community. In the parish there is so much enthusiasm and passion and so much to be celebrated, captured and developed.

Staveley with Ings need to plan ahead if we are to look after the things we value, develop new initiatives and respond to pressures. Our plan aims to set out a direction , within a process that allows regular reflection and renewal, and enables our community to share achievements.

Our Community Plan has been developed by the community, for the community.

View the Community Plan (including the original action plan)

Delivery of the Action Plan will be guided by five principles:

  • Responding to the climate emergency, placing an emphasis on creating and nurturing a sustainable environment

  • Continuing to strengthen our community, and building resilience for emergencies such as flooding or a pandemic

  • Improving communications, and encouraging and enabling greater community engagement and more participative decision making

  • Working effectively with partners, aligning our priorities as far as possible

  • Ensuring that our actions are economically and socially sustainable.

    In putting the Plan into practice we need to make sure that, where we can, we promote these principles, and that at the very least we do not undermine them.


The community plan actions, agreed for 2021-2023, have been updated in the light of things we have achieved together, and to reflect changes to our community and the wider environment. Significantly, Cumbria County Council and South Lakeland District Council have been replaced with Westmorland and Furness Unitary Authority. It is good to see that the priorities in our community plan can also be seen in the priorities of the new Authority.

The Community Plan steering group and the Parish Council refer back to the conversations that it was built on and community and individual action to make progress on any action is celebrated. If you cannot see something in the updated action plan that you think ought to be there, please get in touch if you can help to bring about the change. Proposed actions have been taken out only where there is no group or person identified yet, to make it happen.

The action plan has been simplified. There are two overarching action areas which support all our work. They are ‘Communication’ and ‘Keeping what we Value’. The rest of the actions fall under the headings ‘Our Community’ and ‘Our Environment’ reflecting the vision for the community plan, and the focus for proposed activities.

View the updated action plan (2023-2025)

Have your say about the new updated plan by completing a short survey.

Time to update our action plan


The Partnership Project

Sustainable Staveley and Staveley with Ings Parish Council have been awarded a grant by Westmorland and Furness. The emphasis is on biodiversity and the environment.

The elements of the grant application reflected the Action Priorities of the Community Plan and will help us achieve our priorities.

Find out more about the project.


Our Action Priorities

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 1.3 Develop, change and improve current ways of communicating to ensure all groups within the community can engage and all parts of the villages are served. This will include a review and development of notice boards, social media, websites, face-to-face meetings/community hub and written communication. Continued development and extension of comprehensive and co-ordinated website and social media.

    1.2 Use census and other data to provide a profile of the demographics of the villages so that we can target communications more effectively.

    1.3 Liaise with local businesses to discuss the potential of developing an inventory within the new website.

    1.4 Offer support to our key services by disseminating information, encouraging volunteers and fundraising.

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 2.1 Publish the Staveley with Ings Response to Planning Application Guide that is based upon LDNP regulations and other National Guidance and 3 or 4 agreed local priorities that include flood prevention and safety of the sewage system, balances the needs of all those who work and live in the parish and protects significant local assets.

    2.2 Complete a directory of significant local assets of the parish both in the built and landscape environment, based on clearly defined criteria. Using current information as a starting point and engaging with the community to further develop the directory.

    2.3 Apply for Asset of Community Value for key assets in the community.

    2.4 Identify key green spaces within the parish, negotiate/campaign with LDNP to maintain a Green Space designation where appropriate (e.g. the Big Meadow, Ayland) or where it has an Employment Designation campaign for it to be changed to a Green Space designation (e.g. the field opposite Danes Road)

    2.5 Support initiatives that ensure there is affordable and appropriate homes for local people of all ages. Including:

    exploring a scheme to develop independent living

    accommodation that frees up family homes for

    rent to local families,

    new builds,

    the use of local occupancy clauses and the supporting schemes to require planning permission for change of use to Airbnb.

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 3.1 Encourage people of all ages to meet together, between generations.

    3.2 Continue to provide access to food and sanitary requirements for residents in short term financial hardship including Food FareShare and an emergency food cupboard.

    3.3 Facilitate parish wide discussions, including those involved in tourism, to understand the pros and cons of visitors to the parish.

    3.4 Keep a ‘watching brief’ on behalf of the community, for possible changes to our vital local services.

  • 3.5 Develop a community hub where people can meet to combat loneliness and enhance wellbeing and access information about available support and social and volunteering opportunities. Including those who are elderly, are frail or infirm, those who live alone and people with young families.

    3.6 Explore approaches to ensure all residents have access to facilities and experiences on offer in the village. E.g. voluntary lift schemes and electric buggy project.

    3.7 Developing a Care Hub to co-ordinate and support those who need additional care in the community.

    3.8 Providing accommodation for carers within the village.

    3.9 Developing a home from hospital/respite provision to ensure that our residents do not remain in hospital for longer than necessary and provide respite for carers.

    3.10 Enabling community engagement in discussions about the New Abbey and develop plans that reflect the needs and wants of our community and work with W&F to achieve them.

  • 3.11 Develop facilities that support social opportunities for young people, this should be designed collaboratively with the young people themselves and might encourage active involvement in the village once they leave primary school.

    3.12 Support the playgroup and activities for preschool children and their carers.

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 4.1 Work with W&F Highways, monitor and assess the speed and safety of traffic movement on Kendal Road, Crook Road, in Ings and on Moor Howe Road. Support and prioritise subsequent action.

    4.2 Monitor impact of new parking restrictions (including impact of parking restrictions in Mill yard and the potential impact of Crookfield if it happens) and campaign to change if appropriate.

    4.3 Support the continuation of the £2 bus fare. 4.4 Extend and develop Ebike scheme.

    4.4 Analyse the accessibility of key route ways to vulnerable groups – children, people with disabilities and develop if needed, including the Miles without Stiles route along Hall Lane.

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • Preventing Sewage Overspills

    5.1 Continue to work with the Task Group that includes United Utilities and the Environment Agency to mitigate sewage emissions and flood issues.

    5.2 With partners, establish a detailed, deliverable plan of action to resolve village and WwTW discharge issues

    5.3 Parish Council to agree a policy position on the introduction of private waste systems and apply it when considering planning applications, in the light of continuing inadequacies of the sewerage network.’

    5.4 Continue to work with W &F Highways on drain maintenance and clearance, including the setting up of a system to monitor and report blocked drains.

    Read the sewage reports

  • 5.5 Institute a regular autumn road sweep and culvert check by W &F.

    5.6 PC maintains and regularly updates Staveley with Ings Emergency Plan which includes the community response to flooding, storms and damage to infrastructure.

    5.7 EA to involve the local community in discussions about their analysis of the options to reduce flooding and the risks of flooding.

    5.8 PC and EA to ensure that residents and businesses are aware of the action which they should consider to reduce the impact of flooding on their property, and the support available for this.

  • 5.9 CRKC to continue to develop their programme

    Citizen science building on CRKC 2022 publication on water quality, including the Gowan

    Community engagement from Staveley to Sedgwick, extending towards Morecambe Bay

    Work with partners including kayakers and anglers

    Membership of the Kent Working Group, using the existing data more effectively e.g. developing a layered OS-based map

    Develop links with the local farming community to understand the impact of agricultural runoff, the action required, and the support needed

    Campaign for effective action by UU, and effective regulation by EA and Ofwat

    Network with national leading-edge groups

    Build media presence

    organise river clean up days and other associated events

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 6.1 Develop the all-purpose Ball Court following fundraising.

    6.2 Refurbishment of the Pavilion Hall and Village Hall Bank Room and improvement to the kitchen facilities at the Institute.6.3 Develop Alec Row to include a balance of recycling, car parking and attractive recreational space.

    6.4 Continue to improve Jack’s Corner as a social meeting space.6.5 Develop the New Abbey – buildings and grounds to meet high environmental standards and increase biodiversity

    6.5 Encourage a ‘consciously biodiverse’ approach to green and open spaces, including appropriate planting of shrubs, trees and flowers across public spaces.6.7 Encourage development of pollinator-friendly wild- flower areas and considerate mowing regimes.6.8 Put up more bird and bat boxes.6.9 Hold workshops on relevant skills e.g. apple grafting, woodland management etc.

  • Click on the item below to see the proposed actions.

  • 7.1 Develop a pilot project based upon a review of what has worked elsewhere and establishment of priorities.

    7.2 This will extend and develop CDEC Green Spaces project with children at Staveley C of E school if grant funding can be obtained for evaluation.7.3 Work with former pupils of Staveley C of E school to extend the project into the community

  • 8.1 Encourage growing of vegetables in the village, public spaces, allotments, school garden and resident gardens.

    8.2 Extend the distribution of local food, based on Big Onion by connecting and communicating where and what food is available so that excess vegetables grown (gluts) can be made available to others during the season. Including allotment holders and school garden.

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