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Lancashire Times
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8:36 AM 2nd April 2021
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Locally Organised Communities Across Lancashire

 
Over the next years, important changes are going to affect all of Lancashire: NHS reconfiguration, council budgetary pressures, the ending of EU investment, to name a few. The voluntary, charity, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector will also be affected, especially with the fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic, which has increased demand and pressure on already stretched services. 

Locally Organised Communities Across Lancashire (LOCAL) has been set up in response to these issues by a group of VCFSE leaders across Lancashire and is being facilitated by Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW).

LOCAL describes itself in these terms:

"LOCAL is a conversation process across the VCFSE sector in Lancashire (including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen), and wants to encourage as many VCFSE groups as possible to come together and develop a vision for the sector’s future across Lancashire, including greater engagement with statutory bodies. There is a need to be clear about what exactly is important to communities in Lancashire; the vision is to collectively push for change, ideas and necessary investment. This conversation is an opportunity for collective action to conjure solutions to what 'building back' looks like for the sector.  

"Participation is encouraged from as many VCFSE groups as possible, so that voices and ideas can be heard.  The group of Lancashire VCFSE leaders have suggested a set of initial ten priorities, that may or may not be important components of the vision. For now, they deliberately remain ambiguous in order to incentivise maximum input into their design. The thinking behind LOCAL is to gain knowledge and awareness of how groups, large and small, can work together for the common good. It is important to know what is missing from initial ideas sharing and what is needed to deliver an overall vision.  

"Organisations can get involved in several ways. LOCAL has developed an online comment forum to encourage discussion and allow more voices to be heard; via this platform, it is possible to add more details and even ‘up-vote’ other people’s ideas. There is also the chance to attend organised online events to discuss the collective vision, or the tools and resources to organise your own are accessible on our website.  

"LOCAL is running until the end of May so all have the opportunity to be part of the conversation taking place across Lancashire. This is a real opportunity for organisations, especially smaller and very local groups to help shape a vision at this pivotal moment. This is a chance for us to make some noise and have our say! 

"This collated input will arm us with a better ability to understand what is needed in the coming years and use this to influence policy and wider, yet targeted, support for the communities of Lancashire. This will happen in conjunction with local elected politicians of all parties who want to engage with the process."

More details are available through the LOCAL website: www.locallancashire.org.uk.