East Staffordshire Borough Council believes everyone has a right to live in a place that they love and can feel proud of. With this in mind the Council is launching a Civic Pride Strategy and is calling on all residents to get involved in improving the Borough’s environment.
At a meeting last week the Borough’s Cabinet heard that the quality of the local environment can affect people’s physical, mental and emotional health; it can contribute to the perception of whether a place is safe or not; and it influences whether people visit a particular location, be it a town centre, village or open space.
The Council, its partners and a number of voluntary groups already carry out a wide range of activities and functions that help improve local environmental quality across the Borough. At the same time though it is believed that more could be achieved through greater community involvement and individual responsibility.
The strategy aims to bring more people on board, whether to get involved in projects to enhance local green spaces or simply to behave in more responsible ways such as not dropping litter. Everybody has a contribution to make. The strategy looks at what we can do to improve local places, raise awareness of local environmental issues, encourage people to get involved, inspire young people and to reward success in those communities.
Activities and promotions will take place over the coming year to raise awareness, engender positive values and influence behaviour change. We are looking to encourage people and communities to engage in community-led projects and initiatives. An important aspect of Civic Pride is to inspire the next generation to become active citizens and influence the future.
The Council also intends to reward participation and celebrate success by holding our own Civic Pride Awards in 2015. These awards will reward those who make a positive contribution to their community. We will be looking for local heroes and groups that contribute considerably to the community.
Councillor Sonia Andjelkovic, Deputy Leader Regulatory Services, said:
“East Staffordshire is a great place in which to live and work and for people to visit – it has great assets that contribute to the well-being of its people. A great many people in East Staffordshire already recognise the value of these assets and are already involved in helping ensure their local towns, villages and open spaces are kept clean, green and safe for future generations and that they remain places of which we can be proud.
“One of our key aims is to inspire everyone to think about their own community and take action, for example to reduce litter in the locations where they live, the places they visit and the spaces they use. It’s about everyone taking responsibility – from individuals to large companies to change the way people think and act. We all love something about where we live and this campaign is about everyone working together to make change happen. No-one is excluded as we can all do something, whoever we are, to make where we live a better place. If we are going to ensure that our villages and towns give everybody living in them a good quality of life, we need everyone to get involved”.
To find out more contact Andrew Wainwright on 508620 or Margaret Woolley on 508479. Email enquiries can be sent to margaret.woolley@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk