Cockermouth is a great little town – special to us all in different ways.

  • What do you value about Cockermouth?
  • How do you see the Cockermouth of the future?

Throughout 2026, a small group of people, supported by the Town Council and ACTion with Communities in Cumbria, will be starting conversations, and gathering ideas, about what people in Cockermouth care about most and how we can all work together to make sure that, into the future, the town continues to be a place that we are all proud of. We’re using the framework of a Community-Led Plan.

We’re inviting everyone who lives, or works, or comes regularly into Cockermouth to tell us…

  • what you love about Cockermouth and would like to hold onto or see more of
  • what you feel the town lacks and how you think we could develop it, and
  • how you would like to help make it happen.

Photos courtesy of Red Raven Design (redrawn.net), Cockermouth & District Agricultural Society (cockermouthshow.co.uk) and Cockermouth Titans

PROGRESS SO FAR

We started our plan process by engaging in a project with primary schools in Cockermouth and neighbouring parishes and also with Cockermouth School, in early March 2026, on our four themes of: Getting Around, Living Here, Our Environment and Work and Play. Over 400 secondary school pupils also completed a questionnaire about their views which will feed into our plan.

Their work was on display at our Launch and Visioning Day on Saturday 21 March at the URC, where almost 200 visitors were invited to share their hopes, concerns and ideas for the future of our town in different ways.

After the Visioning Day, we ran a short online survey over the Easter holidays asking the same questions. Over 180 people took part.

We have been analysing all these contributions and sorting them into themes, short and longer-term goals, easy wins and greater challenges and some which are already in progress, led by groups within our communities.

We will be sharing the results of all that work and asking for further input at various town events during the rest of the year – the Cockermouth Town Council Family Fun Day and Dog Show in June, the Cockermouth Show in August, Taste Cumbria Cockermouth Food Festival in September and the Christmas Lights Switch-on in November.

If you’d like to stay in touch or volunteer to help in any way, please email cclp@cockermouth.org and we’ll add you to our mailing list.

COMING UP NEXT……

COCKERMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL FAMILY FUN DAY & DOG SHOW

11am to 5pm, Saturday 20 June, Memorial Gardens

Come and visit our stall to find out what we’ve heard so far, share your own ideas and help us prioritise our next steps. We look forward to meeting you!

If you’d like to stay in touch, please email cclp@cockermouth.org and we’ll add you to our list.

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY-LED PLAN?

  • An action plan which sets out how local problems and issues can be tackled and what opportunities there are for the community and area.
  • The actions include things that our community can do on its own, and those which require partnership with local authorities or other agencies.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY-LED PLANNING?

  • Led, driven and resourced by grassroots action.
  • Run by volunteers, usually a mix of councillors and other local people.
  • Involving as many different voices from the local community as possible, in lots of different ways, including events, meetings and questionnaires

A process to create a Community-Led Plan that reflects all the views that have been expressed and has the support of the local community.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

• Take our short survey about your hopes, concerns and ideas for the future of Cockermouth – it’s open until Friday 17 April – and let us know at the end if you would like to be kept in touch with the process as it goes along.

• Check back here for other opportunities to take part in the process. Groups can also submit their shared views and join conversations on particular themes. If you represent a particular group who would like to be involved, please get in touch on cclp@cockermouth.org

ANY MORE QUESTIONS?

Click here to download our frequently asked questions about how the plan process works, including about funding, timescale and implementation.

If you still have questions, please just get in touch on cclp@cockermouth.org and we’ll do our best to answer them.