Your Say

About Places to Talk

The Places to Talk project is helping to bring people together to talk about their experiences of living through the Covid-19 pandemic and to share their hopes for the future. We want to help people across Cumbria to come together and have a “place to talk”. Read about how to get involved in the Places to Talk leaflet (PDF 4MB).

The key elements of the project are:

A short film and social media shorts of local Cumbrian’s experience of the pandemic covering a range of very different stories.  These are designed to encourage open discussion between people providing opportunity to reflect upon their personal experience.

A resource pack to support community groups  to run film and discussion sessions; this includes a suggested outline for a session and information on how people can access further support if they need it.

A small awards scheme administered by Action with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) to cover the costs of groups running sessions where some additional funding (for example advertising, room hire and refreshments etc) will help.

Further information about Places to Talk is available on the Cumbria County Council web-site via the link below:

https://cumbria.gov.uk/placestotalk/

Community Engagement’ is the cornerstone of good local governance, and an integral component in how we conduct our affairs and how we reflect the expressed needs of people living in Penrith

Our overall goal is to ensure we engage with you in the right way. We want to encourage more people to participate in what the Town Council does or hopes to do. We want you to have a role in decision-making and planning that affects your life, the lives  of your family and other people in the local community. By providing a variety of opportunities for you to participate and feed in your views, our decisions will become increasingly more sensitive and responsive to your needs and concerns.

Public Participation at Council Meetings

Which meetings are open to the public?

• Every meeting of the Full Council is open to the press and public.
• Council Committees.

The Council provides opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions. Public Participation at meetings is called Public Participation  and appears at the beginning of the meeting.

Prior to the meeting please write to the Town Clerk informing the Council that you wish to speak. You will be allowed to speak at the discretion of the Chair. Your name will not be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Please be aware that the meeting may be video recorded. Please inform the Chair if you do not want your image or name on the recording.

More than one question may be asked by an individual questioner subject to the time limit of 3 minutes.Where a number of questions or statements are received expressing a similar view on one agenda item it is expected that a representative will be nominated to voice those views to minimise repetition. Supplementary questions will be allowed for a maximum of 2 minutes.

The Council may respond to you at the meeting or may write to you.

You must not interrupt speakers or speak during the member’s debate. You must not hold conversations with other members of the public during meetings.

Members of the public who become disruptive during the meeting will be asked by the Chairman to leave.

Learning from what you feel we get right and what we could do better