What We Do: Claire Notman, Senior Manager Communities, Westmorland and Furness Council

Tell us about a typical working day at Westmorland and Furness Council

It’s a varied role. The work areas I cover include Community Grants, Community Power, Social Enterprise, the Community Safety Partnership, Poverty and Domestic Abuse Supported Accommodation, among others.

For me, all areas share the same motivation – to deliver a positive impact across all our communities.

It’s all about delivering a positive impact for all of our communities.

I do a mix of working from home and in the office, so with one end of Westmorland and Furness to the other stretching 100 miles, it can result in some long days of travel to the office and communities.

My favourite days are in the office with colleagues working collaboratively to reach our goals.

What projects are you most enthusiastic about right now?

I am really looking forward to chatting with New Local and the network about the evolution of the Community Power Strategic Approach that has been adopted at Westmorland and Furness Council.

We all know a strategy is just the beginning, and as we reflect on the first year of implementation, the opportunities to further this agenda and embed across the organisation really inspire me.

What are the key opportunities coming up?

It is a really exciting time as we continue to evolve as a new unitary council.

 Key opportunities for me include supporting and growing the social enterprise sector, which some of our communities desperately need. This year has seen the recruitment of a Social Enterprise Manager and two Social Enterprise Officers to ensure we positively contribute to enabling a vibrant social enterprise sector.

We will also be continuing to develop our community cohesion work, which to date has been targeted and resulted in some really positive outcomes for our communities.

We now want to build on this to work with partners to ensure a proactive approach across the whole of Westmorland and Furness.

Photo Credit: Image by Worldfootage

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