A Cumberland Council initiative to provide hyper-local investment is celebrating a year of success.

Community Panels, established to address specific issues in each of its eight patches, aim to be 'extremely responsive' to the particular needs and aspirations of each community.

The council's executive committee has now endorsed the panels' annual report, which highlights their accomplishments.

Colin Cox, Cumberland Council's director for public health and communities, said: "The work of the panels this year has been phenomenal.

"For our communities, it helps us fund exactly what they tell us they need – rather than what we think they should have.

"And for the council, it helps us achieve tremendous value for the taxpayer.

"The projects funded have all been life-changing for someone, in some way."

During the first year, the Community Panels, which consists of ward councillors and some co-opted members, invested almost £410,000 in grassroots projects.

This funding was utilised by 149 organisations, reaching 11,500 people through the projects.

Mr Cox said: "We don’t call them grants, we call them investments and that’s very deliberate.

"We see this funding as a direct investment in our amazing third sector - one which will give our residents a great return and improve lives.

"Together, all these projects are collectively improving the quality of life in Cumberland."

The eight Community Panels, covering the entirety of Cumberland, spoke with residents to decide the specific priorities for their area.

All the funded projects support these priorities.

The panels are currently in the process of creating Neighbourhood Investment Plans, which will further define the communities' needs and guide the panels' actions.

Mr Cox said: "We spoke to residents in detail to make sure each panel’s funding priorities were serving that community in the most effective way possible.

"That engagement with our residents, businesses, third sector and others, continues."

Examples of projects funded, wholly or in part, by Cumberland’s Community Panels include a community radio station for the Carlisle area, planters and furniture for a new community garden in Bransty, a Carlisle project around nutritional education and affordable food, and Proud and Diverse Cumbria’s LGBTQ+ celebration, 'Colours'.

Other initiatives to benefit include boxing sessions for young people in Morton, a fitness trail next to Silloth promenade, a community orchard in Brampton, a climbing wall for scouts in Seaton and a Millom project that supports children back into school.

The panels also play a role in identifying funding gaps in their area, sometimes collaborating with other funders to make schemes happen.

In addition to distributing Cumberland Council funds, the panels were recently tasked with distributing £387,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.