Lindsey Hebden, programme manager of Great Place: Lakes and Dales, urges people to help make sure the area vibrant in the future

Great Place: Lakes and Dales is a Lottery-funded programme aiming to understand the reasons why younger people are leaving the area and address them using arts, heritage and culture as the catalyst for economic, social and environmental change.

Undeniably beautiful and a magnet for tourists, we know the Lakes and Dales are fantastic places to live. However, there is a huge issue that needs to be addressed – the staggering statistic that there are 44 per cent fewer 16-34 year olds living here than the UK average demonstrates.

This means the area’s economic sustainability is under threat due to an ageing population and a dwindling number of younger and working age people. As the natural cultural feel and ‘brand’ of towns and villages alters to fit its current demographic, so the problem exacerbates.

But here’s another prediction of, say, 30 years from now: an area laced with vibrant villages populated by people of all ages, from young families to retirees; teenagers who may go away to university and to gain experience, but come back and set up their own businesses, inspired by the area and buoyed by a buzz of belonging, creating job opportunities for others, making this an aspirational place to be for all ages.

So how to do it? Leaving aside the politics of affordable housing and transport – which everyone knows needs to improve - Great Place: Lakes and Dales (GPLD) is a project on a mission to inspire the creatives, visionaries, movers and shakers of the area to think about ways to persuade younger people to stay or move here.

With £1.34 million of Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England funding the three-year programme aims to revitalise the area as somewhere culturally more appealing to younger people. This includes supporting existing projects and creating new ones, encouraging creativity and creative business. It also involves influencing local decision makers to put younger people at the heart of policy.

Step forward British designer Wayne Hemingway, ambassador for GPLD. One of his great skills is his ability to help locals identify the special features that makes their own area unique − and once decided, this becomes the hook with which to create events to attract younger people. Called ‘placemaking’, it capitalises on a community’s existing assets, public spaces and potential − and then generates a buzz around it.

Through placemaking, HemingwayDesign has recently boosted Blackburn’s heritage as the UK’s principal manufacturing town, spearheaded by the hugely popular Festival of Making, which was designed to showcase and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs.

In a similar way, Morecambe, which according to Wayne was 30 years ago facing the demographic smoking gun which the Lakes and Dales are looking at today, has now become a vintage lovers’ hot spot, hosting one of the UK’s premier vintage festivals – the weekend long Vintage by the Sea. It not only focuses attention on Morecambe’s Art Deco legacy, but fills the area’s B and Bs and hotels in a way not seen for decades.

Crucially, these events create a vibe of opportunity, excitement and promise as places use their own particular USP to build themselves up. GPLD is consulting for ideas, one of which will ultimately be worked up into the Lakes and Dales own placemaking event of national significance.

None of this will lead to anything unless residents and younger people get involved. What could be done to make this place soar - to make the Lakes and Dales a magnet for young people rather than somewhere they want to leave? What will re-position this area in the psyche of the younger generation, inspiring them to want to live and work here?

Research by GPLD is under way to identify all the reasons younger people are deserting the Lakes and Dales, and looking for ideas which would make them stay. Get involved at www.gpldhaveyoursay.org @GP_LakesDales www.lakesanddales.org