Hill Top, Baxenden - A site no-one wants but the elderly

Lancashire County Councils sale of Hilltop, Baxenden has not been successfully. They have tried to work with the two highest bidders but with no joy. The property is still therefore still remains in the ownership of LCC.

Graham Jones MP

"I believe this site should be given to Hyndburn Council to develop elderly accommodation. The County Council were prepared to give it away previously plus a further £200,000 in cash. I have written to the County Council to remind them of their previous position and ask them what they intend to do to meet the needs of the elderly in Hyndburn. 

There is a desperate need for sheltered accommodation, particularly in areas like Baxenden. It's a scandal that the uncaring Tories are letting Lancashire down and letting down people who need but cannot get elderly accommodation."

TRANSITIONAL FUNDING BID

Cllr Clare Pritchard recently attended the North West Housing Forum at Manchester Town Hall to lobby DCLG to continue with transitional funding for Hyndburn. The coalition government took the decision to abandon the Housing Market Renewal Progamme which has resulted in the local council losing several million pounds from various regeneration funding streams every year and Cllr Pritchard has fought to retain this money in order to continue with projects around the borough such as the Woodnook scheme.

HMR transitional funding has already ended and another transitional stream for the 12 most deprived Councils (of which Hyndburn is one) is due to end in 2013. Funding for Hyndburn currently stands at £2.163m for the year and, unlike some other boroughs, the Labour-run council has channelled this into capital projects rather than revenue which has ensured that services will not be affected when this money is no longer available. However, it will mean a considerable reduction in the amount available to spend on new community projects and it is hoped that all or part of this second stream can be retained by Hyndburn Borough Council by lobbying of the responsible minister in Westminster by Cllr Pritchard.

FULL COUNCIL - 20th SEPTEMBER 2012

The next meeting of Full Council takes place at 7.00pm at Accrington Town Hall on 20th September. Items for discussion will include recommendations to government regarding minimum pricing on alcohol and also motions regarding Rishton canal corridor and regulation of apprenticeships.

Members of the public are welcome to come and view proceedings from the gallery and further updates will be posted on this blog later in the week. The agenda can be found here:

Full Council - 20th September 2012

Jubilee Woods - back of Hollins Technical College

Lancashire county council is dedicating this year's Woodlands from Waste (WfW) programme to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee – creating new "Jubilee Woods" in every district in the county.

Woodlands from Waste is a partnership between Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council, our Waste PFI contractor Global Renewables, and the Forestry Commission to plant millions of trees that will help clean up emissions created while managing Lancashire's household waste.

The planting occurs on a wide variety of sites owned by local authorities, charities and private landowners, ranging from small school sites to large community woodlands on Brownfield land. Over 2,300 trees this year were planted by 500 people of all ages who volunteered their time.

To have your say on this why not visit Accrington South facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/114782862004517/

In this Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year Lancashire county council are expecting to double their planting to over 100,000 trees and to create Jubilee Woods in each district.

One of the selected Jubilee sites is in Accrington South behind the Hollins Technical College (off Royds Avenue).

HYNDBURN TWITTER FEEDS

Several Hyndburn Twitter feeds are now available to follow and the links can be found here:

Cllr Ciaran Wells (Great Harwood)

Graham Jones MP

Cllr Joan Smith (Church)

Hyndburn Borough Council

In addition, there are also feeds from the two local newspapers:

Accrington Observer

Lancashire Telegraph

SPiD sign on Royds Avenue working well

County Councillor Graham Jones has had installed a permanent SP1D sign in Royds Avenue following requests form concerned residents about the speed of traffic avoiding the busy Manchester Road. This followed two years of consultation with householders on a preferred solution.

This sign has been operational for 12 months and the initial view is that it has lowered the speed of traffic. The new sign will be switched from 30mph to 20mph when the speed restrictions are lowered.

Graham is now looking into the problem of the unused mobile SP1D cameras in Baxenden which was shared with another ward.

PLANNING COMMITTEE - 12th SEPTEMBER 2012

The next meeting of the Planning Committee will take place on Wednesday 12th September at 2.00pm in the Queen Elizabeth Room at Scaitcliffe House. Cllr Bernard Dawson will be in the Chair and the agenda can be found online here:

Planning Committee - 12th September 2012

Item 10 concerns the controversial developments at the Peel Centre at Whitebirk. Members of the public are welcome to come and view proceedings but are not permitted to speak without prior scheduling.

POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONER

15th November 2012 will see Lancashire residents go to the polls to elect a Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire. A website has been set up to explain the full details:

http://www.lancspcc.co.uk/

The Lancashire Labour frontrunner is Clive Grunshaw and further details (plus comments from HBC Leader Miles Parkinson and Graham Jones MP) can be found by following this link:

Clive Grunshaw

CHURCH & MILNSHAW BLOG

Following on the heels of Rishton First and Harwood First comes the latest blog from the Hyndburn Labour group, this time from the Councillors in Milnshaw and Church started by Cllr Paul Cox:

www.churchandmilnshawtogether.com

Click on the link above to read about developments in Milnshaw and Church wards.

Hill Top, Baxenden Update

Graham Jones (County Councillor Accrington South and MP) has asked tgo kept notified by Lancashire County Council of any changes to regaridnig the situation at Hill Top, Baxenden.

The latest position is as follows:

1. LCC won’t be entering in to a contract with the developer who submitted the preferred bid. 
2. Talks are under way with the next preferred bidder to see if they are willing to enter in to a contract. LCC are looking to have this done by the end of this month
3. If the talks are unsuccessful the property will be remarketed.

The current sale hasn’t been much progress in the past few weeks. Contracts were previously exchanged, but these expired on the 31st July.