Accrington: Former eyesore to be demolished

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Clare Pritchard, today welcomed the demolition of the former Priestly Nook flats, as part of the Woodnook regeneration project.

The demolition is part of plans to breathe life back into 200 empty homes in Accrington, and is an innovative joint venture between specialist empty homes developer PlaceFirst and housing association Twin Valley Homes. Working with Hyndburn Borough Council, the joint venture will deliver the refurbishment and remodelling of boarded-up houses in the Woodnook neighbourhood, close to the centre of Accrington.

The project will see 200 of these traditional “two-up,  two-down” terraced, currently empty properties transformed into modern, attractive and energy efficient homes, offering a range of two, three and four bedroom properties to meet the needs of growing and established families.

The first phase of the development will see 71 houses being brought back into use by the summer of 2014, with a further 129 properties set to follow.

The homes will be let via an institutional private rental model that seeks to deliver much needed quality properties and property management services for people that rent houses privately.

PlaceFirst and Twin Valley Homes will offer customers a Fair Value rental package, which means that the homes will be priced to compete with existing, often poor standard private rented property in the area.

The Joint Venture will also promote long term tenure security, providing customers with  the security of knowing that their home will be available to rent long term, and that rent will only increase through an index-linked annual review.

PlaceFirst and Twin Valley Homes will invest more than £6.5m in the first phase of the project.  For the second phase, Hyndburn Borough Council has secured £3.76m of Empty Homes Cluster Funding, again from the Homes and Communities Agency, and is working with PlaceFirst to develop a neighbourhood investment plan to enhance public realm and provide opportunities for low cost home ownership as well as private renting.

The project will help rejuvenate the local community and will be integral to Accrington’s revival as a thriving Lancashire market town.

Councillor Pritchard said; “Woodnook is the Council’s top regeneration priority and so it’s great to see work progressing here.  We are delighted to be working with PlaceFirst and Twin Valley Homes to bring 200 empty homes back into use.

“They are using an innovative funding model that will lever in a minimum £10.3 million private investment to convert and refurbish poor quality housing into high quality, energy efficient homes fit for modern living.

“This will raise the bar for private renting in the Borough and set the standard for other landlords to follow”.

Accrington: Fire Service public meeting

Anne Metcalfe of the Fire Service is hosting a public meeting on Friday, 20^th September, at Accrington Town Hall as part of the consultation on the proposals to review the emergency cover in Lancashire.  As part of the review it is proposed that Hyndburn will lose 1 wholetime fire engine from 2014-15 leaving 1 wholetime and 1 retained engine.

 

The meeting starts at 6.30pm and will end at 8.30pm.

 

If you’re not able to attend the meeting you can either leave your views on the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Facebook page, email rmp@lancsfirerescue.org.ukor write to The Risk Management Team, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, Garstang Road, Fulwood, Preston  PR2 3LH.

Profile: Councillor Paul Cox

Councillor Paul Cox has been a member of HBC for the Labour group since his election in 2011. He is one of the two representatives for Milnshaw and has recently been appointed to the Cabinet, the six most senior members of the Council. He currently sits on the following committees at HBC:

• Area Working Panel 
• Cabinet  -  Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services 
• Church and Milnshaw Community Group  -  Lead Councillor 
• Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Vice-Chair) 
• Regeneration and Housing Panel 

Paul also sits on the following outside bodies:

• Accrington and District Helping Hands Fund 
• Accrington New Era Youth Club Management Committee 
• Hyndburn Age Concern Advisory Groups 
• Hyndburn Area Citizens' Advice Bureau 
• Hyndburn Enterprise Trust Board 
• Hyndburn Homes Industrial and Provident Society Ltd Board 
• Hyndburn Homewise Management Committee 
• Hyndburn Three Tier Forum 
• Lancashire Waste Partnership 
• New Era Trust Board of Directors 

Anyone wishing to contact Paul with an issue can call on 01254 726379 or 07547532279 or email paul.cox@hyndburnbc.gov.uk

1stCall Hyndburn launch - 4th October 2013

Residents are invited to the official launch of the 1st Call Hyndburn project, taking place on Friday 4th October at Accrington Town Hall between 10.30am and 3.00pm.

1stCall Hyndburn is a four year project funded by the Big Lottery, which aims to empower young people living in social housing throughout Hyndburn to develop confidence, understanding and awareness of their financial circumstances.

The launch event will feature a performance from the Shontal Theatre Group of their piece, “It’s Only A Few Quid”, which has recently been commissioned for the Illegal Money Lending Team. There will also be an audience participation quiz and a ‘Question Time’ type session based around some of the core project themes of financial inclusion and social housing.

Doors will open at 10.00am on the day for refreshments, with the event underway at 10.30am. Lunch will also be provided.

You can also find out more general information about the project from our website at www.1stcallhyndburn.org.uk.

MacMillan Coffee Morning - 27th September 2013

Homewise, the Local Home Improvement Agency, raises funding to help and assist many people in Hyndburn to have their homes adapted in order to aid independent and safe living. It is one of the many organisations who also assist their clients is MacMillan Cancer Support.

Homewise would like to give them something back and will be holding a coffee morning September 27th from 10.00am till 12.00pm at Shopmobility in the Arndale Centre, Accrington.

Please help make this event a success and call in for a coffee and homemade cake for just £1.50 per person.

Audit Committee - 23rd September 2013

The next meeting of the HBC Audit Committee will take place on Monday 23rd September at 4.00pm in the Queen Elizabeth Room at Scaitcliffe House in Accrington. The committee looks at Council spending and functions, with emphasis on accounting. The meeting is chaired by Netherton Councillor Noordad Aziz and a full set of papers and the agenda can be found here:

Audit Committee - 23rd September 2013

Lots of dogs chipped for free in Accrington

Lots of people turned out to get their dogs micro chipped when the Council’s Dog Warden service joined forces with the Dog’s Trust to offer free micro chipping at the Tesco Extra car park in Accrington.

If you missed out, don’t worry, there’ll be another session on 26th September, from 11am to 3pm in the Tesco Extra car park on Eagle St Accrington.

Micro chipping your pet gives them the best chance of being identified and returned to you if they become lost or stolen. A tiny microchip is inserted under the animal’s skin, which gives the pet their own unique code. The microchip can be scanned and matched to the owner’s contact details, which are kept on a database.

The law is changing and from 6th April 2016 micro chipping will be compulsory for all dog owners in England, so why not get ahead of the game and bring your dog along to one of the sessions.  There’s no need to book just turn up and join the queue.