Church: Labour Councillors support housing project for the homeless

Labour Councillors Loraine Cox and Jean Battle attended an event to celebrate International Women's Day at Crossroads on Monday 12th March from 1.00pm until 3.00pm.

The Salvation Army Centre (Crossroads, located on Empress Street in Church) is a housing project focused on young, single homeless people at risk aged 16-25. Priority is given to applicants with a local connection to Hyndburn and the unit provides a chance for young people to feel secure.

The event consisted of talks with a presentation and information about the day.

HBC: Still time to shape Hyndburn's future until 2033

Local people have been sharing their views about how they want the Borough to develop in the future at a series of drop in events around Hyndburn in a consultation running until 11th April.

The Council is now starting to prepare the next stages of the new Local Plan and people are being asked to take part in an initial consultation on three key documents, to spark debate and discussions about the issues the new plan should address in order to meet the needs of Hyndburn for the period to 2033.

Councillor Miles Parkinson, Council Leader, urged people to take part, saying; “The Council has to maintain up-to-date plans to support growth, so there is enough land for homes, jobs and the infrastructure necessary to support them. We’re urging as many people as possible to take part in the debate about the issues the review should address in order to plan for the period to 2033.”

Cllr Parkinson added; “The Council is putting forward a number of different options for housing growth - the number of dwellings to plan for each year, employment growth and distribution of growth around the Borough and we want people to have their say about this. At this stage no decisions have been taken and so it is important that as many people get involved as possible.”

The consultation is running until Wednesday 11th April. Drop-in events have already taken place in Huncoat, Clayton-le Moors, Oswaldtwistle and Great Harwood. Two more events are scheduled in Rishton on 20th March and Accrington on 26th March where people can see a presentation, view information boards and discuss the documents with Council Officers.

Drop in events:

• Rishton Conservative Club – Tuesday 20th March 2018 (4pm-7pm)
• Accrington Town Hall – Monday 26th March 2018 (4pm-7pm)

HBC: Calls for plastic glasses after 11.00pm

The Council and Police have joined forces to write to local licensed premises recently to ask them to consider using polycarbonate drinking vessels instead of glasses to serve drinks after 11pm, following the tragic death of a young man attacked with a glass in Darwen recently.

Cllr Melissa Fisher, Chair of Licencing Committee, said; “In conjunction with Lancashire Constabulary our Licensing Manager is writing to all licensed premises in the Borough of Hyndburn to ask the premise licence holder and the designated premise supervisor to consider the use of polycarbonate drinking vessels to serve drinks in after 11pm. Our hearts go out to this young man’s family and we welcome any safety measures to stop anything like this happening in Hyndburn. We hope that many local licenced premises will use polycarbonate vessels instead of glasses after 11pm.”

Sgt Jason Middleton, of Lancashire Police, said: “We fully support the use of plastic glasses in licensed premises and in particular at the weekend and would urge all licence holders in Hyndburn to support this safety measure. We want everyone to enjoy a safe night out and hope business owners will co-operate with this request.”

Milnshaw: Sports Hub plans submitted to Fields In Trust

Hyndburn Council has submitted a request to Fields in Trust to gain consent for the Accrington Stanley Community Trust Sports Hub development at Higham Playing Fields.

Fields in Trust, formerly the National Playing Fields Association, was founded in 1925 by King George V to provide local outdoor open spaces for sports, recreation & play. Fields in Trust has an involvement in over 2,700 sites throughout the UK. All these sites are locally managed, but Fields in Trust have an overarching role to ensure that the purpose of the site remains for sports and recreation for local communities.

Cabinet member for Leisure, Cllr Ken Moss, said, "The application is being submitted to Fields in Trust to let them know about and seek their views on the proposed multi million pound investment into Higham Playing Fields which will improve facilities and create the sport hub proposed by Accrington Stanley Community Trust."

Miles Parkinson, Leader of Hyndburn Council; said; ‘’This is a wonderful development for the Borough. We’re very pleased to be making this proposal to Fields In Trust, as the enhanced provision of sports and changing facilities at Highams will be a great facility for everyone. It will be open for all to use, suitable for all age groups and a great bonus for future generations too. 

Martin Fearon, CEO of Accrington Stanley Community Trust said ‘’this is the next stage in the Sports Hub development after gaining planning approval in December 2017. We consulted with Fields in Trust back in March 2017 to share our ideas and to ensure it was something that fits in with their criteria and we’ve continued to communicate with them over the last 12 months. We’re really looking forward to strengthening our relationship with Fields in Trust and creating a fantastic facility for the Hyndburn community to enjoy.’’

 The process can take up to 6 months and a decision is likely during the summer months of 2018. Further updates will be announced in due course.

Rishton: Tesco Bags of Help for Festival Committee

Rishton Festival's World War 1 'Bags of Help' appeal is now live at the Great Harwood and Colne branches of Tesco.

Cllr Jeff Scales said, "Please support the Festival this year by popping along with as many children as possible and argue that they all need their own blue token and get voting! It's early days but we're currently winning!"

A token is given to each shopper and the winning cause will be awarded between £1,000 and £5,000.

Hyndburn Labour Pre-election Statement 2018

Labour has more than doubled its membership in Hyndburn over the past two years and we will be fielding a candidate in each of the 11 wards up for election in 2018. Several are already elected Councillors but we also have five well-known members of the community who have asked to stand for Labour.

The impact of government cuts on Accrington Victoria Hospital, potholes and reductions to the police remain the primary concerns for residents. As a result of public comments, Hyndburn Labour have also committed to huge improvements in waste collection and parks, tackling dog fouling and developing our employment sites across Hyndburn and these will be implemented in 2018.

HBC: Waste collections temporarily suspended due to bad weather

Council Leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson said, “We're really sorry but due to the heavy snow and worsening conditions we’ve had to suspend collections as our wagons can't travel safely around the Borough."

HBC would like to apologise for the inconvenience as this delay will affect the schedule for a number of days. If your waste or recycling collection is due today (Thursday) we'll pick it up on your next fortnightly cycle and will of course pick up any extra bags of waste too.

Some of our staff are now helping Lancashire County Council with snow clearing and gritting on pavements and town centres, with LCC responsible for gritting the roads.