Gordon Birtwistle & Burnley Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are first off the mark in declaring their candidate for the Brunshaw seat.

Brunshaw resident Allen Harris has been selected for Brunshaw by the Liberal Democrats. Allen said that he would be campaigning for action on the things the Brunshaw community cares about. He said, “Much of the community feels angry and let down by Labour. The Labour County Council has chosen a site for the Towneley High School replacement in collusion with their Burnley Labour colleagues, ignoring local views.”

“The Lib Dems promised action to fight the plans last year and came through on their promise.

“To site a modern school building in Towneley Park, on open playing fields that are prone to flooding is at the very least questionable. Towneley High School could and should be replaced on the existing site with a school that the whole town can be proud of.”

The decision about where to build the school is now going through a complex legal process, because the Lib Dems refused to sell land on which it would be built to the Labour County Council. The Lib Dems said that it would affect the local area with noise, traffic and litter. They were also worried that the change of land use could cause the flooding of nearby homes and that permanent wetlands could be a safety hazard for the children. They said that County engineers had left these problems unsolved. As a result, the County Council is taking legal measures to force the sale of land.

Allen added, “I want action on improvements for the Brunshaw ward, like access ramps to help the elderly and those with disabilities. Most of all, it’s important to vote for Lib Dems because they’re the only ones who’ve got any action on the litter that was on Burnley’s streets. Thanks to them you only have to ‘phone up or send an email and fly-tipping gets cleared in days. There’s still a long way to go but you can see for yourself that the Lib Dems have made Burnley a lot cleaner already.”