Archive for 2009
August 21st, 2009 | 
Author: |
A Burnley councillor is inviting children of all ages to free fun and sports training events in Burnley Wood.
The Lib Dems’ Coun Karen Heseltine, who represents the Rosehill with Burnley Wood ward, wants to see more children benefit from the scheme, which is part-funded by Burnley Council.
Coun Heseltine said, “The local residents and I have been running the sports training in Burnley Wood for about seven weeks, and we have 25 children attending each time.
|
 |
|
“There are skipping ropes and hula hoops for younger children and structured play with the Council’s Dambusters sports coaches for the older ones. The sports coaches are fantastic, really engaging the children and getting them excited about sport.
“All the children are made to use their manners, too.
“The children have been getting free fresh fruit when they join in, which they absolutely love. They swamp me like a plague of locusts when the fruit comes out!”
But the scheme is only part-funded. Coun Heseltine pays for some of the costs herself, including the fruit, and funding for the Dambusters coaches is due to end at the end of September.
Coun Heseltine said, “It’s so rewarding seeing the children benefit from this that I’ve been paying some of the costs myself, but I can’t really keep up. It will be a huge loss when we lose the sports coaches. They make a real difference. The children love the free training that’s on offer and they learn so much more than the skills and rules of the game.
“It brings them a warm discipline that’s missing in some of their home lives, it strengthens bonds between friends, and it really helps to bind the community together.
“I’m hoping that a local company will step up and offer some sponsorship. Perhaps a supermarket might provide free fruit for the kids, or perhaps a local employer will sponsor the coaches for a few months.”
The venue is Burnley Wood Recreation Ground, and wet weather facilities are available. The event runs from 6.45pm-9pm every Saturday evening. Potential sponsors can reach Karen on 01282 702894.
|
|
Posted in 
 |
Nick Clegg has described Gordon Brown’s policy plans as “a hotch potch of unrelated Whitehall schemes” with no unifying” vision from a prime minister who was “running out of steam”.Mr Clegg said both the Prime Minister and David Cameron were treating the voters as if they were children who were “too young to know the truth”.
He said: “Neither are willing to come clean on the difficult long-term savings we will need to make to balance the nation’s books.” |
| “It’s like a big hoax: they trade insults and numbers but hide the truth.” The public had been promised a vision based on decentralisation and personal entitlements but many of these entitlements were “just the recycled versions of old targets”, he said.
“Last week you called a cut an investment. This week you are calling a target an entitlement. Can you tell us exactly what’s the difference?” The Liberal Democrat Leader concluded that the Prime Minister’s statement was nothing more than a “hotchpotch of unrelated Whitehall schemes, a ministerial cut-and-paste job”. |
|
|
LIBERAL Democrats in Burnley – already well-placed to take over from Labour MP Kitty Ussher at the next General Election – have called for her to resign immediately from Parliament so that voters can have their say on who they want to represent them.
Burnley Council leader and Parliamentary candidate Gordon Birtwistle said that if Liberal Democrat reforms of Parliament were made law, Kitty Ussher would be sacked by voters who would then choose her replacement.
|
|
|
Coun Birtwistle said, “I am bitterly disappointed that there won’t now be a public fight. Burnley people have been fed up of her antics for some time and the writing was already on the wall.
“Liberal Democrats took five of Labour’s six seats on the County Council here two weeks ago, we topped the poll here in the European elections and we took majority control of the local Council last year.
“With Vince Cable proved right on the economy, our entire party proved right on Iraq, and only the Liberal Democrats fighting hard over the downgrading of our local hospital, it is quite clear who the political competition is in Burnley.
“But the main thing is the people of Burnley now have to put up with inadequate representation until the Prime Minister sees fit to call a General Election. That is no way to run a modern democracy. People want to see her sacked now, and our reforms would allow them to sack her themselves.”
|
 Gordon Birtwistle |
|
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is pushing for reforms that would enable voters to “recall” an MP who they felt had let them down badly, and for the date of each General Election to be fixed in advance.
Kitty Ussher took her position as a minister just seven days ago, the second time she had worked as a junior Treasury minister, but says that she is stepping down due to the pressures of running a young family.
|
|
| Burnley’s Liberal Democrats are demanding that councillors and police get tough on shopkeepers caught selling alcohol to under-age children.
The call comes after a Boundary Street shop owner had his licence suspended for two weeks after being caught out profiting from illegal alcohol sales. Lib Dem Coun Charlie Briggs, Burnley Council’s executive member for community safety, called the suspension “inadequate” and insisted that licensing powers were not being used in proportion to the damage caused. Coun Briggs, who was recently elected as the Lib Dem group’s leader at County Hall, said, “Drunk children on the street are a very serious problem and I’m determined to stamp it out. On the one hand, most kids and parents behave responsibly. At the other extreme, some kids will get hold of alcohol no matter what, and sometimes it is supplied by their own parents. “But in the middle are some kids we can get back on the straight and narrow. Every child saved is worth it in my mind. “We have to take every chance we can to cut down the supply of alcohol. Inadequate penalties like this just don’t take account of the consequences for the kids themselves and for members of the public. Penalties should be proportionate to the offence, and right now, they’re not.” Lib Dem Coun Bill Brindle, who sits on the Town Hall committee that sentences offending off-licences, agreed. |
 Cllr Charlie Briggs  Cllr Darren Reynolds  Cllr Bill Brindle |
| Coun Brindle said, “I’ve seen families ripped to pieces by this problem. When people get involved in drinking large amounts of alcohol at such an early age, it can ruin their life chances.
“As a committee, we have to give out fair penalties that reflect the harm done. I don’t think we’ve been doing that recently and we will have to get tougher. “I want the Police to change their policy of waiting for three failed tests before bringing cases to the committee. If someone breaks the law once, that should be enough. But communities who are fed up of this problem don’t have to wait for the police to take action. Any member of the public can ask us to review a licence, and I’m asking community groups to bring problem off-licences to our attention.” The Happy Shopper off-licence on Briercliffe Rd was due to have its licence reviewed this Thursday [18th June], and both the Melville Street Spar shop and the Focus Off Licence on Briercliffe Road were to be reviewed on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009. Queensgate ward councillor Darren Reynolds, whose area has seen disturbances caused by alcohol abuse in recent months, defended suggestions the Lib Dems were acting illiberally and against party policy. Coun Reynolds said, “Four off-licences in or adjacent to my ward have been caught out in two months. Children are being abused by these retailers and the children’s lives are slowly going down the pan. “Liberalism means letting people carry on their business free from official interference so long as they’re not doing any harm. The harm caused to these children, their families and their communities outweighs any right to trade freely. What Charlie and Bill are seeking to do is entirely consistent with Liberal principles. If these off-licences can’t trade legally, they must be closed down.” |
|
| Nick Clegg response to the announcement of an secret Iraq inquiry.
I passionately believe we were wrong to invade Iraq but I am second to none in my admiration for the bravery and dedication of our service men and women. Everyone knows that the invasion of Iraq was the biggest foreign policy mistake this country has made in generations; the single most controversial decision taken by government since Suez. So Mr Speaker, I am staggered that the Prime Minister is today seeking to compound that error, fatal for so many of Britain’s sons and daughters, by covering up the path that led to it. |
 |
| Liberal Democrats have called for an inquiry into the build-up and conduct of the Iraq war for many years, and we can be grateful that finally, the Prime Minister has acceded to that demand. But, as so often, he has taken a step in the right direction but missed the fundamental point. | |
Well, the County Council elections are over, and for the Burnley Lib Dems it was a very successful day!
We took five out of a possible six seats in Burnley, which we had secretly wished for, but never truly expected (well done Margaret for sneaking Rural under the radar), and I almost won the Burnley West and Padiham seat, which I never thought I would come close to winning. I came 3rd, but it was a very respectible 3rd place, only 228 votes off the BNP who unfortunately took the seat, for their first County seat in Lancashire.
I think we proved that Labour are dead in Burnley, and the fight now turns to getting rid of “Makeover Kitty”, and 2010′s Local Elections, where, I am sure, we will make even more gains.
Tags: | Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Rosegrove with Lowerhouse
Electorate - |
BAKER
Charles Dominic |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
304
|
|
CAVE
John |
British National Party
|
400
|
|
|
ELLIOTT
Barry John |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
215
|
|
|
GATES
Iris
|
Liberal Democrat
|
645 ELECTED
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Central East
Electorate - |
BAIG |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
1676
|
|
BENNETT
Bill |
Liberal Democrat
|
1748 ELECTED
|
|
|
MCDEVITT
Paul |
British National Party
|
547
|
|
|
TOWNELEY
Cosima Cecilia |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
444
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Central West
Electorate - |
BRIGGS
Charlie |
Liberal Democrat
|
1436 ELECTED
|
|
MARTIN
Tony |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
715
|
|
|
SHAPCOTT
David |
British National Party
|
676
|
|
|
WHITTAM
Brent Lawrence Harry |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
850
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley North East
Electorate - |
BURNS
Terry Elliott |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
1175
|
|
HEGINBOTHAM
David Neil |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
501
|
|
|
MCCANN
Peter Rennie |
Liberal Democrat
|
1490 ELECTED
|
|
|
ROWE
Peter John |
British National Party
|
566
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Rural
Electorate - |
BRINDLE
Margaret |
Liberal Democrat
td> |
1552 ELECTED
|
|
LARGE
Stephen James |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
719
|
|
|
NUTTER
Susan Margaret |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
1212
|
|
|
THOMSON
David George |
British National Party
|
842
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley South West
Electorate - |
CARMICHAEL
Ida Elizabeth |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
589
|
|
CAVE
John |
British National Party
|
855
|
|
|
MARTIN
Maureen Frances |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
689
|
|
|
SUMNER
Jeff |
Liberal Democrat
|
1896 ELECTED
|
| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Padiham & Burnley West
Electorate - |
HURT
Martyn |
Liberal Democrat
|
927
|
|
JOHNSTONE
Marcus |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
954
|
|
|
MARSDEN
Alan Dean |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
726
|
|
|
WILKINSON
Sharon |
British National Party
|
1155 ELECTED
|
- State opening of parliament http://t.co/aRvafa20
- Good luck to lib dem candidates in Burnley & across the country. Well done for all your efforts & big thanks to all who helped campaign!
- Off to radio 4 now. It's been a long day
- I'm on 5 live doing election coverage now.
- RT @robinmeltzer: Londoners: a vote today for @LondonLibDems on the ORANGE BALLOT paper is a vote to stop racist #stopandsearch
Now they are closing the Childrens ward at Burnley General
Join the campaign today
 | Become a fan of |
Click the image above to download the poster