Archive for the ‘Local News’ Category
August 21st, 2009 | 
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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.
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“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.
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The step-son of a Nelson Labour councillor have been implicated in selling alcohol to children out of the back door of an off-licence in Anglesey Avenue, Burnley.
On Friday 26th June a local resident from Anglesey Avenue, Burnley contacted the Police informing them that he had seen two 15 year old children being served alcohol from the back door of the Lifestyle Express Off Licence situated at 3 / 5 Anglesey Avenue, Burnley.
Later that day a Police Officer witnessed a 14 year old girl being served two 2 litre bottles of cider from the back door of the same premises by the shop assistant, Atif Ansar.
Although she was not formally in charge of the shop at the time, Nelson Labour Coun Eileen Ansar has since taken over as the supervisor. Coun Ansar is said to have made commitments to residents about controlling the sale of alcohol through the shop which she described as hers in public meetings. The premises licence is held by Mr Mohammed Ansar.
In a report to councillors, licensing officers said, “The residents of Anglesey Avenue have been plagued by alcohol related juvenile nuisance and disorder for a considerable period of time and it is the Police’s belief that availability of alcohol to children from these premises is the catalyst for this nuisance and disorder.
“The sale of alcohol to children is a particularly serious offence on its own, but to sell alcohol to children aged 14 and 15 out of the back door further compounds this offence and highlights a total disregard by the premises licence holder and staff, of the law and also serves to totally undermine the 4 licensing objectives.”
Coun Darren Reynolds said, “This type of thing has been going on in Burnley for a long time. It has got to stop and we as a Council are now going to put a stop to it.
“The Licensing Sub-Committee will have to make its own decision on the case. It’s not a political committee, so we can’t just tell it what to do. But anyone with an ounce of common sense can see the damage under-aged sales do to families, to communities and to the health of the children themselves.”
“If someone is making sales out of the back door, it shows that they know that what they’re doing is wrong, and that they’re trying to hide it. If someone who is supposed to be an upstanding member of the community is involved, then I feel that’s about as serious as it gets, and the maximum penalty is called for.”
Burnley’s Licensing sub-committee will meet to hear the case on the 19th August.
The Council report is here: http://www.burnley.gov.uk/downloads/_4__19.08.09_Lifestyle_Express_Anglesey_Ave.pdf
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A Happy Shopper has been caught selling alcohol to children – just days before its licence was due to be suspended for being caught out three times previously.
Mr Mohammed Ahmed, who runs the Happy Shopper on Briercliffe Road, had his licence suspended on 18th June. The suspension was due to run for four weeks starting Monday 13th July, which allowed time for him to appeal before the suspension took effect.
But police and Trading Standards officers went back on Friday 10th July and took a teenager with them to conduct a test purchase. They found that the shop was still prepared to supply alcohol to children.
Local councillor Liberal Democrat Coun Darren Reynolds said, “The Council’s stated policy is to take breaches like this extremely seriously.
“It’s a shame some licensees take a different attitude to their licences. Clearly the four-week suspension didn’t work. The Council now needs to do what their policy says and impose an extremely serious penalty.
“Burnley is one of the worst areas in the country for alcohol misuse and it’s part of my job to fix that. When kids get drunk in the street it’s a tragedy.
“It damages communities, it damages families, and, worst of all, it damages the long-term health of the children.
“Complaining that someone’s job depends on the licence is no good. Assassins’ jobs depend on being able to assassinate people, but we don’t make that legal just because it creates jobs, do we? In my view this licence should be revoked permanently.
“Other licensees take note: sell to children, and this councillor will get you.”
Coun Reynolds said that he was grateful to the police and Trading Standards for pursuing the problem vigorously, and said that his council colleagues from all political parties now needed step up to the mark to make their contribution to solving the problem.
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
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Rosegrove with Lowerhouse
Electorate - |
BAKER
Charles Dominic |
The Labour Party Candidate
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304
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CAVE
John |
British National Party
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400
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ELLIOTT
Barry John |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
215
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GATES
Iris
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Liberal Democrat
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645 ELECTED
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Central East
Electorate - |
BAIG |
The Labour Party Candidate
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1676
|
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BENNETT
Bill |
Liberal Democrat
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1748 ELECTED
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MCDEVITT
Paul |
British National Party
|
547
|
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TOWNELEY
Cosima Cecilia |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
444
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Central West
Electorate - |
BRIGGS
Charlie |
Liberal Democrat
|
1436 ELECTED
|
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MARTIN
Tony |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
715
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SHAPCOTT
David |
British National Party
|
676
|
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WHITTAM
Brent Lawrence Harry |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
850
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley North East
Electorate - |
BURNS
Terry Elliott |
The Labour Party Candidate
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1175
|
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HEGINBOTHAM
David Neil |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
501
|
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MCCANN
Peter Rennie |
Liberal Democrat
|
1490 ELECTED
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ROWE
Peter John |
British National Party
|
566
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley Rural
Electorate - |
BRINDLE
Margaret |
Liberal Democrat
td> |
1552 ELECTED
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LARGE
Stephen James |
The Labour Party Candidate
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719
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NUTTER
Susan Margaret |
The Conservative Party Candidate
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1212
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THOMSON
David George |
British National Party
|
842
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Burnley South West
Electorate - |
CARMICHAEL
Ida Elizabeth |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
589
|
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CAVE
John |
British National Party
|
855
|
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MARTIN
Maureen Frances |
The Labour Party Candidate
|
689
|
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SUMNER
Jeff |
Liberal Democrat
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1896 ELECTED
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| Ward | Candidates | Description |
Votes Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Padiham & Burnley West
Electorate - |
HURT
Martyn |
Liberal Democrat
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927
|
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JOHNSTONE
Marcus |
The Labour Party Candidate
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954
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MARSDEN
Alan Dean |
The Conservative Party Candidate
|
726
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WILKINSON
Sharon |
British National Party
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1155 ELECTED
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Councillors from the BNP, Tories and Labour parties tonight joined together to try to unseat Coun Gordon Birtwistle as leader of Burnley Council – but failed after one opposition councillor abstained.
There was tension in the chamber as the votes were counted, with the four BNP, six Tory and eleven of the twelve Labour councillors voting against Coun Birtwistle. But for the abstention of a single senior Labour councillor, the vote could have seen the Council without a leader.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said, “This unholy alliance between the BNP, Labour and the Conservatives will be a real shock to the people of Burnley and to their members across the country. Quite how those three parties could get into bed together is beyond us. Labour are now so far to the right of the Tories, all three of these parties consider themselves politically aligned.
“We are now challenging Labour nationally to make it clear to their party in Burnley: is it acceptable to form an alliance with the BNP and the Tories to try to unseat a Liberal Democrat leader? What closed-door discussions between these parties took place?
“Fortunately, they lost the vote, and we did not get to find out who they were planning to propose instead of Gordon.”
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Burnley’s Liberal Democrats are off the starting blocks for the forthcoming County Council elections, having announced a full slate of six candidates for the six Burnley and Padiham divisions up for election.
They say their top priorities for the County Council are jobs, schools and transport. That, and giving the “failed” County Council a “lesson to remember”.
Lib Dem leader of Burnley Council, Coun Gordon Birtwistle said, “These priorities are all tied together because without decent rail and road links, it’s harder to attract employers to the area. We want a new bridge turning left at Junction 9 of the M65, so a large new employment area can be created. We want improvements to our train stations, and the direct link to Manchester re-opening.
“Without a decent education for our kids, employers will find it hard to get the right calibre of people here. Burnley is the bottom of the league tables because of Labour’s botched investment, and it’s cost hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ pounds to put our schools at the bottom. The mess created by Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme has to be put right, and only we have the skills to do that.
“On top of that we have to get parking issues associated with the area’s colleges, hospital and football ground sorted out. These are County Council responsibilities and for decades the Labour-run outfit has failed spectacularly.
“Then you have the fact that Labour’s County Council has been investing pensions in hedge funds associated with the short-selling that led to the collapse of the world banking system. That is simply indefensible. They seem to have lost about £40m on it.
“But the biggest failure of all has to be the abysmal performance of the Health Scrutiny committees, who could have stopped the disaster in our local hospital services under Labour Coun Maureen Martin’s chairmanship. They knew in advance what was going to happen when they downgraded our A&E, because we told them. They did precisely nothing and everyone knows the result is a mess.
Speaking about his party’s candidates, Coun Birtwistle added, “Four of our six candidates are already councillors for Burnley Borough and will carry on working for people on both Councils.
“That’s important because we need to build stronger links between the two organisations and because we need to be able to hit the ground running. The County Council needs teaching a serious lesson to remember. Only the Lib Dems present a viable alternative to Labour in Burnley.”
The Liberal Democrats will be hoping that they can repeat their successes in Burnley which saw them take overall control of the Borough last year – the first time anyone but Labour has had overall control since the Borough was created in 1974.
The candidates are:
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Burnley Central West – Coun Charlie Briggs
Charlie Briggs has been Burnley Council’s executive member for community safety for the last year, and represents Gannow ward. He says his top priority has been getting anti-social behaviour under control, particularly when it comes to rubbish and litter, and he intends to carry on. His work has won national recognition. He is also leading the charge for restrictions on drinking alcohol outdoors throughout Burnley and Padiham.
Coun Briggs said, “Burnley needs to be made a nicer place to live. To do that, you have to get young people involved and on the right side of the community. You have to give them something to aspire to. Putting some common sense into the County Council’s education and youth policy is a fantastic chance to do that.”
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Cllr Charlie Briggs at Hameldon College, placed in Special Measures following Labour’s disastrous ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme. |
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Burnley South West – Coun Jeff Sumner
Jeff Sumner is Burnley Council’s executive member for customer services, where he has helped make sure that the contact centre delivers outstanding service for a reasonable price to the taxpayer. He says that the County Council failed the town badly when it failed to intervene over hospital services.
Coun Sumner said, ”People often don’t know which council deals with particular issues. Residents parking, for example, is that the County Council or Burnley Council? Most people wouldn’t know.
“That’s why we need councillors who understand both organisations. In my opinion we shouldn’t have a County Council at all. We’d be better off with just one Council, then people would know who to contact and there wouldn’t be all this buck-passing.
“And maybe we could have councillors who understand how important Burnley General Hospital is to the people of Burnley.”
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Cllrs Gordon Birtwistle (left) and Jeff Sumner (right) campaigning for the return of hospital services to Burnley |
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Burnley Central East – Coun Bill Bennett
Bill Bennett has served on Burnley Council for the last five years and, like the Lib Dems’ other Burnley councillors who are standing in the County elections, says he intends to continue to do so if elected.
Coun Bennett said, “Time and again people tell me that the County Council doesn’t listen. That organisation doesn’t work properly. You can never get hold of a county councillor and I want to change that. People in my ward know they can always get hold of me and that I’ll do something about their problems.
“The same thing needs to happen at County Hall. We need a revolution there. I think their biggest mistake has been over the hospital and the electorate are going to make Labour pay for that.”
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Cllr Bill Bennett h |
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Burnley North East – Coun Peter McCann
Peter McCann represents the Lanehead ward on Burnley Council and has been instrumental in trying to get the County Council and Borough Council talking more to each other. He has taken up many issues with the County Council on behalf of residents, especially related to traffic and parking issues over the last few years.
Coun McCann said, “It’s high time for a big re-think about parking. The fines system puts off shoppers. The lack of parking at our colleges and the hospital creates big problems for residents. The street planners at the County Council don’t consult properly and road safety schemes are often botched. All of this is the County Council’s responsibility.
“Then there are back streets that need resurfacing. The Liberal Democrat-controlled Borough Council has had to pay out for some of these recently even though we have no responsibility for it, because the County Council refuses to do the job. They need more of a can-do attitude instead of just finding excuses not to do things.”
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Cllrs Peter McCann and Gordon Birtwistle and Mrs Margaret Brindle campaign for the return of hospital services to Burnley. |
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Burnley Rural – Margaret Brindle
Margaret Brindle has worked for both Central and Local government in Pensions and Welfare benefits in Burnley for over 23 years, and has been very active in her party’s campaign to restore Burnley’s lost hospital services.
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A Burnley resident (left) meets (left to right) Margaret Brindle, Gordon Birtwistle and Charlie Briggs, and signs their petition for the return of services to Burnley. |
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Padiham & Burnley West – Martyn Hurt
Martyn Hurt has been an active volunteer for his local community since coming to Burnley fourteen years ago. He helps to run a local youth club and was a director for several years at the Community Alliance, which seeks to empower local people through advice and training to achieve more for their areas.
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Liberal Democrats in Burnley are launching a probe into MP Kitty Ussher’s record as the minister in charge of the country’s banking regulator, following criticism of the Government by the National Audit Office. (1, 4)
In a newly released report into the nationalisation of Northern Rock, the NAO said that Northern Rock continued to give mortgages at 125% of property values in a falling housing market after Government support was provided. It said that the Government could have stopped the high-risk lending as a condition of the bail-out. (5)
Liberal Democrat Coun Darren Reynolds said, “The government provided massive support to Northern Rock, yet still allowed Northern Rock to go on giving mortgages at 125% of property values in a crashing housing market. Why did the minister responsible for banking regulation at the time, Kitty Ussher MP, not insist that the practice stopped?”
The Lib Dems have submitted a Freedom of Information request to obtain details of the discussions that took place between Mrs Ussher and the UK’s banks as the crisis developed in 2007 and 2008.
Until being moved to her current Ministerial position at the Department of Work and Pensions Mrs Ussher was the Economic Secretary to the Treasury – dubbed “Minister for the City” – where her duties included Financial Services policy and regulation.
Whilst a Treasury minister she said that this was her dream job and told City bankers and financiers that Government decisions needed to be informed by bankers’ expertise.(2)
Coun Reynolds said, We know from information already released by the Treasury under the Freedom of Information Act that Mrs Ussher had meetings with several UK banks, twice meeting with representatives of HBOS and Barclays to discuss Financial Services issues. (3)
Mrs Ussher was the minister responsible for our banks at the time several of our banks were brought to their knees. With many commentators saying that it was the Government’s failure to properly regulate the banks that contributed to this crisis her constituents and the whole country deserve to know just what Mrs Ussher was doing as a Treasury minister.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: “The NAO report is a damning account of the Treasury’s mismanagement of the Northern Rock crisis.
“The Government’s inability to stop Northern Rock issuing high risk ‘Together’ mortgages even after the bank started receiving state aid is a total disgrace.
“With billions of pounds of public money at stake, the least taxpayers should expect is that basic due diligence of the company’s loan book should have taken place before nationalisation. It seems ministers were keen to hide the scale of the bill that taxpayers were being asked to pick up.
“The fact that resolving shortcomings in the tripartite regulatory system wasn’t seen as a priority shows that Gordon Brown had his head in the sand. Ministers failed to listen to any of the warnings about the brewing storm.”
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The North West Ambulance Service has blamed delays at hospitals for difficulties in getting ambulances to emergency patients in time.
A statement by the ambulance service said that they would be using volunteers from St John’s and the Red Cross, delaying all training except for new recruits, and calling all trained staff into operations. The statement said that pressures at hospitals were “causing significant delay in ambulance turnaround.”
Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle, who is campaigning with the Lib Dems for a return of full Accident and Emergency services to Burnley General Hospital, said, “Royal Blackburn Hospital is overflowing with patients. We’ve seen Blackburn’s A&E suspended twice due to complete breakdown of the service. Even when it’s working, it takes too long to see patients.
“The Labour government has put a huge amount of extra taxpayer’s money into the NHS but we in Burnley are paying that extra tax for less service. There must be an independent enquiry into the state of East Lancashire’s hospitals.
“We have said all along that Blackburn does not have the capacity to handle A&E for such a large area. On top of that ambulances are spending more time travelling longer distances. This problem will only be solved when the Hospitals Trust admits its mistake and reverses the decision to downgrade Burnley General.”
Health minister Ben Bradshaw said, “It is totally unacceptable for ambulances to back up because they are being forced to do so by the accident and emergency department.” (link)
Referring to the target to see patients within four hours, Mr Bradshaw added, “Any accident and emergency department that thinks it can fiddle its achievement of the four-hour figure by keeping ambulances stacked up outside the hospital is wrong.”
The Trust recently decided to suspend its bid for Foundation status because of difficulties meeting patient targets and controlling finances. Health campaigners have accused the Trust of deliberately seeking to fiddle its record on the four hour target to see A&E patients.
Coun Darren Reynolds, who is seeking election to the new board of governors of the Hospitals Trust, said, “I have heard reports of patients moved untreated into the Medical Assessment Unit because this means the clock can be stopped, and of patients being left in ambulances because the clock doesn’t need to be started. That should never happen.
“It is no surprise to me that the Foundation bid has been delayed. This is exactly what I told the Trust chairman to do when he first suggested the idea last year. The Trust must focus on the problem at hand, not mess about with how it is governed whilst patients are at risk.”
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Direct rail links between Burnley and Manchester got another boost on Thursday when the Lib Dem shadow Transport Secretary Norman Baker MP called for the re-instatement of the Todmorden Curve.
Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle and other Lib Dem leaders from across the North West met party leader Nick Clegg and Baker on Thursday morning to discuss rail links.
Mr Baker said, “Passengers across the country and in Burnley deserve a better railway. But instead of investing in re-opening lines and building new stations, this Government is tinkering at the edges with a few extra carriages while cutting funding for the railways and pushing for higher fares.
“We propose that longer, rolling franchises are introduced so that it makes obvious financial sense to the rail companies to invest in re-opening lines like the Todmorden Curve instead of the fare payer having to foot the bill.”
“We propose that longer, rolling franchises are introduced so that it makes obvious financial sense to the rail companies to invest in re-opening lines like the Todmorden Curve instead of the fare payer having to foot the bill.”
Progress towards re-establishing the link, just a few hundred yards of abandoned track, was made this summer after cost estimates were revised downwards.
Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle said, “We’re convinced that the way forwards for Burnley lies in real jobs – especially better paid, long term jobs in high tech industries.
“There are jobs in Manchester that can be done by Burnley people, and there will be jobs in Burnley that will attract people from outside the town.
“We believe that re-opening the curve will prove an important part of our jobs strategy and we’re determined to see the plans succeed.”
Success will depend on the Lib Dems convincing rail bosses and the Regional Development Agency that the scheme should be backed. Supporters say that the business case shows big returns for a low investment – probably as little as £4m. Journey times to Manchester could be reduced from around 90 minutes to as little as 40 minutes, making it faster than the X.43 and comparable with using a car.
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First they closed the A&E to emergencies
Now they are closing the Childrens ward at Burnley General
Join the campaign today
Protest March on Sun March 27th
See here for more details
Now they are closing the Childrens ward at Burnley General
Join the campaign today
Protest March on Sun March 27th
See here for more details
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