[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Graham Jones

People who think the Panopticons are important clearly have a scewed perspective. People in Peel would accept an 80 ft concrete cow up there of it meant safer streets, lower crime, better housing, getting rid of landlords, dirty back yards, anti social neighbours, poor job prospects, drug dealers, juvenile nuisance, dereliction and fire starters.................. The average Joe in a poor area simply isnt bothered.

I wouldn't describe inhabitants of Accrington who are interested in their surroundings as having a screwed perspective. Simply because some of us have a point of view regarding the Panopticons doesn't mean we don't have a point of view on other subjects also. But it's beginning to look like it doesn't really matter what the local people think because it isn't even the council who make the decisions, it's a small section of that council. This doesn't sound like democracy.

At all the resident groups I attend the one issue is when is the council going to invest some money in Peel. Never ever once the Panopticon. People cant be bothered with it. Its not important on peoples agenda around here and as they elected me to put forward their prioroties, then that is clearly the buget buget budget. You'd have to creek your neck to see where the Panopticons features in the list. Sorry but thats Peel Ward.

Now I'm getting confused. You say the people of Peel ward elected you to put forward their priorities. Just as I vote for my local councillor based on what he tells me he will do once elected. But from what you've said earlier regarding what goes on in the Council then the individual councillors have very little effect at all.

Now for some people to whom this issue is at their heart this may not be what you want to hear. But you have to respect other peoples considered views. I did the right thing and I'll tough it out with anyone trying to hijack peoples view who elected me. We want investment [wardens a start] in Peel to begin to reverse the decline.

I still don't see how abstaining from voting on the Panopticons issue solves any other problem. I'm sure quite a few of the people of Hyndburn feel their views are hijacked when a decision is made to have something on top of the Coppice which the majority of people who voted on the issue have said they would rather not have.

Thats the only message I am getting from the people round here. Peel has now officially dropped into one of the most deprived areas in the country. It has the highest vacancy rates on the Borough 11%, one of the highest landlords at 16%, the highest concentration of bad landlords, some of the poorest health stats. Go and talk about Panopticons on Horne Street where neighbours houses are derelict, abandoned and are fired out by vandals!

Or the needle infested smack den we closed last summer 50 yards from my front door near where my son and his friends play. And the constant stream of smoke screened BMWs screeching by at all hours.

It's none too brilliant here in the Scaitcliffe area either. My main complaint as many of the AccyWeb members will know because they are probably fed up of hearing about it by now, is the rubbish in the streets. It's worse than Whinny Hill tip up here and it starts every bin day when at least one sack ends up emtying its contents down Willows Lane and Ormerod Street. The resulting mess is not cleaned up and then settles in corners and in people's gardens. There is one unmade back not a million miles from Scaitcliffe House where I wouldn't be surprised to see rats and often the smell is appalling. That can't be blamed on residents because that rubbish blows down Ormerod Street, round the corner and lodges in the grass and weeds where it proceeds to rot.

Each time someone puts up for the council they say that rubbish on the streets will be a priority. In my naive little way I believed them at first and voted for whoever made the most promises regarding improving the state of the area. Now I no longer need to wonder why none of the promises have ever been kept because if I've understood you correctly once elected there is very little they can actually do on the council.

This leaves me wondering what on earth we are voting for.

However, although rubbish is my main concern personally and it affects me personally I am also interested in wider issues and I have an opinion on other things. If I were told that a concrete cow on the Coppice would solve my rubbish problems, apart from the fact that I'd query how, I don't think I would be all that willing to accept a concrete cow because apart from not enjoying living on a rubbish dump I also actually do enjoy the wider environment and don't want to see it spoiled by something which would be tasteless and tacky and not in keeping with the area.

I also dislike the latest "improvements" to the town centre - I feel the building which houses JJB sports and Wilkinsons is out of proportion to the rest of the area and that the market isn't half as good now it is so cramped.

Surely we are entitled to our opinions on the town as a whole even if they will be largely ignored.

When Cllr Britcliffe puts the Panopticons before that for political gain then yes I will do what is right and ignore the lesser issues and try to force the agenda back onto real issues that affect real people. Why HBC has a £27m debt and why the people of Peel are getting shafted.

I dont expect you to agree, but I hope you respect the facts and where we the residents are coming from.

It's not only the people of Peel who have problems but wouldn't it have been a simple matter to vote one way or the other and then move onto other issues? All of these things affect the residents of Hyndburn some affect a small minority and some affect the majority but all are valid.

I think it was Tealeaf who brought up the subject of the deferred meeting for the sake of a football match. That seems to have taken up rather more time than a vote for or against the Panopticon would have done.

It's not that we feel the Panopticon is more important than other issues, it's just that we have opinions on the subject and would like to think that the council we elected might take some interest in our opinions.

Somebody else could probably have put that much better than I have.