Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

We all have to pay the ferryman, I'm afraid. He write the songs, you know.

Councillor Peter Britcliffe - Home

Everyone in the whole borough voted for him to be leader of the council, honest.

Now, about my £2,500.....

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Just making up for the suffering Ossy had when Labour were in control for 13 years when we got nout, and the Peoples Republics of Spring Hill And Within Grove wanted for nout:rolleyes:

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I stand corrected.

Oswaldtwistle badly needs more money pumping into it whilst Springhill is a panacea for the cares of mind, all thanks to Labour spending tactics.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

That sounds a reather childish reason.

Surely money should be targeted wherever it's most needed, irrespective of where in the borough it is.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

There are many areas of the borough that seem to be sadly neglected moneywise, I would much prefer if ALL the elected councillors strove to improve the whole of Hyndburn and not just the area they are representing. Sadly can't see it happening any time soon and in certain areas house prices nose dive due to the neglect:(

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Exactly, but was just pointing it out to a new councillor that his beloved party were just as bad, if not worse, when they ruled the roost

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

That's just the sort of pettiness you get from political parties, that's really wearing me down.

They did wrong, so we'll do wrong too, to redress the balance.

As Bernie said, it'd be great if councillors worked cross-party more, for the whole borough, rather than a crazy bun fight, with each councillor trying to bag the best buns for their ward.

Labour did it, so now we'll do it, sounds pathetic.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

The National Government have been blaming Labour and Brown for all the coming grief..every single decision regarding the cuts have been blamed on the former administration.. how long before we all get fed up with the excuse that it's all Labours fault..maybe 2 years .. but we will not have the right to elect an alternative government for the next 5 yrs.. that is the modern "democracy" in Britian.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

...and you've been banging on about Thatcher and the eighties.

It's time to worry about today, and forget about who did what in the past.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

You, me and I suspect everybody but the die hard labour/tory supporters feel just the same G. What we really need both locally and nationally is for one or both parties to address issues that matter to the general populace instead of all this "they did that, we did this" carp we get fed. To be honest it is just like being in a school playground and god help us these are the people who are elected to represnt us:o:(

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

As I've said before on numerous occasions, have a go, standing for council, county council or even Parliament is not restricted to political parties.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

It's a nice idea but sadly unworkable.

There are certain issues that councillors are involved with that are concerned with the entire borough (such as taxi licensing, etc) but the whole point of being elected for your ward is that you know what needs doing in that area better than another councillor in say Milnshaw or Huncoat. I'm currently pushing for a new post box for lower Rishton, a tiny project in the grand scheme of things and wouldn't even register on the Hyndburn map so a good example of why each ward needs specific councillors for that area.

At the moment, Cllr Grayson and myself very badly want a community centre in Rishton. It isn't going to happen anytime soon because there isn't the money but when you see one of Oswaldtwistle's four community centres getting an unnecessary facelift it rankles you somewhat when we don't have one at all and could have used that money to build one.

I've often said that concentrating all money in one ward is a terrible idea but as long as Peter Britcliffe is Leader of Hyndburn Council we are going to see everything spent in Oswaldtwistle.

A priorities list across the whole of Hyndburn would be the best solution as no one could argue that the most important things weren't being tackled first but it isn't going to happen as long as there are votes to be garnered in the Leader's ward.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

I can't think of the four community centre in Oswaldtwistle you mention.

There's one on Harvey Street, and then there's the arts centre which is being built in the Civic Theatre, which although sited here is for the whole borough, and until it's opened can't really be classed as a community centre.

It's hard to judge if Oswaldtwistle gets more than it's fair share of money. If it does, that is wrong.

Although I don't visit Gt. Harwood and Rishton all that often, I do regularly get to most other parts of the borough. People in Ossy generally think that other parts of Hyndburn get more money targeted at them for regeneration etc.

Perhaps it's human nature that people always think someone else gets the better deal, than themselves.

As I said, I honestly don't know if it's true.

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

The Blackburn Road area has done very well just lately and I'm sure Peter Britcliffe doesn't represent the voters in that area. Sorry but the way I see it the money should be spread out more fairly irrespective of who your councillor is. My friend had a beautiful house in the Woodnook area and got nowhere near what she should have when she sold. Why are certain areas just left to deteroriate?

Re: Just before the robbing Tory budget
 

Empty properties infect an area like cancer.

It leads to people selling out to irresponsible property developers from out of town who couldn't give a toss. In turn, no one wants to buy a house in a high rental area so the chain continues and ripples outwards, all from one block of rotten houses.

We have one block in Rishton at the moment about 20 yards from my house and it has dragged the area down over 8 years to the point where almost one third of the ward is affected. Unfortunately, it's an extremely costly exercise to demolish them although it's hard to see that when you're on the receiving end of the upshot.

Hyndburn needs strict regulation on rental properties (which only about five wards currently have) and since the run-in period is at least 18 months before it can be rolled out to other areas it seems that some of us are in for a long wait before things get better.