Archived Items: 2011 Archive 2010 Archive 2009 Archive 2008 Archive 2007 Archive Poll Results Photo Gallery 2011 Photo Gallery 2010 Photo Gallery 2009 Last updated: Monday 7 May, 2012 Monday 08 May 2012 Friday 13 April 2012 Monday 09 April 2012
The Tories and Lib Dems are out of touch and George Osborne’s budget has failed the fairness test Wednesday 28 March 2012 Bid for Queen Elizabeth Country Park at Gib Hill receives Nelson Councillor support The Friends Of Gib Hill received unanimous support from Nelson Councillors at Monday night’s meeting of Pendle Council's Nelson Area Committee. Dr John Plackett spoke passionately about the need "not only to regenerate the built heritage in Pendle but equally to preserve the natural heritage of the Borough." Azhar Ali and Alison Plackett, who have spearheaded the campaign to save this part of Nelson from development and who set up the “Friends Of Gib Hill”, both spoke about the Council’s corporate responsibilities in relation to the area. Azhar Ali said, “We want assurances from Pendle Council that they will not allow, directly or indirectly, the destruction of wildlife and natural habitat, as has happened in the past.” “The campaign for Gib Hill has been going on for over 10 years. We want the Council to set up a working group to consider applying to the government for a Local Nature Partnership. It should also look at other options including transferring the land to a Community Trust in order to ensure the local environment is protected and enhanced for future generations.” “We want the Council to grasp this issue properly and at the same time to commemorate Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by renaming Gib Hill as the Queen Elizabeth Country Park." Alison Plackett, co-founder of Friends Of Gib Hill said, "The Council has already designated some of the fields as Biological Heritage Sites, but has not enacted a Local Nature Reserve, despite receiving numerous instructions from environmental organisations and even having a Council resolution to do so. In my view the Council is playing a dangerous game with Gib Hill and the future of our town’s natural environment and is not complying with the law." Councillor Mohammed Iqbal said, "I want to congratulate Alison Plackett and Azhar Ali for their campaign. I believe that officers should produce a report looking at all the options outlined by Friends of Gib Hill, taking account of the earlier Get Knotted and Rage campaigns. I think it’s an excellent idea to rename Gib Hill after our Queen." Cllr Iqbal went on to say that he could declare publicly that the Labour Group would oppose development on Gib Hill and would support its preservation and enhancement. This received support from all Councillors present. Monday 19 March 2012 Fund Raising Dinner Stephen Twigg MP, hosted a Labour Party fundraising dinner in Brierfield Community Centre Friday night 16th March 2012. Stephen is Labour Shadow Education Secretary and Honorary President of the Progress Group within Labour. Stephen spoke at length about his time as Shadow Secretary of State for Education. He said how proud he was of Labour’s Surestart and the Building Schools for the Future programmes as well as Labour’s pioneering work introducing Academies and Free Schools. Stephen also recalled the time he beat the then Tory Defence Secretary Michael Portillo to win the Enfield Southgate Parliamentary seat in a surprise result in the 1997 General Election. Stephen is now MP for West Derby in Liverpool. He is looking forward to taking over as Secretary of State for Education at the next General Election and reversing some of the wasteful and bureaucratic measures that the present Tory Government have imposed on our Education system. Members enjoyed a splendid meal and Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, Leader of the Labour Group on Pendle Council said that he was looking forward to the May local elections when Pendle voters are expected to send a message to the Lib Dem Tory Coalition that they are not at all impressed with their broken promises and lies. The message will be ‘make way for Labour’. Cllr Julie Cooper from Burnley Labour Party said, “We had a lovely evening”. Thursday 15 March 2012 Monday 05 March 2012 Friday 02 March 2012 Thursday 01 May 2012 A message of thanks from Ian Graham I would like to thank every one who braved the elements on Wednesday 22nd February to attend the Public Meeting that I called to oppose the proposed housing development on the land adjacent to Knotts Mount in Colne. Despite the atrocious weather over 30 people turned out to voice their views. It was decided to form an action group to oppose the development once planning permission is applied for and I will be in touch with all residents again when this happens. Thank you all for your contribution on the night. The question is, why build 200 new houses in Colne when there are so many existing properties lying empty due to absentee landlords? Yours sincerely, Ian Graham. Thursday 01 March 2012 Letter to Nelson Leader Colne Times series from Mark Porter I write in response to Mr G Metcalfe’s letter (“Football crazy”) published in this paper on 24th February. I feel that though he did not appear to be disagreeing with Sue Nike he fundamentally missed the point. Whilst there is no question that some of the salaries paid in the world of football are excessive and the morality of some footballers and pundits is questionable, as far as I am aware there has not been one single footballer or pundit who has recklessly gambled somebody else’s money then gone cap in hand to the British taxpayer to seek money to cover such losses. It is also true that, as with some bankers, footballers receive bonuses on top of their salary, but these are usually called win bonuses, and the clue is in the title. Whilst Mr Metcalfe may disagree with the bonus culture within football, these bonuses are usually only paid for winning. I think the point Ms Nike was raising was in relation to a bank which is 84% owned by British taxpayers, who are still owed some £45 billion pounds, and which posts a £2billion loss. How can it be morally justifiable to still pay vast sums of monies in bonus payments even when making a loss? The way I see it is that when the banks that required taxpayer bailouts have repaid the taxpayer in full then they are entitled to pay what salaries and bonuses they like, even if they are excessive. That is certainly the case with HSBC who this week announced profits of £13.8 billion with a bonus pool of £2.64 billion, but importantly never received one penny from the British taxpayer. Finally, Mr Metcalfe mentioned the large sums that Tony Blair is now earning, which he claimed are virtually tax free. Unfortunately I am not in a position to verify this claim either way. I do, however, note that he failed to point out that Gordon Brown has earned £1.4 million from public speaking since leaving his post as Prime Minister, all of which has gone to charity, via the foundation that was set up by himself and his wife Sarah. While there are some who questioned his policies whilst in office, I doubt there are many who could question which direction his moral compass is pointing. Wednesday 29 February 2012 MP challenged to an urgent debate on the state of the NHS Former Chair of Burnley NHS Trust and a leading health campaigner has responded to the accusations from Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle by challenging him to a public debate at a venue and time he chooses to discuss the disastrous Health and Social Care Bill that is going through Parliament at the moment and the way our local NHS is suffering with a huge loss of experienced clinicians and staff. Azhar Ali said," The MP just cannot get his facts right. When I was Chairman and a Non-Executive Director of Burnley Hospitals Trust, we built phase 5, millions were spent on improvements and recruiting more doctors and nurses. It was only when the hospitals merged that the A & E was lost; in fact, I shared platforms with Gordon Birtwistle, Gordon Prentice and Kitty Ussher in the fight to save our A & E.” “This Health and Social care Bill is taking us on a route to longer waiting lists and our GP'S becoming glorified bean counters" Azhar went on to say " of course, I along with thousands of others wants a fully functional A&E back, but I also want to make sure our local MPs wake up and smell the coffee before it's too late, by voting against the Health Bill rather than worrying more about how they can climb the greasy pole and get a ministerial limousine. We need less 'spin' and more action." Friday 24 February 2012 Andrew Stephenson votes to keep the “NHS Risk Report” secret Pendle CLP very much regret that Andrew Stephenson has voted to keep his constituents in the dark about the risks related to the controversial Health and Social Care Bill. We ask, what have Cameron and Lansley got to hide by refusing to publish this report and why has the Pendle MP aided and abetted them? Friday 17 February 2012 Community leaders seek public apology from MP for deception over return of 'Blue Light Services" to Burnley General Hospital Health campaigners in Burnley and Pendle are calling on Gordon Birtwistle MP to own up to gross exaggeration in his announcement before Christmas of a new A&E unit for Burnley General Hospital. At a ' high level summit' with local health Chiefs last week they were told that it was totally inaccurate by the Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle to give the impression that bringing forward a planned development for the Urgent Care Centre would mean any change to existing services particularly the return of a blue light service. Burnley Labour Leader Cllr Julie Cooper said," I welcome any extra funding for Burnley General if it becomes available but if the scheme - for £9 million,not £12 million as reported - is accepted and funding brought forward ,this would purely be a relocation of the service and improvement of the environment and facilities. The health Chiefs which included GP'S, Primary Care Trust and the Acute Trust were crystal clear that there will be no return of the Accident and Emergency to Burnley. For the local MP to mislead the public is not only dishonest but highly irresponsible." Former Chairman of Burnley NHS Trust Azhar Ali said, "I can understand that MP's like Gordon Birtwistle and Andrew Stephenson - who owe their positions in large part to their promises to bring a full 'blue light' service back to Burnley- are desperate to be seen to be doing something; however, this political spinning of an already planned development shows the depth to which the Lib/Dem MP will sink to. He should do the decent thing and make an unconditional public apology to the people of Burnley and Pendle for what is clear deception and lies!" Azhar Ali went on to say," If Gordon Birtwistle is unclear about the difference between an Urgent Care Centre and an A&E service,perhaps he should ask Andrew Lansley the health Secretary to bring out the 2010 Nomenclature Review on this issue.This review was meant to have been published two years ago but has mysteriously disappeared. Also while he's at it he might want to ask Lansley to publish the risk assessmemt of his massively expensive and unwanted NHS reorganisation which again has been buried. Former MP Peter Pike said, " The people of Burnley and Pendle should not be conned by 'flash Gordon's announcement because he continues to break his pledges. Wednesday 15 February 2012 Campaigner calls for action plan on empty homes Local community campaigner and former Marsden Councillor Azhar Ali has launched a campaign to raise the issue of empty homes in the Marsden Ward of Nelson. The number of empty homes are increasing in Pendle and particularly in parts of Nelson. The Government’s recently launched 'Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England' as allocated £150m to help bring empty homes back into use. Tackling empty homes is one of the Coalition Government’s policy priorities. As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010, the Government announced a £100m fund to bring more empty homes back into use. Empty homes in England account for 3% of the total housing stock. According to Council Tax Data collected by local authorities, there were 734,000 vacant dwellings at the end of September 2010. Out of these, 301,000 are in the private sector, which accounts for 1.6% of all private sector stock. Azhar Ali said," I have been undertaking a residents survey and was overwhelmed with the concern about properties for sale and/or empty properties and the knock on effect. Many local residents are concerned about the effect on the street scene,impact on surrounding house values and dumping of rubbish in back and front gardens. This part of Marsden was always much sought after and local residents take pride in their streets but are being let down by lack of action by agencies". Azhar went onto say " I went to the last Council meeting in Nelson to share residents concerns about these empty properties which are adding to the deterioration of the whole area and have asked for a meeting with senior officers so that the Council puts together an action plan to deal with all the problems. Its gutting to see the council's lack of investment in this area. Wednesday 15 February 2012 Changes to working tax credit rules Changes to eligibility rules for the working tax credit, first announced by George Osborne in the 2010 spending review and due to come into force on 6 April 2012, mean 865 Pendle households with parents in part-time work are set to lose around £4,000 a year unless they can significantly increase their working hours. The change means that couples with children earning less than around £17,700 will need to increase the number of hours they work from a minimum of 16 to 24 hours per week or they will lose all their working tax credit of £3,870 per year. Everyone appreciates how difficult it is to find work at present and if these parents cannot ‘up’ their hours 2,230 Pendle children will have to bear the impact of the loss of the tax credit. In George Osborne’s Cheshire constituency of Tatton, 270 children will be affected in a similar way. It hardly feels like sharing the pain! Wednesday 15 February 2012 Keep Gib Hill green A public Meeting will take place at Primet Community Centre on 22nd February 2012 to discuss the future of Gib Hill. The meeting starts at 6.00pm. Ian Graham is leading the campaign to keep Gib Hill green. Ian says: “For the last 20 years Pendle Labour Party, along with local residents’ support, have successfully kept developers from building on the only green lung between Nelson and Colne.” You can join the campaign by attending the meeting (download poster PDF 108KB) and asking friends to sign the petition (download petition PDF 215KB) Monday 06 February 2012 Eric Cockerill Obituary Pendle Labour Party mourns the loss of Labour Party member Eric Cockerill. Eric received a debilitating injury during the second World War (1939-1945) and was a prisoner of the Japanese in the notorious Changi prison, Singapore. Eric is probably best remembered for his commitment to the Royal British Legion, serving as President of the Barnoldswick branch for many years. We must never forget the the debt that our society owes to people like Eric and all those other service men and women, both past and present, who risked/risk all, serving on our behalf. Friday 03 February 2012 Bankers' Greed under the Spotlight At Barrowford Labour Party’s January meeting, Mark Porter, a local trade union and party activist, led a robust discussion on the current Banker’s Pay dispute. He said that, while difficult economic times meant uncertainty for millions of people, there was one constant that could be relied upon; the Banker’s Bonus. The meeting noted that despite the Tory manifesto promises to curb executive excesses, the latest round of banker’s bonuses just kept coming. Last week’s announcement that the chief executive of the bailed out bank RBS was due to receive a massive bonus on top of a salary of £1.2 million annual salary beggared belief. The meeting was told that David Cameron had said he didn’t think it was right that employees should have a seat on company remuneration committees, but he did think it appropriate that shareholders be given rights to block such payments agreed by those committees. The government, which is the major shareholder in RBS and which should be demonstrating its serious intent to to tackle endemic executive high-pay, should therefore be blocking such enormous bonuses. But the government did absolutely nothing. The chairman of RBS quickly announced that he would not take up all of his option of a £1.4 million bonus. But it was not until several days later amid mounting pressure, most notably a motion tabled by the Labour opposition, as well as growing anger from the public that the CEO, Mr Hester, finally announced that he would not take up the bonus. The meeting felt that if the government is unwilling to instigate regulatory reforms, despite widespread acceptance that they are needed to ensure the country’s financial stability, then surely they have lost the right to govern us! Friday 20 January 2012 Parents oppose plans to move Nelson primary school to Brierfield – pendletoday.co.uk The proposed closure of a Nelson primary school and the building of a replacement in Brierfield has been given an unanimous thumbs down at a public meeting. Parents, governors, local councillors and concerned community members expressed their anger at the way Lancashire County Council and management at St Paul’s CE Primary School had dealt with the consultation process, and voiced their opposition to the planned move of the school to the former Mansfield High School site in Brierfield. Councillor Eileen Ansar, who sits on Pendle Council and is also chairman of Nelson Town Council, said she had only officially been told of the consultation two weeks ago, and was appalled at the lack of information from the county council. Walverden Ward councillor Julie Henderson said she lived next door to the school and had not been informed. “We have to put the kids’ safety as our number one priority, and walking to the Mansfield site for young infants is outrageous. County Councillor George Adam told the meeting a joint working group had been set up between Pendle Council and Lancashire County Council and he would be pushing to have local councillors and parents on this so they can have their say. He welcomed the creation of an action group and urged everyone to stick together in opposing the move. Azhar Ali, former Pendle Council leader and community activist, said: “If half of what we are hearing here tonight is true, the headteacher needs to be held accountable for her actions.” pendletoday.co.uk Friday 20 January 2012 An evening with Stephen Twigg MP, Shadow Education Secretary. Pendle Labour Party is holding a fundraising curry night on Thursday 16 February at the Palatine Club, Norfolk Street, Nelson. Guest speaker is Stephen Twigg, Shadow Secretary of State for Education. Pendle CLP Chair, Cllr Bob Allen, said: “ I’m very pleased we have a Front Bench spokesman coming to support us and I know it will be an interesting evening. We have kept the price of tickets down to £10 for a 3-course meal to encourage as many people as possible to come along. If you have questions you want to ask on education policy please book your ticket early as I expect this event to be very popular.” For tickets contact Pendle Labour Party on (01282) 612573 or email pendle.labour@btconnect.com Vegetarians will be catered for and non-curry meals can be made available if ordered in advance. Please arrive at 7.00 for 7.30. For further information contact Azhar Ali on 07734 384 602 or Bob Allen on 07769 727 200. Wednesday 18 January 2012 Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Launch Safer Day Pendle Labour Party welcome the initative of LFRS to make homes safer. In Lancashire the numbers of house fires and injuries from fires are at their lowest recorded levels ever. Despite this, six people have tragically died in their homes over the last month. As part of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s response, the Service will hold a high profile Smoke Alarm Fire Education Roadshow (SAFER) at every Fire Station in Lancashire on Saturday 21st January 2012 between 11am and 5pm. The campaign will see all fire stations open to the public who are invited to come along to collect a free 10 year smoke alarm and fire safety guidance, as well as having the opportunity to book a free Home Fire Safety Check. For more information visit http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/ Saturday 14 January 2012 Barrowford Labour Party stalwart retires Douglas Barber, a long-standing Labour Party activist, has retired as branch treasurer after 15 years of keeping the books in order. A social evening was held at the Bombay Lounge in Barrowford with friends from across Pendle in attendance to thank Douglas for all his hard work over many years. The Barrowford Branch gave Douglas a gift of an engraved glass tankard and his partner Carole also shared the occasion with a present of a bunch of flowers. Sue Nike, chair of the Barrowford Branch, said “Douglas has been a real asset to both the local Labour Party and the Barrowford community for years and years. He was involved in the launching of the very successful Barrowford paper re-cycling scheme which kept many of us busy one Saturday each month for years. That was one of the first real attempts in Pendle to take action on environmental issues, long before it became mainstream. Sue added “It will be sad not to have Douglas at our monthly branch meetings at the Rising Sun in Blacko. He has a clever knack of quietly keeping us focused while contributing his individual perspective on any topic of the day. His local knowledge combined with his sharp wit often unblocked a discussion that was getting nowhere! We will all miss him.” Tuesday 10 January 2012 Save St Paul's School A public meeting to gather support against St Paul's School moving to Brierfield will be held at the Town Hall, Market street, Nelson on Tuesday 17 January at 7.00pm Everyone is welcome; parents, prospective parents & the wider community. Please come along, this could be your last chance to say that you don't want to lose the existing school. The consultation period expires on 27 January 2012. Visit the camaign website. Archived Items: 2011 Archive 2010 Archive 2009 Archive 2008 Archive 2007 Archive Poll Results Photo Gallery 2011 Photo Gallery 2010 Photo Gallery 2009
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