Leader of Pendle Borough Council Cllr Mohammed Iqbal has expressed deep dissatisfaction at the Tory government failure to hand over the promised £25 million pounds announced 2 months ago.

Cllr iqbal said, “as a council we have received the prospectus earlier this week and, in what appears to be of no surprise from this government, we are being asked to prepare a business case and jump through more hoops to have a chance of any funding for Nelson. The government have yet again tried to bribe Pendle residents by the false promise of funding.

I would demand on behalf of local people that our money is handed over instead of trying to create a headline and then 2 months later keep local people dangling it’s not acceptable!.

They already have rejected what I believe were excellent bids for Colne and Barnoldswick, will Nelson also be let down?”

Leader of Pendle Borough Council has asked for an urgent meeting with Post Office bosses following the news today that the post office in Brierfield is due to close next week.

Cllr iqbal said “it is wrong for post office bosses to give local people a weeks notice before withdrawal of services in Brierfield. I have asked for an urgent meeting including Brierfield and Reedley representatives to discuss this service”

Chairman of Brierfield Area Committee Cllr Naeem Ashraf added “this is yet another service being taken away from Brierfield and is totally unacceptable “

Reedley Ward Cllr Mohammed Hanif added “I know of local people including elderly and disabled residents who cannot travel elsewhere to use post office services. It’s extremely underhand to issue a letter giving 7 days notice”

Picture of Brierfield elected representatives outside the post office due for closure

"The climate crisis won’t wait, so neither will we", said Azhar Ali today, as he stood with students, staff and activists at Nelson & Colne College in support of the Global Climate Strike.

Azhar aded, "there was a brilliant response form students,staff and local activists in support of #ClimateStrike.  This is being replicated around the world today. It's a global emergency and is not going to go away!"

Young people have woken up much of the world with their powerful Fridays for Future school strikes for the climate. As we deal with devastating climate breakdown and hurtle towards dangerous tipping points, young people are calling on millions of us across the planet to disrupt business as usual by joining the global climate strikes on September 20, just ahead of a UN emergency climate summit, and again on September 27.

After the Nelson & Colne College event Azhar attended the Barrowford Primary School climate strike a few hundred metres down the road. There was a great turnout from the children and staff to support, "Say No To Climate Change".

MONDAY Azhar attended the Pendle Memory Choir run by a group called ‘AWESOME’ (Artistic Well-being Experience) for people with dementia and those with other challenging illnesses.