Headlines in tonights Telegraph - Page 2

chav1 · 27-07-2006, 13:58

blackburn just wants to be a city and they hope that swallowing up the surrounding towns will make them big enough to be given city status

despite having a cathederal the govenment wont give blackburn city status which if i am correct cities get bigger payouts than towns from the govenment

i skimmed through the story ( not a big reader lol ) and it mentioned we wouldnt be under their control but would share resources , well that sounds liek the first step to taking over us to me

anyway who the hell wants to be part of blackburn , despite having a handfull of decent areas there are plenty of areas that need a hell of a lot of improvements

blackburna and darwen shoudl sort out their own mess before taking on another towns mess

another thing is the only reason why blackburn is showing sighns of improvements is because HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS have taken over the areas and improved them NOT the council

jambutty · 27-07-2006, 14:28

Darwen didn’t want to be part of Blackburn but it happened none-the-less. I fear that Accrington’s fate is sealed and any opposition will only delay the inevitable. Of course that is no reason not to fight the scheme. You might win!

Yes! I remember the Blackburn sale of Council property to Twin Valley Homes. Many of us fought it all the way but Phil Richards (a top class football referee who referred a Cup Final) the ex Chief Housing Officer in the Town Hall managed to bribe the tenants with promises of new bathrooms, kitchens, windows doors etc. Guess who became the CEO of TVH? Yup! Phil did! To be fair he has delivered but only after brand new offices were built and ex council vans painted with the new livery. So we are now locked into a maximum annual rent increase of 2% plus inflation.

Madhatter · 27-07-2006, 14:34

yes but darwin joins on to blackburn, Accrington has nothing to do with blackburn, it's a completely seperate town. You need to fight it, because you'll just become a suberb of blackburn. Thats how london and birmingham growed remember. Tamworth is a huge town now compared to what it used to be, because it's been used as an extension of Birmingham, and thats without Birmingham controling it.

Debbie J · 27-07-2006, 14:52

Blackburn has been trying to get its hands on Accrington for years. I have always been an Accringtonian and wish to stay so. We must fight this for as long as we can and if it means getting rid of Britcliffe in the process then so be it.

chav1 · 27-07-2006, 16:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madhatter

yes but darwin joins on to blackburn, Accrington has nothing to do with blackburn, .

get your map out and you may notice a place called rishton which connects to accrington

rishton if i am correct is classed as blackburn now although ime not 100% sure on that

where does darwen join to blackburn anyway coz ime pretty sure you have to travel across fields or the motorway and the back roads to get to blackburn from darwen its not as though one side of a street blackburn begins and the other side darwen ends

granted ime not too familiar with the lower part of darwen but thats because that is where all the bloody speed cameras are

Madhatter · 27-07-2006, 16:18

I'm not an expert I don't live there, but from what I remember rishton links blackburn and clayton, with gaps inbetween the three http://uk.multimap.com/map/browse.cg...=1&scale=25000 . Darwen is right up to the motorway, the services are darwen, go under the motorway and there's virtually continuous development, with perhaps one small grass area http://uk.multimap.com/map/browse.cg...multimap.y=170
I see ossy is close though, I've never been down that way.

chav1 · 27-07-2006, 16:24

well ime pretty sure the boundries can be change to suit their needs , its been done in the past to effect voting areas so why not this

claytonender · 27-07-2006, 17:07

Rishton, Great Harwood and Knuzden all have Blackburn postal addresses but are and always have been part of Hyndburn.

Gayle · 27-07-2006, 18:22

Just to answer a few geographical queries before I weigh in with my thoughts.

Darwen and Blackburn butt up to each other around the Ewood area.

Rishton and Great Harwood are part of Hyndburn but most people perceive them as Blackburn and I guess the people in those two towns wouldn't bother too much about being moved over to Blackburn's control (just assuming there so if anyone wants to prove me wrong I'd accept your word for it).

Knuzden is in Oswaldtwistle although it butts up to Blackburn and there is a lot of green field between Knuzden and the rest of Oswaldtwistle.

Gayle · 27-07-2006, 18:30

In some respects I want to play devil's advocate on this one before giving my views

Firstly, Hyndburn is not working at the moment. I think we've all agreed on many occassions that things can not go on as they are.

Secondly, there are eight townships in Hyndburn, not just Accrington. If we moved control over to Blackburn these towns would not be physically moved, they would all stay exactly where they were and would have the same heritage and history, the people wouldn't move. Would Oswaldtwistle be any less Oswaldtwistle if the local government that managed it was in Accrington or Blackburn?

Thirdly, Hyndburn is a made up place in itself. Thirty years ago someone changed the boundaries and created Hyndburn. There was probably a huge fuss about it at the time but now everyone wants to retain it.

Finally, presumably there would be a similar number of Councillors for each area as there are now so individually each area would depend on how well the Councillor worked for them.

I personally don't know enough about how things would work and I would like to know more before making judgement. I would definitely like to see some sort of referendum on the subject as I think it is something that the people of the different towns should be allowed to vote on.

g jones · 27-07-2006, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madhatter

so your saying that blackburn and darwin are both borough and county and local, in the middle of a county where all other areas have a county council. they are in effect their own county like manchester.

how does the budget get divided then, because at the moment some of your council tax goes to county. That means they have to raise entire funds to do everything themselves from tax, which as they are a high density area is quite possible, but if accrington followed, could accrington.

I can't see what you have to gain, and can see that you have lots to lose.

Your right. Blackburn and Blackpool are two unitary Councils, they provide all services and have nothing to do with County Council. Like 2 independent islands in the middle of Lancashire. Both were able to do this because their population size, twice Hyndburns, was thought sufficient to be able to run Education and Social Services. Certainly Blackburn feel they could costs by increasing size. They currently have the lowest Council Tax in East Lancashire.

BillGreene · 27-07-2006, 21:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

Finally, presumably there would be a similar number of Councillors for each area as there are now so individually each area would depend on how well the Councillor worked for them.

Electoral law insists that all Councillors making decisions must each represent, approximately, the same number of electorate. This would prevent Blackburn and Hyndburn discussing the spending of a joint pot of money. The money must be ring fenced for each authority.

g jones · 27-07-2006, 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillGreene

Electoral law insists that all Councillors making decisions must each represent, approximately, the same number of electorate. This would prevent Blackburn and Hyndburn discussing the spending of a joint pot of money. The money must be ring fenced for each authority.

I understand the Observer are running a full page next week. Should be interesting.

cashman · 27-07-2006, 23:40

theres a simple answer to all this- tell em to get stuffed.

jambutty · 28-07-2006, 08:31

Believe it or not by Hyndburn starts close to the Whitebirk Industrial Estate Blackburn so that would put Rishton as part of Hyndburn.

On the main road from Blackburn to Darwen it is houses all the way. The boundary is just before where the motorway crosses. There is a lay-by where the buses and trams used to turn round to go back to Blackburn.

Using the Roman Road you do go through countryside for about a mile or so though.

On the main road from Blackburn to West End there are still some fields. For how long?

On the road from Knuzden to Shadsworth, Blackburn it is houses all the way.

There are fields between Rishton and Blackburn. But again – for how long?

Rules Gayle, as we well know, can be and are changed to suit the rule maker.