Hyndburn to be axed.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Gayle

I've just checked the Accrington Observer poll and it seems to have had a complete reversal to now being in favour of Town Councils.

I just saw that too.

Though there may well be a swing the other way, when the public get to know just how much extra it's going to cost them on their Council Tax.

[Gayle]

Issues like this are slow burners.

For instance, the Acc and Districts issue came out and initially there were a few nods of approval and early votes said that it was a good idea. But as time went on and there was more discussion about costs and implications, and as the few dissenters started to express their views more eloquently, the majority switched.

I suspect the same will happen with Town Councils. Yes, initially on paper it sounds a fine idea - give the people more power - but as costs come through and the full implications, interest will start to wane and the objectors will come forward.

Just my view.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Gayle

...as costs come through and the full implications, interest will start to wane and the objectors will come forward.

As happened with the devolution in Scotland.

Which saw the cost of the new Scottish parliament building rise from an inital £40 million to a final cost of £431 million.

As I said earlier, I'm undecided as to whether this is a good idea or not. We need to know just how much extra this will cost us, and who will be sitting on these councils.

What I am sure of is that this, and the proposed renaming, are two totally separate issues.

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by garinda

What I am sure of is that this, and the proposed renaming, are two totally separate issues.

They definitely are totaly seperate issues.

I have been thinking this morning how they will arrive at the area covered by each Town Council (assuming it gets the go ahead and the pilot for Great Harwood works). Rishton, Great Harwood and Oswaldtwiste all have ward boundaries that all lie within the township. But Clayton-le-Moors, Altham and Church are not so easily defined as there current ward boundaries do not correspond the actual townships.
Altham ward emcompasses -Altham parish (basically the village and Altham West) + Church from the Clayton end of Dill Hall Lane (near Enfield Cricket field) up to the cemetery + the old Enfield ward of Clayton UDC + the whole of Clayton to the east of Whalley Road in a northerly direction(right down as far as the Hyndburn Bridge).
Church ward emcompasses the whole of Church (excluding the area now in the Altham ward) + a large part of West Accrington.
Clayton ward emcompasses Blackburn Road and the whole of Clayton to the west of Whalley Road from the Burnley Road/Blackburn road traffic lights as far north as Hyndburn Bridge.

As there is already in exsistance (and has been historically for many years) a Parish Council for Altham, I presume this would be excluded from any Clayton-le-Moors Town Council, and this would be only for the area of the old UDC.

I would also expect a Church Town council to follow the boundaries of the old Church UDC as well.

Maybe PB has not thought so far ahead.

We definitely need to know exactly how much another tier of local government will cost the Council Tax Payer.

I would also like to know what the cost so far has been for the proposed change of name for the borough - how many hours have been spent by officers, discussing the matter and producing the crests etc. Surely this time could have been better used in actaully promoting the borough, rather than putting forward agruments about why the name needs to be changed.

[Lilly]

Originally Posted by garinda

Kerry Gormley, Green party representative for Hyndburn, at least seems to be talking sense.

'Miss Gormley said: "The name change will create a huge amount of waste. Each and every household in Hyndburn has a wheelie-bin, a sack and a plastic box for re-cyclables, many even have a green wheelie bin too for compostables.

"All of these receptacles, which number in the thousands, have the name Hyndburn on them and the Hyndburn logo.

"All of these items are made of plastic and will last our life-time and beyond."

Miss Gormley pointed out that plastic licence boards on the borough's taxi cabs also bear the Hyndburn logo, and that many local voluntary groups and businesses successfully operate and trade under the name Hyndburn.

She said: "I have been informed that there will not be any help available to these voluntary groups with regard to funding their own names changes."

Council Name Change Is A Waste (from Blackburn Citizen)


Obviously a person with her head screwed on, and likely to get my vote, if the other parties don't see sense.

Wasn't it stated right at the beginning that bin wagons, bins, recycling receptacles etc will not be replaced until they would have been replaced anyway if there was no name change.....if you get my meaning.

If this is the case then there won't be any extra waste.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Lilly

Wasn't it stated right at the beginning that bin wagons, bins, recycling receptacles etc will not be replaced until they would have been replaced anyway if there was no name change.....if you get my meaning.

If this is the case then there won't be any extra waste.

What politicans say, and what they do, are very often two very different things, as history has shown innumerous times before.

I don't know, but I estimate the life of a wheelie bin to be about thirty years. Are we then to have thousands, and thousands of these bins, still bearing the Hyndburn logo, when and if, we are called Accrington and Districts? Or will they be replaced, and presumably dumped, just because of this silly whim?

And what about the costs to the many organisations and charities, that bear the name Hyndburn?

It's not only the cost to the council itself that will be vast.

I've still not heard one valid reason to spend our money on this silly name change.

Anything can be promoted effectively, whatever the name, if the people doing the promoting have more than half a collective brain.

[WillowTheWhisp]

If PB wants to get rid of the name Hyndburn then keeping all the things with the Hyndburn logo on but just hypothetically calling the borough by another name is nothing more or less than plain silly.

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

If PB wants to get rid of the name Hyndburn then keeping all the things with the Hyndburn logo on but just hypothetically calling the borough by another name is nothing more or less than plain silly.

I agree with you entirely, but this is what he claims will happen.

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Did anybody else get a Housing Survey to fill in? Not sure whether it is tied together with this but ours came today.

Chuck it in the bin Bernie,'the council filing cabinet', They should know the answers to these questions they are staring them in the face. Until we get freedom of speech 'proper' I could not in all honesty fill that crap in.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Yes we got one - haven't looked at it yet. Far more important things to do.

[MargaretR]

Councils will soon be able to build housing -Brown's latest idea to provide thousands of homes for the poorly paid.
So the council need to summarise what type of housing people have, need, and can afford.
I have filled mine in.

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Councils will soon be able to build housing -Browns latest idea to provide thousands of homes for the poorly paid.
So the council need to summarise what type of housing people have, need, and can afford.
I have filled mine in.

I they had their finger on the pulse, they would not need to ask stupid, obvious questions, but I suppose that is a little to much to ask of these overpaid 'Mandarins'.

[MargaretR]

If everyone answered the questions the council would learn what type of housing is needed which will depend on age, health, disabilities and current levels of overcrowding in the population's housing stock.
For example - no point in building 4 bedroomed homes if nobody needs them, but they might need some, because the council have no way of knowing how many children there are in any household. Also they need to estimate the need for ground floor flats and bungalows which are needed for elderly and disabled.
Only if everybody supplies the info can rational decisions about the borough's housing need be assessed

[Neil]

Originally Posted by claytonender

We definitely need to know exactly how much another tier of local government will cost the Council Tax Payer.

I think the bigger issue is what the 'new' councils will actually do. After all the main HBC will be above them and above them will still be LCC.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

I think the bigger issue is what the 'new' councils will actually do. After all the main HBC will be above them and above them will still be LCC.

I agree. Three tier squabbles may mean even less is achieved, than the two tier ones we currently have at present.