The Hopeless and the Helpless.

[Acrylic-bob]

Page twenty-two of last week's Observer contains a wonderful sample of the tireless work of our sterling councillors.

It's about a bridge across the canal between the Sefton Farm Housing estate and Clayton. It was first proposed TEN YEARS AGO.

Councillor Myles said: "When the Sefton Farm Estate was first built it was done with a section 106 agreement. This means that funding has to be made available for amenities in the area, which includes this bridge. Some of the funding is from the companies which built the houses and some of it is from elsewhere."

The "elsewhere" that Cllr. Myles is a little vague about is Lancashire County Council, who have succesfully managed to keep their hands in their pockets for the last ten years and have now secured a further twelve months of playing scrooge.

So the hapless residents have forked out the readies for their lovely new homes believing that a shiny new steel bridge was in the offing, only to find that years later they still have to go round the extreemly long way to get into Clayton.

Councillor Myles says that: "I have my fingers crossed that funding will become available for this soon." He displays a touching, if naive, faith in the willingness of LCC to help anyone other than itself.

The Clayton Blimp, Cllr plain Jane(t) Storey, The Worshipful Mayor of Hyndburn, has also weighed into the issue saying: "I am for the bridge 100%, but the current situation is just about the money". For some unaccountable reason the words "chocolate" and "fireguard" spring suddenly to mind.

The money they are hoping for is a relatively pitiful £250,000. (about the price of one of the houses on the blighted estate)

This of course must be contrasted with with the situation in Blackburn, which, as we all know, seized the opportunity to tell Lancs CC where to go and became a Unitary Authority some years ago. They have just secured £7.9 million to replace the Freckleton Street Bridge. It will be re-constructed as a spectacular steel arch and will be illuminated at night.



"Welcome to Lancashire - where everyone matters" unless of course you happen to live on Sefton Farm Estate or Huncoat or anywhere that isn't Preston really!