FULL COUNCIL MEETING - 18th JANUARY 2011

A meeting of the full Hyndburn Council was held on Tuesday 18th January at Accrington Town Hall and Cllr Ken Moss tabled a question for the Leader of the Council, Peter Britcliffe:

Would the Leader of the Council please give a specific reason why work has not commenced to resolve the problems of 88 -100 Spring Street, Rishton following explicit statements in members correspondence from Cllr Clarke dated 10^th June 2010 regarding a Section 79 notice due to be served on 16^th June?

The response given by Cllr Britcliffe revolved around the comparative inexperience of Cllr Moss and the failings of the previous Labour government but did not answer the question.  A supplementary question was then asked:

The problems surrounding 88 – 100 Spring Street are costing the Lancashire Fire Authority tens of thousands of pounds to attend to each year and has lowered the tone of a large section of the village over the last ten years through vandalism and reducing house prices. Can the Leader please give a specific date when work will commence to regenerate this particular block of derelicts and explain why Rishton is so low down on the list of priorities that this has not already happened since his first term as Leader in 1999?

Again, the response did not answer the question but instead made pointed reference to the success that Cllr Stan Horne has made at Holt Street recreation ground in the construction of the MUGA, something which Friends of Rishton Youth may dispute.  Cllr Horne has not brought the issue of the Spring Street derelicts to council as of February 2011.  Later in the evening session, Cllr Britcliffe made proud statements regarding the many hundreds of thousands of pounds that have been spent recently to improve his own ward of Oswaldtwistle and indicated that there was no money to spend in Rishton because of the previous Labour government. 

Rishton resident Clare Cleary witnessed proceedings from the public gallery in the Town Hall and later commented that political posturing by the Leader of the Council was of no comfort to the residents of Rishton who want firm action and not simply words. 

Cllr Harry Grayson originally wrote a letter in June 2010 to Cllr Peter Clarke, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, to ask for a firm statement on the council's intentions for Spring Street following numerous complaints from residents stretching back over 10 years.  Cllr Clarke's response on 10th June made explicit statements that notice would be served on 16th June 2010 and that the situation would be resolved one way or the other within two months of that date, although no progress has been made.