. f'1 •
Clitheroe 22321, (Editorial), 22323 (Advertising). Burnley 422331 (Classified) I Letters Daft justification
THE justification for the closure of Clith
e ro e M a g i s t r a te s ’ Court — witness care — is as daft a justifi cation as I can think of.
The woolly-headed, cost-conscious mandarins
vide offices for staff (and rest rooms for police men?), while the court gets lost in surrounding towns. Having Reedley — a
I wonder). There is a perfectly
www v wwi.wwiwww manual ilia V/lU,mirUtJ S WO of Whitehall have already What is needed is a decent given us unit fines and a police station and an occa- ridiculous sentencing sionalcourthouse, policy, now to be changed. Plans for a police station The real fact is that have been on and off the
big, cheap building — on their books, they can jus tify th a t by throwing Clitheroe’s work at it.
in a room (at Clitheroe they use the solicitors’
good court building on Lowergate, presently occupied by the Depart ment of the Employment. What there is not is co
room). The Court Administra
Lancashire County Coun- books for as long as I can cil (I guess, the paymas te rs ) and the Courts Administration have bun gled up yet another piece- meal d e v e lo pm e n t , because they own the police station (not big enough to do what is required by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act or keep a realistic force to cover the area) and that will be botched up, to pro
remember, during which period, I think, Clitheroe has been satellited or included within just about
every adjoining police division except Lancaster! There was perfectly
good cell accommodation available within the library redevelopment, if they had wanted to build a court secure for prisoners (library staff by Group 4
ordination of the needs of the authorities. Instead, th e re a re continued numerous piecemeal changes to suit the whim of half-modern thinking — and blow the consequences to the people who actually bear the burden! Ask Mr Moorby what
arrangements there are for segregation of wit nesses from defendants at Reedley, Burnley, Preston Crown, Preston Magis tra te s ’ and Blackburn Magistrates’ Courts. There is no b e t te r
tion was not prepared for the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and then decided that it could not afford to keep the system, which worked, so it made purely cost-oriented changes in respect of the Ribble Valley scheme, enabling fringe prisoners to be siphoned oft to Bum- ley, Blackburn and Pres ton and hence altering the statistics to suit its needs.
legal history and tradition, which should not be allowed to go under with out a fight.
Clitheroe has a long
arrangement that I am aware of, except the police taking the witnesses to one side and putting them
IAN B. DEARING, Solicitor. Stanley House, Lowergate, Clithcroe.
MAY I, through your let- from p ro f i tab le city ters page, bring to the offices, attention of the people of In m cases thou- the Ribble Valley the ds of ' ople don-t want plight of rural post offices. to open ^ accounts in
The Government plans the latter years of their to pay pensions and bene- lives, with all the worry
H e l p u s t o s a v e p o s t o f f i c e s by
pay electricity etc. direct debit.
fits directly into bank accounts. Secretary of State Peter Lilley (and no doubt our local Conserva tive MP) could not give a guarantee in Parliament, last week, th a t those FURTHER to last week’s rural post offices and changes would not affect letter from Mrs E. Drew,- deprive villages of a life- rural post offices.
over bank charges and interminable requests to
Clitheroe, at one time or another, has stopped for an ice-cream or a drink and admired our village shop in Dunsop Bridge. We locals need it 12
I am sure everyone in 0f Waddington, I am line for the elderly and
done in the 10,000 rural national press that our While pensioners must post offices is to do with MP, Mr Nigel Evans, con- be given th e choice
As over half the work pleased to learn from the people living alone,
benefits and pensions, cost' siders that fresh and lively between direct payment cutting has already forced ideas must be introduced into a bank account and ------
over 2,600 to close since 1979. Now, thousands more could go at a stroke.
'
wants to save £500m in Social Security adminis- — .
The Government says it fit an3 io impact. from its wider bank iso-
' so that post offices in rural areas can be given a new lease of life well into the
next century. Many of your readers
tration, but it is the same postmastcrs are campa gn^ LocM^o
____ ■ -
old story of looking at “ S to st?P a prTh„Lf iu irything in its own little a>’ proifit and loss box, lated
should be paid dire accounts,
office means there is nowhere to g et cash, nowhere to post a bulky letter or even stop for a chat, as post office chiefs recognise by giving an annual subsidy of £30m
Closing a village post
Which party next?
TV a.
week a f t e r week with, two issues, firstly preda- views changing 'according tion by cormorants on fish
oomDaraea uiese cuiuimm
HE’S back again! He once bombarded these columns
that time. F i r s t he joined the
------ -z TJ" nnJ ennATirlltr FkA vnmAirol
Labour Party, then (with front page news) he joined the Tory Party, then he more quietly joined the Liberal Party. Now, the man in ques
rightly fear that the loss of work for the Department
th e y
of Social Security would threaten thousands of
will be aware that village
collecting their pensions from the village post office, it is unacceptable that those wishing to use the post office should be deprived of that right which, amongst other advantages, gives them the regular opportunity of seeing and being seen by other members of the local community. It is claimed that the
proposal will save money, but I would suggest that
ments of the campaigners who wish to ensure that the scenic integrity of the Ribble Valley is not com promised by C a s t le C em e n t ’s p ro p o s e d expansion. However, what I fail to
■
AS someone who has lived down-wind of Castle Cement and had occa sion in the past to ask them to clean up them act (which they did), i can understand the concern shown by Worston residents with regard to Castle Cement’s expansion plan for Bellman Quarry. Similarly, as someone byshire can demonstrate Ribble Valley residents,
who knows the Ribble the visual blight that quar- Valley very well and rates rying can impart on sce- its scenic value and tran- nery in some cases, quility on a par with the What is remarkable best in the country, I can1 about the operation that also understand the senti- Castle Cement and its predecessors have been
have raped our valley. Admittedly, the “Clith
understand is how the “Clitheroe Advertiser and Times” can feel justified in treating the serious issues involved in the expansion plan in the emotional, mis- leading and cavalier fashion demonstrated by its lead article of May 20th.
months of the year, not just the odd weekend, so please support us in our fight to save it.
BARRY SINGLETON, Chairman, Bowland Forest Higher Division Parish Council, Dunsop Bridge.
Our rural offices are vital
the social implications within villages of such a move could not be justified and would result in the closure of many of those village post offices, which are already struggling to remain viable.
Lancashire Post Office Advisory Committee, I am committed to the retention of the network of rural post offices and would urge our MP to continue the fight for the contin uance and expansion of this vital rural service.
As chairman of the East
ERIC BRACEWELL, Primrose Street, Clitheroe.
Why leave the litter?
ON March 18th, an article entitled “Fishy
to his political party at stocks in the River Ribble M 1 i*
Tale” was published in your paper. The article dealt with sported back to the River Ribble, from which they had migrated over the
and, secondly, the removal of fish from Duddel Brook by N a t io n a l R iv e rs Authority Fisheries staff, the reporting of which was misleading by inference. In fact the NR A staff
tion, Mr S. Whittle, came back to this page last week and this time he is cham pioning the cause of the Liberal Democrats. Pity the poor Lib Dems!
i his
winter. This was neces sary to prevent the exa mined fish being counted twice and thus enabled the study to be conducted in a proper scientific manner. Secondly, a small num
If he has not already joined, you would seem to be his next target, before he moves on once more to
In ----- -------------- QUO VADIS.
(providing they will have him).
NG LOONY PARTY
3 probable ultimate goal THE MONSTER RAV-
netted fish from the brook for two reasons. Firstly, fish were examined and information was collected about the number of fish damaged by predatory birds. This was done in support of a three-year research project spon sored by the NRA in con junction with Liverpool John Moores University, which will investigate and evaluate the impact of cor morant predation on fish stocks in the River Ribble. The examined fish (mainly dace) were tran-
tion which is very difficult to conduct without some impact on scenery and the environment. Visits to Settle, Cracoe, near Gras- sington, and parts of Der-
Quarrying is an opera ____
conducting at Clitheroe for decades, to the consider able economic benefit of Clitheroe in particular and the surrounding area in general, is that it has kept its quarrying activities so well hidden from view. The visual impact of its quarry is minimal. As far as I am con
eroe A d v e r t ise r and Times” may not be the main villain of the piece, although the photograph on the front page of its May 20th edition showing Castle Cement’s Lanehead Quarry is the second such in as many months. Ribble Valley residents
Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, May 27th, 1993 9 & H
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cerned, this at least indi cates a responsible atti tude on the part of the quarrymen with regard to the area in which they operate and to the people who live there. I consider it to be an affront to Cas tle Cement, to its prede cessors and to the local and county planning auth orities to suggest that our quarrymen, who are also
U-turn in keeping
S O ,______ over Castle Quarry. No su rp r is e th e re
Mr Evans has done a U-turn in opinion Cement’s plans for Bellman
really, as he is a member of a Government which
has done more U-turns than a lot of driving instructors! The catastrophe (your
inherent increase in traf fic, domestic waste etc., than a quarry, which will be screened and land scaped as it is exhausted. Where are these new
headline) that is Lanehead Quarry has, over the last 50 years or more, helped ensure continued and last ing employment for a large proportion of Ribble Val ley constituents. By this, I re fe r not ju s t to the cement works employees, but to the innumerable local businesses, large and small alike, who rely on this large industrial con cern for a good deal of their trade. This same quarry is
inhabitants of his constitu ency going to work? Not in the Ribble Valley, if Mr Evans and a group of very vocal and equally informed protestors have their say. We would all, no doubt, not like to have, or see, any signs of industry in our valley. But, unfortun ately, life is not tha t simple. I hope a sensible out
I SEE that once again the grass cutting “silly season” has arrived, with the old gras s , b o ttles , cans, paper, etc., all left care
fully in place after the mowers, .human and mechanical, have left. Surely, one man to fol
largely invisible from vir tually any point but the top of Pendle Hill (ask Mr Evans how he got his photo) and has probably never been seen by most of his constituents. I sug ges t th a t the current explosion of housing devel opments in the area poses a far greater threat to the environment, due to loss of green field sites and the
low on with a bin-sack would solve the problem, or there must be some machines somewhere sup plied complete with grass boxes.
JOAN H. DICKINSON,
ber of dace were tran sp o r ted to the NRA Fisheries Fish Farm at Leyland, where they were used as broodstock. After stripping and fertilising the eggs, these fish were returned to the River Rib ble, from whence they
came. In short, important
information was gathered and valuable spawn (to be ongrown for the NRA’s strategic restocking pro gramme) were obtained, with no fish lost from the River Ribble. I hope that this clarifies
Fernhurst, Sunnyside Avenue, Wilpshire.
Q LETTERS for publica tion are accepted only on the understanding that they may be edited or condensed at the Editor’s discretion.
may be forgiven for won dering why they have never seen the view of Lanehead Quarry that forms the backdrop to the picture of Nigel Evans. The reason is simple. It is necessary to go to the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, where few people have reason or a wish to ven ture, to climb over a wire fence put there to protect walkers and to prevent them from trespassing inadvertently, and to squeeze through a screen of trees planted by Castle Cement specifically to shield th a t particular
view. Some might claim that
publication of the quarry photograph, taken from that particular location, constitutes rape of Castle Cement’s dignity and integrity. However, bet ter to regard it metaphori cally as the lifting up of an oid lady’s skirt in public to reveal her underwear. We should q u e s t io n Mr Evans’s motives for being a party to such action. Castle Cement’s expan
sion plan for Bellman Quarry is a sensitive issue,
come to the current debate will be arrived at by the planning authorities, or the town of Clitheroe and the surrounding area could well end up nothing more than an unemployment blackspot, in even which those who commute to work and would like to return to an unblemished rural idyll will not wish to live.
MR S. .1. BROWN, Hacking Close, L a n g h o .
Any memories?
WILLIAM COTTAM’S recollections of the dole queues in Lowergate, prior to the start of the cement
works in 1936, brought to my mind the scene recounted by the then works manager of Ribblesdale
Cement Ltd. Times were hard and jobs scarce and, according
to the late Mr Bilson, there were long queues, stretching down Pimlico Road, of men eager for the chance of a job in the quarry — breaking stones. As Mr Bilson walked along the queue recruiting
suitably fit workers, advising them of the rate being one shilling per hour (5p), desperate men were jump ing the queue in front of each other, saying: 111
do it for elevenpence (4V4sp).” It would be interesting to know if any of those men, or their families, can recall those times.
M. MILLER, Brycrs Croft, Biackburn.
the facts pertaining to the original report and under lines the NRA’s Fisheries Function aim to maintain and improve the rivers under its supervision.
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obviously missed our second item, headed ‘C l a r i f ie d ,” which
© M r S h a tw e l l
explained the situation — editor._______________
Secretary of State MUST look at the quarry plan
WE are greatly disturbed by the magnitude of the proposed reactivation and extension of Bellman
Quarry — 144 acres, 400 feet deep and within 200 m e tre s of C lith e ro e Hospital!
tions should be answered: © How will the high
We think several ques
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so close to a residential area, be allowed on health and safety grounds in any other European country — especially Castle Cement’s parent country, Norway? ©Will all the local
© Would such a project,
streams dry up as a result of the depth of th is quarry?
operation was to make Clitheroe and District a less attractive area for tour is ts to visit, how would this affect the many
© I f the q u ar rying
thousands of jobs that tourism generates? ® Does everyone realise
that, if planning permis sion is granted, it will be almost impossible for it to be retracted? This proposal has such
serious long-term conse quences that it MUST be called in by the Secretary of State for the Environ ment, for consideration.
MALCOLM and WENDY DOUGLAS, Station Road, Whalley.
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but one which will not benefit from excessive emotion or blatant misrep resentation. The future of Castle Cement requires to be reconciled, both with the fears of Worston resi dents and the concern of everyone who lives in the
ATTENTION A
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TL
Ribble Valley. However, I question Mr
Evans’s assertion that a public inquiry is what everyone wants. What a public inquiry would do would be to provide Mr Evans with a green horse on which to ride back wards and forwards, from and to Westminster, much to his personal gain, but ultimately at our consider able expense as ra te payers. I, for one, would prefer not to have to con tribute to the cost of his ostensibly equestrian
aspirations.
L. OLDHAM, 20 Bank Cottages, Billington.
news, merely . reflect it as a c c u r a te ly as is humanly possible — and that was what we were doing in our front page lead story last week — editor.
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