Thursday, January 2nd, 2003 No. 6,078 'W That


singing stars::;


page 3 A T A G L A N C E


^ model'cax is helping primary 'schobl!:children to develop their computer skills.


'■■■■ page 3


A brand new £10,000 car has been stolen from a Clitheroe garage by a couple posing as potential buyers.


• page 11 A Clitheroe shop has made its


'debut in a guide to Britain’s best retail fashion outlets.


"■ page 9


A village farming expert


from L y\ I.


Bolton-by-Bow- land who always had an amusing story to tell, Mr Jack Life, has died, aged 71.


page 2


A TV and radio personality drops in to a Clitheroe fund-rais­ er’s 70th birthday party.


page 2


Three members of a„;Billington household are following a fami­ ly tradition by working for the same company.


— — —■ ' FOGGITT’S


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It will remain cold and wet.


SUNRISE: 8-27 ium. SUNSET: 3-57 p.m.


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Shoppers’ concern over ‘unsightly’ camera


by John Turner


THE mystery is over for shoppers in Clitheroe - and many of them are not


happy. Half a dozen large, 20ft. high black struc­


tures which sprung up in various parts of the town will carry the cameras for Ribble Valley Borough Council’s £600,000 closed circuit tele­ vision surveillance system. Shoppers have been baffled since the first one


went up in Clitheroe Market, said stallholders Mrs Jennifer Gee and Mr Doug Mackintosh. “There has been a competition to guess what


they are and it has been amazing the sort of answers our'customers have been coming up with,”” said Mrs Gee. “One suggested it was a Russian missile


launcher, another said it was a patio heater and somebody else thought it might he for bungee


:jumping.-.pnepereonithought)itmighij,be,ajju)}]iP-^, shower.


Mr Mackintosh said: "People don’t think much y


of it and quite a few have had a laugh at it. People feel in this day and age it should have been possi­ ble to do the job without such an unsightly thing as this, especially in a town like Clitheroe.” Mr Graham Jagger, Ribble Valley Borough’s


chief engineer, said the columns were designed to allow the camera to he wound down for ease of


maintenance. The scheme involves 25 static cameras in


Clitheroe and Whalley, and six of them were of the type installed in the market. “The collar that holds the camera at the top


. E E C A R T E R lading the way to ur fitness in 2003


slides down the outside of the column, so the cam­ eras can he maintained without using ladders or other equipment,” he said. He added that some sites where the cameras


were sited ruled out the used of major equipment, like cherry pickers, equipment which, anyway, Ribble Valley Borough Council did not possess. He said planning permission had been obtained


for the columns. The cameras are all now in position and are


fully operational. A firm has been appointed to organise and run the monitoring station at the market buildings in Clitheroe, which is linked to the cameras by an underground fibre optic system installed during recent weeks. The system is part of the council’s hid to clamp


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down on problems of law and order. The digital pictures produced by the cameras


are designed to ensure people and vehicles can be recognised. Footage can be used as evidence and the courts will be able to see events as they hap­ pened. Full-time monitoring is expected to begin in


mid-January and will continue round-the-clock on every day of the year.


tS3B*


AN outspoken campaigner on rural issues and president of the. National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs, HRH Prince Charles is to see for himself how Ribble Valley farms are diversi­ fying when he visits the area


next week. Precise details are still awaited of


the visit by Prince Charles-to Clitheroe and Chipping on Thurs­


day. . But it is expected that the royal


visitor will be in the vicinity of the Clitheroe Interchange and railway station shortly after 10 a m. and will spend some 40 minutes there before


: boarding a Bowland Transit Bus to : Chipping.


. There he will attend an event host­


ed by Lancashire Rural Futures at Chipping Village Hall. Lancashire Rural Futures is a part­


nership organisation set up to carry­ forward the work of the Bowland Ini­ tiative, a project set up by Lancashire County Council to regenerate the Forest of Bowland area. At the village hall, Prince Charles


will meet and speak to local residents and farmers, while seeing for himself examples of the rural businesses who have received grant assistance


through Lancashire Rural Futures. The visit will come just weeks after


Prince Charles was chosen as Farm Personality of the Year by readers of one of the country's leading agricul­ tural publications. Writing in Farmers Weekly, the


Prince called for initiatives to allow consumers to make a genuine and informed choice about what they were buying. British food, he said, must be clearly branded - that which is grown or bred here, not just, he said, processed and packaged. He then went on to urge public


bodies, hospitals, armed forces, local government, schools and universities, to buy British and, preferably "local.” His words would certainly have encouraged those already deeply rooted in rural businesses.


well in supermarkets, the Bowland Forest Foods co-operative is produc­ ing farm assured beef and lamb and others, such as cheese and yoghurt makers, are making a sizeable contn-. button to the local economy. • ■/■


Bowland milk is already selling ; _ ■;■ ■ ■ THE finishing touches being put to one of the camera structures ValleyreadytowekoiHeBrince|€liarlesa


Council funding is being rigged against us - MP


THE Government’s funding for localauthor- ities is “rigged” and is in effect a stealth tax,


says the local MP. Mr Nigel Evans has criticised the amount


being given to the Ribble Valley Borough Council, saying that it is two and a half per cent less than last year. The council tax will have to rise to meet this shortfall. “This is more evidence of the way that


Labour is taxing us to the hilt - this Govern­ ment Js all tax and no delivery,” says Mr


Evans.


Government has been far less generous than it claims, spinning headline figures of increas­ es, hilt in fact loading local councils with new burdens, taxes and bureaucracy. The poll tax will rise due to this, with local


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by Tim Procter


FILMS could be shown at Shawbridge Mill, Pendle Road, Clitheroe, when the Grand Cine­


ma becomes unavailable. Trinity Community Partnership


will be including a cinema in the new arts centre likely to be built at Kirk-


moor, Clitheroe. The centre is unlikely to be ready for two or three years and is still at the feasibility study stage. It has always been understood that


Trinity Partnership would provide a temporary cinema once work started on making the Grand into a young people’s centre. A council report has revealed that the Grand project team is keen to start conversion work, which


will mean that film shows will end. ' Director of Commercial Services Mr John Heap tells members of the Ribble Valley Borough Council Com­ munity Committee that officials of Trinity Partnership have spoken to Flexible Reinforcements, owner of the mill, about possible cinema use. The firm’s architectural advisors have been involved in exploring the


suitability of the building but so far those involved are not in a position to offer a firm proposal. Any conversion scheme is expected


to be costly, says Mr Heap. Trinity Partnership may seek a contribution from the council, among others. I t is expected that Trinity officials


will meet with the council's own Cine­ ma Working Party in a few weeks.


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Mosque man hits back over 'unfounded speculation’


SUPPORTERS of the mosque have slammed


Clitheroe “incorrect


rumours and unfounded speculation” about the project.


' As reported last week, Ribble Valley Bor­


ough Council’s six votes to five planning refusal is to be challenged at a public inquiry.; Local residents are mounting a big effort to


persuade the Planning Inspectorate to uphold the decision, which went against an officer rec­ ommendation for approval. Mr Sheraz Arshad, whose late father Mr


Mohammed Arshad started the project, emphasises that both county and borough experts had ruled that there were no traffic cre­ ation reasons for refusal. The small size of the mosque, in Holden


Street, meant that only a few people would go there, an insignificant increase in a busy area. But opponents were choosing to exaggerate the effect the mosque would have, he said. We are the victims of incorrect rumours


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and unfounded speculation,” declared Mr Arsad.


“People do not seem to want to understand


that the proposal is for only two years and with no music, no calls to prayer and not many peo­


ple: “It is unfair and unacceptable that there is


so much talk of what might happen in the future. That does not happen with other appli­ cations, and in any case the council has plenty of powers to ensure compliance.” A date for the inquiry has not yet been set.


More stones stolen, but thieves nearly caught


STONE thieves were almost caught on Sunday afternoon when they paid a return visit to Clitheroe. The incident has led to another police appeal for vigilance as a wide variety of stone items continue to he stolen. Thirteen paving stones worth £130 were


. prised out of a yard behind Steele’s solicitors in Castlegate, Clitheroe, between.Friday. evening I .and Saturday morning.


Y On Sunday afternoon more stones were lifted


and someone suspicious about what was hap­ pening called the police. However, whoever was responsible fled the scene. In Read, £200-worth of flags were taken from an allotment site off Jubilee Street last week.


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