22 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, March 10th, 2005
www.clitheroetoday.co.uk
Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) Letters to the Editor - | Write (o: The Editor, Clilhcroc Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clilheroe BB72EW Editorial c-mail:
vivicn.mealh@
easllancsncws.co.uk — Monstrosity
like a prison IDO not wish to further pro long the discussions on this pro posed monstrosity at Kemple End, but some readers have said that they do not find any reference to the word “panopti con” in their dictionary. Well, I have found one in mine. I t reads: “A circular prison with cells built round a central ‘well’, whence the warders could at all times see the prisoners.” Maybe we have a hidden
agenda here. Maybe it is intended to build a prison or asylum a t Kemple End. In which case can I suggest that readers be allowed to nominate their choice for the first batch of inmates. No prizes for guess ing who would top the list! The Mid-Pennine Arts Council maybe?
B ELLISON, Woodcrest, Wilpshire
Let’s have good
modern art! ON reading the le tte r from Margaret Flaherty in this week’s paper, I was curious to know what the correspondent from Wigglesworth had said to merit such a label. When I read his letter I must
say I’ve discovered I ’m a Philis tine, though frankly to my mind, the people who allow such things as the eyesore in
York Street and advocate total ly unacceptable structures in beauty spots such as Kemple End, are the Philistines. The thing that perturbs me a
great deal in Margaret Flaher ty’s letter is the comparison she uses. The panopticon on Kem ple End and Michelangelo’s Sis- tine Chapel? I don’t think so! But if this is
the criteria used nowadays, no wonder we end up with such things as dirty nappies, unmade beds and piles of bricks and ani mals in formaldehyde in our art galleries. Let us have good modern art
by all means, but less of the Emperor’s New Clothes syn drome, which is all too preva lent nowadays. Incidentally, with regard to
the letter from CPRE remind ing us that it is the planning department of the council that has the power to give the go- ahead to this scheme, is it going to be very clearly published when the application will be made to give us time to write to the council with our objections?
JOYCE BISHOP, Queen Street, Whailey • The date will be published as soon as we are notified - Editor
No support for
panopticons AFTER reading the letters about the panopticons due to be erected in this area, I must agree with Mr B. Dean and
Let’s leave something worthwhile for future
SINCE the autumn of ‘86 I have lived and worked in this property and of course there have been many changes in Clitheroe and the world, and so there should be. This property is supposed
to be p a r t of historic Clitheroe. I t was built around 170 years ago when times and Clitheroe were much differ ent.
Yes this property is listed,
bu t only the front facade (apparently nothing else counts). For those of you who don’t
know where I am talking about, if you remember Dick Tattersalls in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I am there. This property is on the
gable end of York Street and Back York Street, which is quite narrow in today’s stan dards and faces a bad angle for any vehicles reversing down Back York Street off
hope i t is a con. I have seen many letters objecting to tbe panopticons and none in sup port. Surely this must convey some message to the people at Mid-Pennine. We don’t want this eyesore in
our beautiful countryside. I was under the impression th a t councillors and other people involved in these schemes were working on our behalf. I under stand that this money available for this project is to be spent on nothing else. I t is all well and good that
the money is there, but surely using it for these panopticons is like spending money buying flowers when there is no food in the house! I, and I ’m sure everybody
else, can think of much needier projects that need taking care of, and what’s the point of hav ing money and allocating it to the wrong place?
LINDA GREEN, Mcadowside Avenue, Clayton-Ie-Moors
Get your Taser
facts accurate FOR a newspaper to retain the trust of its readers it should make every effort to be accu rate, objective and to look into stories from different aspects. Your story “Tasers on stun!”
..a r I (I a I w -eUt r Sharon Hafniltpn'bn - P1282,42ai6.1
(February 24th) seems a bad example of lazy journalism. By a wholesale regurgitation of a press release untested by basic journalistic checking of facts, combined with what was prob ably seen in the newsroom as an exciting, colourful picture, you fail your readers. Many people will be aware that there are other sides to this
York Street (as York Street has only one way traffic these days). So i t’s difficult and in the years I have been here, several times vehicles have hit my property trying to reverse into Back York Street (I have no problems with those drivers - I wouldn’t like to have to do it). So on Thursday, March 3rd
a t 5-30 a.m. I was awoken with a thud. Yes, a Biffa refuse vehicle had once again hit my property try in g to back into Back York Street. As I have said many times
over the years this lane (Back York Street) and my property were not built to take all this. I have no wish to upset any
one else’s business, but when it comes down to it, i t ’s my property and no one else seems to give a damn! I feel I owe it not just to
myself and all the people who have lived and worked here
story. Amnesty International (for whom I carry no torch) suggests that there have been about 74 deaths in the US and Canada involving TASER use, although none has yet been directly attributed to it. For your article to state that
“...police in the US and Canada have been armed with them for more than 20 years. During that time there have been no reports of deaths connected to the use...” displays neither accu racy nor balance. I t is unclear from your report
if this erroneous “fact” of no deaths is attributable to Assis tant Chief Constable Hodson. She, hopefully, knows better.
PAUL FARINA, Bank Bottom, Grindicton
So how many
ered necessary on the A59 at Broughton near Skipton, the two Barrow roundabouts and the Bramley Meade one, all of which have only three entries, surely the crossroads a t Sab- den/Pendle Road where there would be four entries is even more in need. The money already spent on
more fatalities? HOW many fatalities and major and minor accidents have we to witness before the Sab- den/Pendle Road junction on the A59 is converted into a roundabout? If roundabouts were consid
over the years, but the ones who shall hopefully be living and working in this property long after all of us reading this are pushing up daisies. I would like once and for all
to protect the future of this property. If anyone has any similar
problems or constructive advice or is brave enough to take on this possible litigation would you please write to me at 2 York Street. Please note I don’t have
time for personal callers or to chat on the phone because I am trying to make a living here. I hope that gives you some
food for thought. We all need to leave something worth while for future generations. Please help me do th a t for Clitheroe.
JACQUI NUTTER, York Street, Clitheroe
the situation the uncertainty created would make it worse. Perhaps now we may quickly see some action.
ERICWALMSLEY, Brooksidc, Holden
Action needed
at accident site YET another accident, this time fatal, at the DANGER OUS BY DESIGN Pendle Road A59 junction. Some years ago this junction
was rebuilt, at considerable expense, and accidents have occurred there ever since. As the A59 was a trunk road at the time, it was the High
ways Agency which was respon sible. Several accidents were caused
by motorists leaving Pendle Road towards Preston, who believed that they had right of way over those coming from the Skipton direction, who were waiting in the central reserva tion to turn into Pendle Road. They were wrong of course, but the design of the junction led them to believe otherwise. The Highways Agency solved
tinkering with the problem must have gone a long way towards the cost of a round about..
When the present system was
concocted many people predict ed that instead of improving
that one by, for a trial period of 12 months, preventing right turns coming from Skipton. This caused and continues to cause an increase in traffic through Chatburn and down Chatburn Road in Clitberoe. A review was promised when the 12-month period was up. Oh, I forgot, in the meantime
the A59 was de-trunked and no longer the responsibility of the Highways Agency, leaving the cash-strapped Lancashire County Council road budget to carry the can. Even with no
right turns, the junction is still dangerous by design. It lacks decceleration lanes, even though these are provided at the minor Standen Hall junc tion. Impatient motorists staying
on the main road try to squeeze past those slowing down to turn into Pendle
Road.The only per manent solution to this problem is the installation of a round about. Where is the money to come from? Now that it is possi ble for those in charge of large organisations to be charged with corporate manslaughter, is there any possibility that the Highways Agency could be brought to account for this thoroughly bad piece of road design and that it should bear the cost of putting the situation right?
ANTHONY A. COOPER, Peel Park Avenue, Clitheroe
Roundabout for
black spot! JUST what does it take? I am referring to the fatal accident on the A59 by the Clitheroe and Sabden junctions on the after noon of Tuesday, March 1st. It is a well known accident
black spot. I quote from the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times and from the Sabden Parish Council. The parish council has said
for some time that something should be done and called for urgent action to be taken on the killer junction. The parish council has been
asking for many years for a roundabout to be installed at the danger junction. The evidence has clearly been
there for some time and yet nothing has been done to effec tively address the situation. Why not? I hope this letter may in some
way lead to action being taken as a matter of urgency to pre vent further deaths and that the life taken on Tuesday may not have been totally in vain.
DR W.J. TURNER, Sawley Road, Grindiclon
• The Editor welcomes letters on any subject, but correspon dents are reminded that contri butions may be edited or con densed, must not exceed 350 words and should reach us by noon on Tuesday. Letters with noms dc plume
Your letters. . .
are now only accepted for publi cation if the editor agrees that there is a valid reason for the writer’s identity to be withheld. Letters can be sent by post to
the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe
BB7 2EW, via e-mail to
vivien.meath@
eastlancsnews.co .uk, via fax to 01200 143467 or
texted to 07799696447. Letters submitted by any of
these methods must, however, include the writer’s name and full postal address.
L-1 Write to: The Editor, Clithcroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clithcroe BB72EW Editorial e-mail:
vivicn.meuth@
casllancsnews.co.uk — What’s happened to
plans for skate park? WHATEVER happened to the skate park? After months and months of planning,
many more months of public and private meetings plus children protesting, there was the promise of a complete skate park in spring/summer 2004. Nothing! It is 2005 and there has been no
action, no preparation. Why? Every week, I see loads of children walk
ing the length and breadth of this town, try ing to find somewhere to skate. Risking their lives, sometimes skating on the super market car parks at the weekend. I also see the police using up valuable time moving groups of skaters away from these places. But moving them to where? They cannot
skate on broken promises! These kids put in many hours and are keeping fit with it. There are some amazing skaters with real talent, should we not be encouraging them?
MRS JOHNSON, Secdall Avenue, Clitheroe
Help locals first, not
the out-of-towners I READ with interest last week’s story of the couple from Manchester who had recently been sleeping rough in their Ford Escort saloon, despite the fact that they are soon to become parents. I did not find surprising, firstly, the fact
that they could not afford the house prices in the Ribble Valley due to, as you put it, “spiralling property prices”. Nor did I find it surprising the fact that they want to be near their family. What I do find surprising is the fact that
this couple feel that they are entitled to a council house when they have chosen to move into the area from Manchester to be near their family who only moved here three
years ago. Were they not able to visit their family
from Manchester and where are these fami ly members in this couple’s hour of n^d? Why, after moving to Clitheroe, did this
couple not before trying for a family look into the housing situation? Then they would have realised, like many others, that trying to buy a house in the town is a struggle, especially on a low income. You do not need to be Einstein to realise that the house prices in Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley are somewhat over inflated. When you start a family - and I feel this
is the case for many people not just to this specific area - you need to see whether or not you are financially stable. Many- and I mean many - of the couples
and single people who have been brought up in the town and in the Ribble Valley are struggling to be able to rent or buy property in the area. They are being forced out due to these spiralling property prices and rent and are having to move to such areas as Black- bum, Burnley and Hyndbum, where prop erty prices are not as extortionate as the
Ribble Valley. I feel aggrieved that this couple have
come to the Advertiser and Times com plaining that they are homeless when they have apparently family in the area whom they have left Manchester to be closer, but who could help them out in their hour of need and until they managed to get back on
their feet again. This would allow the couple to concen
trate their energies on going out and finding employment and finding suitable either rented accommodation or housing, either m Clitheroe or the surrounding area or Manchester, that they could manage to afford rather than pushing for a council
house in the Ribble Valley. There are currently 600 people on the
council house waiting list, with the average waiting time being two years. These proper ties should be for the people who are born and bred in the Ribble Valley, not for some one that has just walked in from another area just to be closer to their family, who themselves only moved to the area three years ago. While I have sjnnpathy for the situation
the couple find themselves in, I do hope that the council does not allow them to jump the queue and house them ahead of locals who no doubt have similar stories of distress. There are enough locals that have been on
the 600 strong waiting list a lot longer than these “out-of-towners”.
J. PENMAN, Clilhcroc, by c-mail
Regional assembly
should go - now! THE North West Regional Assembly is still with us. Why? The latest news gives us a clue. John
Prescott has come up with the remarkable plan to demolish up to 400,000 homes in the North of England - the equivalent of a city the size of Birmingham - as part of his "Northern Way" initiative. The proposals go directly against the
advice of English Heritage, the Department for the Environment, the Treasury and many local authorities. So what vehicle is to be used for this? The
self-appointed and unelected regional assemblies. Perhaps tha t is why Mr Prescott’s office seems intent on pressing on with them, despite overwhelming evidence that they are not wanted. Readers will remember that last year he
backed down on a referendum for an elected assembly here in the North-West. His own MPs pleaded with him to drop it because they knew he would lose. To try to save some face, he did hold a referendum in the North-East. That turned out to be a humil iating four-to-one defeat. People do no want regional government, elected or not. People have realised that the regional
assemblies are no more than a democracy bypass - a group of bureaucrats acting as conduits to pass on interference from central government and the EU, bypassing our elected county and borough councils. It is about time all oiir other local author
ities owned up to the fact that they have no mandate to use our council tax to continue propping up this totally unnecessary talk ing shop and withdrew their support as well. The North West Regional Assembly should go - and it should go now.
GERRY KELLEY, North West Regional Spokesman,
UK Independence Party Who was responsible
for the dirty tricks? REGARDING the article on page three of last week's issue, "Drug bill 'scuppered by
dirty tricks' claim". Just whom was our MP, Mr Nigel Evans,
referring to regarding the dirty tricks. My understanding is that if there are not enough MPs in the House of Commons Chamber of ALL parties, then a Private Member’s Bill fails to make the next stage. It therefore must have been the case that
members of his own party, the Conserva tives, had as little regard for his Bill as those of the Labour Party. It must be tough being an MP when you
cannot even get support from your own col leagues, Mr Howard nohvithstanding. M.A. POLLARD, Simonstone
Let’s fly flag
of St George ON entering Clitheroe by train, I noticed on most days a stark naked flagpole on the Castle’s Keep. Methinks, what a wonder
ful place to fly the flag of a country not recognised by the non-publicly elected com missars in the EU. That country is England. So, come on RVBC and
show this country some enterprise and let us all see the flag of St George flying from the Castle every day. Oh, and by the way, if
RVBC cannot afford to fly this flag, I will buy one for th em ..... providing it is not made in China.
K. ROBERTS, Haydock Street,’ Roe Lee, Blackburn
AS you are aware, over the last cou ple of years many post offices have closed in Clitheroe and our small outlying villages. As a local resident, I wish to tell
everybody some great news about Gisburn Post Office.
Now people can license vehicles at this village post office Thank you to everybody who
Gisburn Post Office is now a
motor vehicle licensing branch. This is excellent news for all the
businesses and private individuals in Gisburn and the surrounding areas, as it will make taxing vehicles so much more convenient.
signed the petition in order to make this happen.
HELEN COAR, Dcnholmc Farm, Settle Road, Ncwsholme
Is your business up to speed?
OOf^T GET LEFT LANCASHIRE DIGITAL Dfc’VElOPMENT AGENCY O TECHNOLOGY WORKS make technology wo?fc fos” you
In an increasingly competitive market-place, your business is at risk if you don't embrace technology. Businesses harnessing the power of on-line technology are now reaping the benefits of faster and smarter working, ultimately rtiaking them more profitable.
Join us at a FREE seminar and see for yourself the benefits of investing in and implementing new technology. You will hear from a range of IT specialists who will show you how to drive up sales, secure new customers and increase profits by vyorking on-line, whilst also advising you on how to set up and manage a secure IT network unique to your business.
Have the opportunity to question our team of IT specialists and network with like-minded business people.
o Wednesday 23rd March | Mytton Fold Hotel, Langho, Nr. Blackburn From 8.30 am to 12.45 pm, followed by lunch. Call
0845 600 9006 to confirm your place, or book on-line
atwww.ldda.org.uk
SLDDA
Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified)
wvirw.clitheroetoday.co.uk
Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, March 10th, 2005 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
