CIHheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 4 Clitheroe Ad vertiser & Times, Thursday, May 19lh, 200 5 w
www.clitheroetoday.co.uk State-of-the plan
AN in te rn a t io n a l consor tium is hoping to develop a state-of-the-art racecourse on the boundary of the Kib ble Valley and Hyndburn. The Lancashire Economic
Partnership has been approached by a consortium seeking to develop four state-of- the-art racecourses worldwide. Two are to be located in the Far East and two in Europe. East Lancashire was identified as the preferred location for one of the European courses. Two overseas Heads of State
are involved and the project is supported in the UK by a high profile racecourse owner. A
potential site, on the boundary of Hyndburn and the Kibble Valley, has been identified and has met with the requirements of the consortium. • Dennis Taylor, chief execu
tive of the Lancashire Econom ic Partnership, said:,“We have met with the consortium and with representatives of the; respective local authorities. We have been asked to respect the
■ confidentiality of the current negotiations and to act as facil itators of the process. . “Financial backers have com
mitted an initial amount of £17 million to fund stage one of the four sites. Sites in China, Sri
Lanka and two in England have been identified and sites are being visited by technical teams and financial backers. If East Lancashire fails to secure the racecourse, it .will not come to England at all”. The racecourse .will be a
major boost for East Lan cashire as it will be the first
. purpose-built racecourse creat ed in the UK this century and only the second since the 19th Century. New. technology will be used to create an all-weath er grass surface, enabling the consortium to guarantee up to 60 days racing a year (normal ly 20 days with up to 20% lost
through adverse weather). Complementary facilities could include a five s ta r hotel, a theme park, associated retail opportunities, stabling, an equestrian centre and an educa tional “experience”. “This is a multi-million
pound project with massive employment opportunities and the partnership is absolutely delighted”, Dennis Taylor
added. The partnership will meet
with the financiers and project team on their return from the Far East mthin the next couple of months to jointly consider the next step. ■
anqvp^way of winning with p e s o Ja s o n Taylor A little give and take
does not come a miss HELLO there and welcome to this week’s column. I hate to harp on about the
weather but apparently, there’s a heat-wave on the way this summer and that can only be good news for young Jason! As anyone who works out
doors will confirm, you have to take the rough \vith the smooth and after months of wind and rain, rays of sun peeping through the clouds are certain ly a welcome sight.
0 Young people IT was great to see such pos
itive feedback in last week’s edition, following the previous week’s article regarding young people in the village. As the Rev. Chris Sterry stated in his letter: “It is wrong to tar all teenagers \vith the same brush, due to the actions of just a
few.” As I ’m sure readers can
appreciate, the police are not naive enough to believe that the likes of under-age drinking, bad language, graffiti and lit- - tering do not happen - and we assure residents that we do our utmost to address these con cerns accordingly. Occasionally, damage is done
and laws are broken, but a clear perspective needs to be sought before jumping to conclusions. We do not have to deal with burnt-out cars during an evening. Neither do we have gangs of youths joy-riding,' stealing vehicles or breaking into them for stereos. There are ho gang-fights, muggings or attacks. Police intelligence, investigation and surveillance also highlights that suggestions of heavy drug-use or dealing does not exist in our area. I fully understand that when
CHILDREN at Whalley Pri- ■. was held at Burnley Library, . .congratulated his pupils for more musicals!” The children th .« k s t . four , .« n g book- J - J™ BoHanty..a.d the final Inam waa to d ib l y wnrm9 whncamerunner-UDin CnarlieDOlton.
the Lancashire School Book - Headteacher,'. Mr Brian : “Our team was very good, £75 worth of books. Quiz-
The final; competition,:- as very “tenseV and “very ' round, whichmeans we will- picture^^^^^^^^ against Mellor Primary School,' much like Mastermind” and he ■ - haye, to take the pupils to see cess. (G060505/1)
Thief targetied Alzheimer’s sufferer
A THIEF made off with cash and credit cards after conning his way into the home of an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. -The Whalley resident let the
thief, who said he needed some money to buy petrol, into his gar den a t around 6 p.m. on Friday,
May 13th. Despite his wife managing to .
manoeuvre the suspect off the property, she subsequently relent
ed, allowing the thief into the house after he pestered them for a
glass of water. . • On distracting her, the white
male, described as 5ft 6 ins tall, medium build, brown hair, pale complexion, clean shaven, with a local accent and between the ages of 17 and 20, stole a purse contain ing £22 cash and credit cards. Clitheroe Police Insp. Bob Ford said: “This was a spineless act on
vulnerable victims.” He added: “I t’s human nature for people to be helpful, but they must remember to be very cautious when strangers come knocking at their door. They should always try to keep them outside and not let them into
the house.” Anyone who has any informa
tion about the incident should con ta c t Clitheroe Police on 01200 443344.
■ ‘ '
Meeting tonight
TONIGHT’S meeting of . Whalley Parish Council will take place at Whalley CE School, on Church Lane. The meet
ing will start at 7-30 p.m.
- fa 'S x iiS S ,
. - Beresford described the contest,'.but we lost out on the musical The ivinnin^g youngsters are
approaching large groups of young people, even if they are relatively young, it can be very intimidating. Even strapping blokes who are quite capable of handling themselves may think Lvice before walking through a group of youths, as would a police officer in some areas. However, appearances can
be deceptive and at the majori ty of times, all the youngsters; are doing is hanging around, socialising with friends. When speaking to the groups of peo ple in question, they appreciate how older people may feel and say that they always try to be as pleasant as possible as they pass. I for one, believe them, as 1 have no real reason to believe otherwise. The constant issue that is
raised by young people is that they have nowhere to go and good work by local partnership groups and volunteers is cur-
: rently ongoing to provide diversionary activities to alle- viate present concerns. Despite this, teenagers.
youths, young people or “yobs” as they have been wrongly referred to in recent weeks, have always hung around late night , convenience stores, car parks and parks...and they always will do. Simply complaining and
pointing the finger of blame at young people, the police or present-day parenting and teaching is not fair. All individ uals must make a concerted effort to build up relationships and communication, if they want their own quality of life to improve. In light of the above, resi
dents must be aware that we simply cannot “move on” | youngsters just because they | are there. On the other side of ; the coin, we will do all we can ' to deal with young people robustly if they do step out of
line. The only real way of solving
this issue and closing the door on it, is for us all to work togetW much more closely, as good communities do. Commu nication is key, and I like to think that the links between ' the adults and the police are good, as are the police links
_ with the local young people. If we can improve the weak
er link of the relationship between young people and the adults, we will surely be on to a winner. Or am I talking game- shows again! On a serious note, maybe the
next time you overhear some s bad language outside your | home, why don’t you take a j pro-active approach. Speak to ' the young people like the young adults they are and ask as opposed to tell. Taking the time to explain
why you are speaking to them helps. I t might be that your
- own children or grandchildren are in the house or playing in , the garden and that the bad language is being over
heard......you may find the response very surprising. Likewise, young people need
to show consideration and think before you act. If you’ve done the “action” before the “thinking” a small, genuine apology will go along way and will improve relations no end. Whalley is a great place to
live and I would certainly live in the village if I had the funds to do so! Let’s not talk it down...Let’s ‘Big I t Up’!
As always, should you need
to contact us please leave your messages for PC Geoff Pennal on 01200 458727 or myself on 01200. 458772. Please be reminded that these numbers are for non-urgent matters and if you require immediate police attention, you should ring 0845
T25 3545 or 999 in the case of an emergency.
j.r.GJ I } 1 > l UTI ir.hicki
iib.co.uk paicoiuk
Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified)
www.clitheroefoday.co.uk
Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, May 1 9th, 200 5 5
No evidence to back up claims of poll problems
By Julie Magee
COUNCIL bosses claim an inquiry has thrown up little evi dence to suggest 40 local residents left a Clitheroe polling s ta t io n without voting because of lengthy
queues. Kibble Valley Council chief execu
tive Mr David Morris this week stood by polling staff at Brookside Primary School in Clitheroe, saying they had done a sterling job. In his capacity as returning officer
for the Kibble Valley constituency, he said he had not received a single com plaint from disgruntled residents allegedly left out in the rain when queues built up at Brookside during parliamentary and county elections on May 5th. .
More than 1,200 voters passed
through the station, most of them between 6 and 9 p.m., making it the second busiest in the area, the busiest being Whalley Methodist Church Hall \vith 1,621. The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times
contacted the cquncil after being alert ed by residents and local councillors that voters at Brookside were forced to queue in the rain for up to 15 minutes, with up to 40 becoming so disgruntled that they went home ivithout voting. Leader of Kibble Valley Borough
Council, Coun. John Hill highlighted the issue to reporters during the elec tion count at Roefield Leisure Centre, commenting: “I t’s a shame really that people were discouraged because of the poor weather conditions and got sick of waiting so decided not to cast their votes.”
Green-fingered John in growers’
super league! THE collection of crocosmia amassed by a Kibble Valley teenager in a little more than three years hhs led to interest from the Royal Horticultural Society. John Foley (17), now has 140 types of
the herbaceous perennial crocosmia. ' Later this year, the RHS - the UK’s
leading gardening charity - is devoting a page to John’s collection in its August edi tion of the nibhthly publication “The Gar
den.” . ' I t is a massive coup for John, whose
father, Peter Foley, is proprietor of the Holden Clough Nursery on the outskirts of Bolton-by-Bowland. Attracted to crocosmia by the plant’s
colours and variations, John has been acquiring unusual species during his visits to many of the nation’s plant shows where he has accompanied his father from being ayoungster. Tn 2002, he made contact with Dave
Fenwick who holds the national collection and his aim is to eventually acquire all 300 of the species currently in cultivation. To make the pages of the RHS magazine
is considered quite an accolade and one, which his father admits, he has yet to
achieve. John, who is in his final year at Clitheroe
Royal Grammar School, has helped out in the family nursery since the age of sue and has acquired a place at Askham Bryan Col lege, York, to study horticulture and land scape construction from 2006. He believes he could be the first pupil
from the grammar school to attend the prestigious college, but intends to take a gap year first to work alongside his father
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in the nursery which the family has owned for more than three decades. John already has his sights firmly set oh
returning to the hamlet of Holden Clough and setting up his own landscape business alongside his father’s business. Apart from crocosmia, John’s collection
of primula ariculas now spans more than 100 varieties, with monarda and schizostylis two more of his plant passions. Our picture shows John with his sister,
Mary, proudly displaying a recent exhibi tion award, (s)
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'. He added that he did not think any thing like that had happened before, but that the council would be launch ing an inquiry to find out exactly what had occurred. In a statement to the Clitheroe
Advertiser and Times this week, Mr Morris said an inquiry had failed to substantiate the claims. "I have spoken at length to the pre
siding' officer a t Brookside, who has assured me that at no point did voters have to queue in the rain. Some voters had to wait up to 15 minutes to vote at peak times, but I do not consider that a particularly long a time.'We have also not received a single complaint from residents over this issue. "There is only one register of electors
per polling station, so more staff at Brookside would not have made a dif ference. Photocopying the register
would have been completely out of the question, because of the fraud implica tions.
"The election staff at Brookside were
ail experienced and the presiding offi cer was officiating at her fourth elec tion. I am sorry people had to queue, but am very pleased ■with the way the election went and would like to thank all our officers for their hard work." The electoral turnout in Kibble Val
ley was 66 per cent, five per cent higher than elsewhere in East Lancashire. The Government suggests an elec
toral register should contain at least 2,500 voters before being split across two polling stations. An inquiry into the polling station at
Longsands Primary School in Ful- wood, Preston, where the doors were closed on 100 voters at 10 p.m., is ongo-
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