Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 16 Clitheroe Advertiser &Times, Thursday, January 4fh, 2007 www.clitheroefoday.co.uk Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified)


www.clitheroetoday.co.uk


Clitheroe Advertiser &Times, Thursday, January 4th, 2007 17 Pub’s boost for - Write to: The Editor, Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe BB72EW.Editorial e-maii: vivien.meath@easllancsnetts.co.uk Your kindness


has no bounds CHRISTMAS 2006 once again revealed the kindness and gen­ erosity of the people of Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley. We at the Salvation Army


wish to say a very sincere thank you to everyone for all the sup­ port we received as we endeav­ oured to meet the needs of the area. First of. all our thanks go to


the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, for promoting the Toy Appeal and Christmas lunch. A special thanks to Natalie Cox who worked so hard for weeks, co-ordinating the Appeal. What an excellent job you do Natalie. We couldn't do it without you. We are also grateful to the Edi­ tor, and staff, who all go out of their way to allocate us space in print, and in the office. We thank the public for their


thoughtfulness and generosity. We received beautiful gifts of toys, money, food, time and energy to help the less fortu­ nate. This year we catered for 150


children, whose Christmas would have been stark tvithout the help we were able to pro­ vide, due to the community spirit which exists in our town 'and area. The money we received was


spent on gifts for teenagers, fresh food for families, and treats for our Christmas Day guests. Our thanks go to our Christ­


mas Day volunteers. What a great team! For people to give up their time on this special day to serve others is so heartening. We cannot mention everyone


by name, but a special thanks , must go to Joseph, who was willing to forego pla3dng with his new toys in order to spend the day working for others. Thank you to those who gave


their time, and used their cars to transport our guests. Central Taxis kindly put a driver and car a t our disposal, to ferry guests free of charge. We cannot adequately


express how we feel about the response to our appeals for help at Christmas time. All we can say is that without the support of the public, we would find it


almost impossible to help those who need extra support at this time. The true spirit of Christmas


was certainly evident in our community. One young mum summed it


up with the words: “I t is so good to know someone cares.” Thank you, people of Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley, for caring, and for expressing that care by giving in so many ways. Blessings on you all in the


New Year.


CAPTAIN ELIZABETH SMITH LIEUTENANTBRENDA WISE The Salvation Army Clitheroe


We did visit


residents! WE rarely contribute to your Letters’ pages. However my wife and I seem to have been unreasonably maligned within this format. We seek the right to reply., • I refer to the letter published in the Advertiser (“Appalling lack of support for nearby resi­ dents”), signed by Kathryn Snape. This relates to the Mount Zion planning applica­ tion. Margaret and myself are the ward councillors for the area surrounding the site. ■ Kathryn Snape, with Peter


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Rosthom, signed an earlier let­ ter of objection published in your paper in mid-November. This letter raised, among other matters, some legitimate plan­ ning objections. After faihng to make contact by phone or on the knocker, I delivered a friendly letter in response. This discussed various points, con­ tained our telephone number and e-mail address, and sug­ gested a meeting at a time of their choosing. A telephone call at any time from them would have allowed us to set this up. I attach a copy of this letter. Sadly, I did not receive a reply. Both Margaret and I had


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various conversations with, and visits to, their neighbours. We visited the chapel and a family living in an adjoining house. Margaret knocked on the door of every house affected on Highfield Road and Bayley Fold. We had substantial dis­ cussions and e-mail conversa­ tions with various concerned neighbours. As a member of the planning committee, I under- took'to raise various points with RVBC (which I did), and to represent their views at the planning meeting on December 21st - which likewise I did. Despite the above, in today’s


(December 28th) Advertiser we read from Kathryn “...prior to the meeting the residents were not visited by any planning councillors...” Just for the record, as ward


councillors between us for some^ thing like 25 years, we can remember no complaints in respect of traffic or parking dif­ ficulties in and around Wilkin Square - other than in the last few weeks! We have had a num­ ber of complaints relating to Sainsburys and Key Street - but nothing else! Finally, we would like to con­


gratulate Duncan Smith on a well-balanced and factual account of the planning com­ mittee discussion on this appli­ cation. We hope that Kathryn will read this too!


STEPHEN and MARGARET SUTCLIFFE, RVBC councillors for Lilllemoor Ward


No racial bias in


our decisions I HAVE visited your website with its reports on the Decern-’ her 21st Planning Committee meeting and thank you for the fair, balanced and comprehen­ sive way in which the proceed­ ings are covered. I only wish that the BBC had


been equally balanced in its North West Breakfast, Lunch, Tonight TV programmes and its Radio Lancashire pro­ gramme throughout last Fri­ day. However, as I intend to for­ mally go through their com­ plaints process I will refrain from gi'ving more detail. Now th a t the decision is


made, the Probity in Planning constraints no longer apply and I can feel free of being chal­ lenged, as all the past decisions have been, I should like' to clari­ fy some points. I notice in your website


report tha t it is now claimed that there has been a “battle” for 40 years (previously 30 years was claimed) for a place of wor­ ship. Whatever that “battle” was,


the true adversary was not the Ribble Valley Borough Council. I t is correct that there have been several planning applica­ tions since the first one in 1977 for: “Change of use from dwelling (26 Holden Street) to religious instruction arid occa­ sional prayer”. This was refused on grounds


of noise and disturbance to neighbouring residents. Instead of accepting that these premises were unsuitable there were then 10 further applications for 26 Holden Street over the next 29 years - only three of these were actually applying to create a place of worship, with the earli­ est for this use being in 1998. Some of the 10 application's


were actually approved, includ­ ing one in 1998 for use of the house as an Islamic Education Centre. The applicants finally appeared to accept th a t the premises were unsuitable when the independent Planning Inspector said'in his official


report disallowing the last appeal in 2002: “My OAvn view is that the small terraced prop­ erty within a closely built-up residential area is not suitably located as a place of worship”. In other words, the same rea­ sons why the 1977 application was refused. Had more suitable premises been sought much ear­ lier, then a place of worship may well have become a reality years ago and members of the council would have been spared all the stress and -vilification over the years. As I stated at the December


21st meeting, supporters of the application have accused com­ mittee members of racial bias. I quote from a typical letter, ”... the institutional racism of the Council so obvious during the pubhc hearings into the applica­ tion for a mosque in Holden Street...”. Even senior clergy­ men have written suggesting there was bias in the Holden Street decisions eg, ”... I hope ' and pray that the (planning . committee) members will look at this seriously on Planning Conditions and not on the hype... which was around in previous applications...” and “...any decision will be made purely on planning grounds... not... affected because of pohti- cal elections...”. The irony of the situation is


that all the negative “spin” fed to the media giving them a bandwagon to roll and the attempts to discredit the coun­ cil, specifically members of the Planning Committee, probably did not make the slightest dif­ ference to the way members voted i.e. they -voted, as always, on planning grounds. 'What I find particularly sad


is that, by their inability to accept that there were reason­ able grounds for refusing plan­ ning permission at 26 Holden Street and for what its worth, to the council declining to sell land at Kirkmoor (another potential Holden Street situation), no doubt well intentioned but I suggest, blinkered, supporters of a Muslim community in this matter have, in my humble' opinion, roused so much ill feel­ ing and alienated so many fair- minded people that the cause of community cohesion in Clitheroe has not been helped, but has actually been damaged and its attainment probably delayed. I hope and pray that we can


put all this behind us now, but I felt I owed it to my fellow com­ mittee members‘as well as other members and officers of the council to redress the balance after being subjected to extremely stressful and person­ ally upsetting misinformation' and accusations.


RICHARD SHERRAS, Chairman,


Planning and Development Commiltce,


Ribbic 'Valley Borough Council Many thanks to


tolerant friends IT’S taken over 30 years but at last Clitherbe's Muslim commu­ nity has a place of worship. 'There have been many low


points over that time but the one thing that has kept us going has been the level of support from our non-Muslim friends across the town, borough and county. I t is to these unsung heroes that we owe an immense debt of gratitude.'They have written letters of support, attended the various planning meetings, spoken publicly in support of our situation and helped to make others see beyond their prejudices. All this has been done not for any per­ sonal gain but simply because they felt it was the right thing to do. In this day and age of global, national and even local intolerance and lack of under- standmg of other faiths, we feel honoured to have such tolerant and understanding friends from a -variety of faith and none faith backgrounds. We look forward to further


strengthening our friendships and Continuing to work togeth­ er for the betterment of the local community. Let us show the cynics out there that people of different faith and race are able to co-exist harmoniously in a ci-vilised society such as ours. Thank you for maintaining our faith in human nature.


FAROUK HUSSAIN AND SHERAZARSHAD, Medina Islamic Educaion Cen­ tre, Clilheroe


25 shillings was


a generous sum HOW moved I was by the letter from P. Drews: “Memories of a special ‘mother’” in the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times on December 21st. How times have changed, our


wonderful NHS has now many infections -wiped out, while bat­ tling with so many new infec­ tions which seem so hard to clear up. But, I digress, the letter did get us discussing how much 25 shillings would be worth today. My husband and I both said


in 1956 our wages would be about £3.10.0d. So taken in con­ text 25 shillings, which is £1.5.0d, is almost half a week’s wage. So today we think half a week’s wage can equal anything frorh £100 to £300 plus?' ' So yes we think it was indeed


a very, very generous amount. But we wonder if our memories of our wages are correct, also do other readers think our calcula­ tions to today’s money are cor­ rect? Thank you P. Drews for such a wonderful touching let­ ter.


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figure in new calendar STUNNING photographs of the Ribble 'Valley have been chosen from more than 300 competition entries to appear in a coun­ ty calendar for 2007. The images were winners in


a contest run by the Lan­ cashire and Blackpool Tourist Board which asked photogra­ phers to submit pictures pro­ moting the county’s diverse countryside and places to -visit. Clitheroe man Graham


Cooper enjoyed double success after his images of the Hodder Valley, on the left, and the Ribble Valley near Downham, above, were picked by judges to represent January and April. A third picture of the


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River Ribble, by Andrew Tal­ bot, from Ribchester, was selected as February’s photo­ graph. The overall winner of the


competition, Geoff Dagger, from Blackburn, has had his picture of Morecambe Bay placed on the calendar’s front cover. The same image will appear as the photograph for the month of March. Priced at £7.99,- the A3 cal­


endar is on sale a t tourist information centres, BBC Radio Lancashire in Black­ burn and a t Oswaldtwistle Mills. I t can also be ordered by post for £10 from Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board, St George’s House, St George’s Street, Chorley PR7 2AA.


Focus on the Forest of Bowland


A NEW book on the Forest of Bowland and Pendle Hill has been published. Andy Stansfield, from Chor­


ley, has written his first book looking at life in the Area of Cutstanding Natural Beauty. He said: “I wanted to focus on the Forest of Bowland’s


diverse rural character above all else. Most people associate Bowland with its grouse moors and gritstone outcrops on the higher fells, but there is so much more to it than that.” Andy (55) is originally from


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air ambulance CUSTOMERS a t the Black Horse Inn, Pimlico, have been busy organising and contribut­ ing to a wide range of fund-rais­ ing activities for the North West Air Ambulance. In September, a sum of £756


was donated to the life-saving charity, followed by a further £317 raised over the Christmas period. Black Horse landlord Anthony Watson said he wished to express heartfelt thanks to his generous customers.


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