Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 10 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, May 17th, 2007 www.ciitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified)


ON a beautiful sunny day 32 Clitheroe Ramblers set off to climb the northern slope of Farleton Fell. They climbed the steep slope, which


Perfect day for a trip out on foot Beating the opposition


winds through gorse bushes, to emerge at the summit where there are extensive views of Morecambe Bay on one side and Ingle- borough on the other. The limestone outcrops provided shelter


for an early lunch where everyone enjoyed the views and the sunshine. The route wound through the limestone


to cross the road on to Hutton Roof. The spring flowers including early purple


• THE director of Clitheroe Big Band, former Clitheroe Royal Grammar School teacher Nigel Spooner, is taking part in Sunday’s BUPA Great Manchester Run. Mr Spooner, who formed the school’s Swing


orchids were a delight. Then the footpath was followed to Burton-in-Kendal and a short road walk crossed over the motorway to the Lancaster Canal, which was followed all the way to the start. This part of the canal is no longer used


for navigation as it is blocked by the motor­ way.


Birds and plants can flourish \vithout too


much disturbance. There were two swans on nests and grebe chicks with fluffy black bodies and red heads. This eight-mile walk was full of interest and the perfect weather made the day.


Band, has been training for the 10k event and hopes to raise more than £500 for St Catherine’s Hospice, Lostock Hall. It is the first time he has undertaken a sponsored run and hopes to complete under an hour.


by Duncan Smith


BOOKWORMS from Clitheroe came out on top when the final of the East Lancashire Schools Book Quiz was held at Burnley


Central Library. The five-strong team from Pen-


dle Primary School overcame strong opposition from Blacko Pri­ mary School to emerge as winners in a keenly-fought contest. The winning Clitheroe team, all Year 6 pupils, were Erica Sowerbutts, twins Christian and James Barsby, Connor Seed and Hannah Bentley. Pendle Primary and Blacko Pri­


Because giving you our best matters


V w * / B gross pa including a 0.50% bonus for the first six month's


mary were the final two teams from 42 schools throughout Burnley, Pendle and Ribble Valley which entered the quiz vvhen it began back in November last year. Through knockout rounds, children answered questions on geography, science, history and the literary world. In addition to this, they were given a different book to be read at each round as the competi­ tion progressed and questions were asked based on the book. Teacher Richard Waterhouse is the literacy co-ordinator at Pendle


Primary and took charge of the school’s quiz team. Bowled over by their success in only their second year in the competition, he com­ mented: “I t ’s quite an honour for the school to beat so many others from right across the district. “The team members have shown


great dedication from start to fin­ ish and they deserved to win.They are a credit to the school and to themselves.”


Our picture shows Pendle Pri­


mary School Year 6 pupils Erica Sowerbutts, Christian and James Barsby, Connor Seed and Hannah Bentley, who triumphed in the Lancashire schools book quiz, along with Lancashire Senior Librarian Alison Turner. (A090507/1)


• Visit Book Club on our web­


site to read reviews, comments etc; www.clitheroeadvertiscr.eo.uk


SUpton offers the personal touch...


THE advent of the Internet has had a huge effect on day-to- day living in the UK, with many people now using it as their primary source of infor­ mation for all manner of sub­


jects. This has proven especially helpful


/When it.comes tO'making.the most,of your ’ ’ savings, we realise^the imporjtance of a great/’


%|iSP®ni|:^ranch:Access/^ccount and .’./re^turhsJoJmanytcujrenUntem


.' at your local branch."'r - X ' ' y --


J^rafe ahd^friendly,'fac^^ service./. nXy. V-' X f ’ rX : T>-- ; ‘ '


accounts. So, take,


-Tadyantage^of onejof the mafket’s’‘most attractive" savings - , rates /.and get thejrienclly service'and'advice you deserve',


^ J*-


■vT6lirid;,dur more; Visit,./ .b ^,6rcall yourJbcaLbranch / Von; 0845/60) 16^


4^^^^^ ^ ' ’■* ^ I


for lots of people but, with hundreds of organisations offering thousands of products, it makes for a potentially confusing situation. While the world wide web is useful


for gathering the details of what’s out there, it seems that for many, the


■ face-to-face approach is still pre­ ferred. There are many local businesses in


our communities that can offer the personal touch, giving us advice and wisdom on many of our household products and essentials that a com­ puter screen couldn't possibly give usl The face-to-face approach can also


\\B(JV J skipton.co.uk mutuai matters


Fof Ion details of the Branch Access Account please read the product leaflet and Individual Inserti Tha minimum opening balance Is C500. Manimom C30.000. Gross means the interest paid befora tha deduction of Income ta» at 20V AEH standi lor Annual Equivalent Rate and likjsuatoa what the Worest rata would bo If Interest wat paid and added each year. Skipton Bwldmg Sociory. Principal 0«<e. The Dailey. Skiptoa North Yorkshire B023 IDN. A membor ol the BuOdma Sociotes Assodadoa


Authorised end regulated by the Fmaneial Services Authority under registration number tS3706. To help maintain service and quality, some telephone calls may be recorded and morviorod.


make us feel more confident about what we arc buying, whether it be food, DIY products or indeed mat­ ters relating to our personal finance. For instance, when looking at sav­


ings accounts, the number that are accessible solely via the Internet with online transactions is 35. By comparison, there are 341


accounts - nearly 10 times more - which are specifically aimed at people who want to use their local branches. The result is that nearly 70% of all savings accounts are accessible on the high street.


ADVERTISING FEATURE


One benefit of using your local out­


let is that you can often have access to high rates of interest on exclusively branch-based accounts, such as Skip- ton Building Society's Branch Access Account, which appeared in more than 250 best buy tables in the national press last year. This account is one of the Society's


key savings products, available only by visiting a branch, fitting hand in hand with its ethos of always provid­ ing a personal service for its cus­ tomers. The change in the UK public's atti­


tudes, back to more traditional ways of managing their money, has been the driving force behind many finan­ cial organisations’ decision to reverse their branch closure programmes and instead open new offices. For some providers, however, face-


to-face advice has always remained at the heart of their business as these branches play an important part in their local communities - for instance through the services they offer, the charities they raise funds for and the employment they create. Skipton Building Society recognis­


es the benefits of face-to-face service and has pledged to open more


branches before the end of the decade.


But the branches of today are very


different from those that were found on the high street when building soci­ eties first appeared in the early 19th Century. Then, all that was on offer to cus-


.tomers was a simple and limited range of savings and mortgages. Now, however, the choice has


expanded to offer something for every aspect of a person's financial needs. Skipton, for instance, offers a “one-


stop shop” where, as well as choosing from a range of more than 50 savings and mortgage products, customers can take out insurance for their home, car or pet, buy money and insurance for travel, take out life insurance or mortgage payment cover against sickness or unemployment, organise a will, carry out inheritance tax plan­ ning, take advantage of the Share­ dealing Service - and much more besides. However, the real benefit of visit­


ing your local branch is the advice you can get, which can be tailor-made to suit your circumstances to ensure all your financial needs are met and that every penny of your money is working hard for you. The Internet has enriched people's


lives and expanded our knowledge but, particularly when it comes to money; it seems the traditional route is often still the best. Call into your local Skipton branch


where you are able to find out more information about any of the prod­ ucts and services they offer.


i i a r l f 7i% i f i l l s a i l i i s a c e im l i are a i o e s s l i l e i i iiie i i n


Letters to the Editor - Write to: The Edilor, Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe BB72EW Editorial e-mail: vivien.mealh(S)eastIancsne\vs.co.uk — Why could I want


anything better? CHANGE Barrow, Why? I would like to thank Gerald and


Harry Hitman for pointing out the problems with the village of Barrow and kindly offering to help fix them with their proposed development. I have lived in the village all my life,


as have two generations of my family before me and I was surprised that someone hadn’t already brought these things to our attention,before. I ’m surprised I actually bought my


own house here at all considering the traffic, lack of train station and terri­ bly under-developed business park. I hope I am not the only one who


remembers being party to a develop­ ment proposal many years ago, which would “change the face of Barrow for­ ever”, which resulted in the current semi development of the old print works site and the building of a large number of houses. Since these houses have been built


both the village shop and the post office have closed. Although we do have a big yellow M within easy walk­ ing distance. Would it also be silly to suggest that


I building new houses especially when || many who may choose to live there * will work outside the Valley will actu- 4 ally increase traffic? Although I guess * building a bypass to bypass the j- bypass might be a solution to this. I don’t actually see traffic as a huge


I


problem in Barrow. Yes, there is a bot­ tle neck around 9 a.m. and 3-30 p.m.


i when parents from around the Valley I


rush to grab our limited supply of pri-


f mary school places and the lollipop ! man does his best to see our children f ;


cross the road safely. The rest of the time there is a steady flow, but then I


I did buy a house which is on a main 1


roadl f Perhaps if the developers are feeling


1 good natured they could invest in some more school places or somewhere to park in Whalley, they have some


■ nice shops there already. In reality, I have a beautiful house


in a beautiful village with great access to a regular bus route, good road con­ nections, a decent pub, a shop a short walk away, a good school and two parks. Why would I want anything


A else?


STEVE PROCTER, Bramley View, Barrow


V i I seem not to have


I "


^ noticed problems AT the end of this month I shall have lived in Barrow village for 40 years and so feel that I am reasonably well


d qualified to comment on the report on 7 the front page of the Advertiser last


'I week. ';


If Barrow is a “pedestrian night-.


t mare” and the village is “swamped” if with traffic then I do not seem to be


E/ aware of it. Your photographer seems to have been very fortunate to capture the apparent busy scene in the pub­ lished photograph, but looked at care­ fully it can be seen that most of the vehicles are those belonging to local residents and are parked.


On polling day my wife and I


walked through the village to vote at the school. Yes, there was a flow of traffic along the road, but nothing to make one feel threatened and, should we have wished to cross the road, we could have done so easily and quickly. Before the present by-pass was


built, Whalley Road was the main A59 trunk road and Barrow did have a serious traffic problem; any disrup­ tion of the then Whalley traffic lighte, or a vehicle breakdown would very quickly produce a stationary queue right through the village. However, the \vidth of the road means that pres­ ent traffic levels are handled easily even with vehicles parked on both sides and, with few exceptions, most drivers appear to respect the speed limit. Now th a t I am fortunate enough to be retired, I use Whalley Road at all times of the day and the only problem I encounter is at the beginning and end of the school day when parents are delivering and col­ lecting their children, but, as someone who worked on the campaign to keep Barrow School open when it was threatened with closure I am more happy to be patient in the knowledge that the school is still thriving. I t appears that, like most develop­


ers, Messrs Hitman are masters of hyperbole, half truths and vague promises. It seems strange that a cor­ nerstone of their campaign to double the size of Barrow (yet againi) is based on traffic problems, when they would seem likely to be adding consid­ erably to the number of vehicle move­ ments locally by the size of the pro­ posed development. At a rough guess I should say that the traffic would increase by between a quarter and a third; strangely enough the same amount that they are using to appeal to our sense of collective greed by promising to increase the value of our property.


ARNOLD BETTESS, Kemplc View, Whalley Road, Barrow


Focus on existing


areas and facilities LAST Thursday’s headline referring to Gerald and Harry Hitman’s pro­ posal to create a major residential scheme on the outskirts of Barrow vil­ lage carries more than a smattering of deja vu. Twelve years ago the borough coun­


cil was preparing its Local Plan to guide the future planning of the dis­ trict and one of its major proposals was the regeneration of the former Brockhall Hospital site to create a new village, balancing the substantial proposed housing development with supporting facilities, new access road to by-pass Northcote Road and some 1,000 new jobs. As many of us know, only a few of those promised jobs ever materialised, with the number of houses being increased and the mixed use intentions being substantially watered down. The relief road was also abandoned as unnecessary. Isolated major residential estates


conflict with present Government aims to focus new development on existing main settlements and to pro­


mote balanced, accessible communi­ ties, but in the mid 1990s the council’s hands were tied by Central Govern­ ment support for the redevelopment of isolated major hospitals such as Brockhall and Calderstones. Sadly, the subs tantial housing


estates associated with Brockhall and Calderstones have for the last 10 years soaked up much of the council’s numerical housing requirements as controlled by regional government and the county council, which, in turn, has prevented the council from releasing more logical housing sites within or adjacent to the main towns of Clitheroe and Longridge. This, in my view, has lead to a shortage of housing of the right type and where it is most needed, (and where it can best support the vitality of our existing services), but it has particularly lim­ ited housing choice for existing resi­ dents and their families. We are now at a stage where the


borough council is reviewing its long­ term development plan, hence, I sus­ pect, the timing of Mr Hitman’s sug­ gestions for Barrow village. I have no doubt th a t the intention is, once again, to promote a major housing scheme distanced from the main town of Clitheroe, presumably arguing that the slowly developing Barrow Brook Business Park (on the site of the old Print Works) will eventually serve as an available source of employment for new residents. That, of course, is overlooking the


fact th a t the Barrow Print Works scheme was agreed by the council in the early 1990s when it was planned as a mixed development containing a hotel, new employment and new hous­ ing areas. Those housing areas have been built and long occupied and local residents possibly await the hotel and most of the employment scheme in order to deliver the original mixed project. So does Barrow really need an additional 500 or more houses to pro­ vide a balanced community, especially when isolated from existing main shops, secondary schools, medical cen­ tre, leisure centre, parks and other facilities already provided in Clitheroe? Returning to the overall needs of


the Ribble Valley, the council has started the preparation for its forward development plan (the local develop­ ment framework) and over the course of the next few months will no doubt consider whether new sites will be required to meet future housing, employment, shopping, community and other needs, in consultation with borough residents. I sincerely hope that full regard will


be taken of the need to focus on the main settlements so that new resi­ dents will be able to take advantage of existing facilities. In that way the new plan tvill be able to minimise the need to travel and will directly support the economy and vitality of Clitheroe and Longridge. I t will also avoid creating substantial residential estates (such as Brockhall and Calderstones) detached from the main settlements and where they are ill-suited to meet the needs of many Ribble Valley residents and cur­ rent Ribble Valley businesses.


JOHN WILLCOCK, Candlcmakcrs Croft, Clillioroe


Will our views be


taken into account? AS a resident of Barrow, I read with interest the fantastic proposals for Barrow village from Gerald and Harry Hitman. Do they have the interests of the


villagers at heart, and \vill they take into account the villagers’ views when finalising proposals for their develop­ ment? Will they be conscientious and leave the village in a maintainable condition? Not if they are anything like the


current developers of Barrow Brook Business Village. Previous developers of that site maintained all the bound­ ary fences and installed a new one along the length of the development where it borders Whalley Road in the village centre. The fence that forms the boundary


with Chestnut Crescent is currently in a disgraceful state of repair, and is most definitely a danger to the young children living in the vicinity. Most of the posts are rotten and large sections of the fence have fallen over. Resi­ dents of Chestnut Crescent have tried in vain to maintain the fence at their own expense, with coats of preserva­ tive, and have replaced the odd post themselves, however, the fence is now in need of some professional atten­ tion. Messages have been left for devel­


oper Chris Middlebrook who has eventually passed responsibility to the site manager Ian Joyce. Ian Joyce has stated that the fence is now, not the responsibility of the developer. It is not on the deeds of the house own­ ers of Chestnut Crescent, so cannot be their responsibility. Ribble Valley Borough Council state it is not their responsibility. Lancashire County Council, who after over 10 years have still not adopted the road, state it is not their responsibility either. So whose responsibility is it? How can Chris Middlebrook expect


to get support from the residents of the village for his huge future propos­ als for Barrow Brook Business Village if he cannot even take responsibility for one small boundary fence and will Gerald and Harry Hitman treat vil­ lagers with the same amount of understanding if they get permission for their development? I would like to think they would have the decency to provide a substantial safe boundary where it is required.


HELEN ALLEN, Chestnut Crescent, Barrow


• THE figures given in (he Barrow


traffic survey last week should have read more than 1,000 vehicles between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. recorded on a Mon­ day in March this year, not 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.


Thank you for your


support of facelift THANK YOU - not once but three times to Ribble Valley Borough Council for approving the go-ahead for the much-needed work to the approaches to the Keep and curtain wall independently of the museum


We welcome your


views on local issues! Text them now!


Text CACOMMENT [spiiccj your name and your comments


to 81800


Texts cost 25p plas standard network rates By supplying your telephone number you're happy to receive SMS


messages from or in association with The East Lancastiire Newspaper. The East Lancashire Newspaper (or via its agents) may phone you about new promotions products arxl services. Please add the word ’No’ at Ihe end ot your message If you do not wish to receive these. Texts cost 25p plus standard network charge. S ^ c c provided by gSwave Ltd. London, N7 BAH


project.Thank you to those responsi­ ble for the planning and decisions on materials used, including the York stone flagging of the Keep floor. Finally, a sincere thank-you to the workmen involved over the last three months, who have carried out the work to a very good standard. I am aware that other work has to


be done over the coming years, but a good start has been made. I do urge Ribble Valley residents


who are reasonably fit - and that is most of them - to enjoy, as soon as possible, approaching the Keep via the original, late Victorian, steep footpath and enjoy the uninterrupted views from the curtain wall. The Keep is not just for tourists, it


is oursi It several hundred residents visited


the Keep area during Clitheroe Festi­ val Weekend, it would be a practical way of showing how importantly we rate the significance of the Keep and its immediate surrounding area and their way of saying an additional thank-you.


RIBBLE VALLEY RESIDENT, Name and address supplied


A flawed idea of


skateboard safety AT the risk of being a killjoy, I am very concerned that helmets are NOT being worn at the skate park. The older boarders do not wear hel­


mets therefore i t is "uncool and humiliating" for the younger less capable boarders to wear a helmet. Recently a nine year-old boy seri­


ously fractured his skull at the park. If th a t had been my son I would


not have allowed the park to remain open while the ethos of the people responsible for operating the park was so flawed. I would be grateful to hear how you


propose to protect children using the park in the future. Thank you.


JONATHAN SMITH, King Street, Whalley


• Response from officials - page 13 Letters Extra - see page 13


im m m m m f i -


www.cIitheroeadverfiser.co.uk


Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, May 17fh, 2007 11


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