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M O T M C E B O A R O valley ‘Jobsworths’ halted
our big charity run I SUPPOSE it should come as no great surprise that the plans for the Read arid Simonstone run for charity has been scup pered at the eleventh hour. How on Earth can this be so? Quite simply because
a.team of people
known as the Traffic Management Com pany, who were paid the not insignificant sum of £750, failed, in my opinion, to do their job properly. That was to tell the organising com
mittee that it was their responsibility to advise Lancashire County Council of the event and request a short period for the road, the A671, to be closed at the start of the run. About 15 minutes in and all the competitors would have been clear of the main road. This should have been done at least six
weeks prior to the event. The manage ment company gave the organising com-
.mittee an assurance that they would take responsibility for applying for any road closure orders, so it seems someone has failed to complete his or her task. It is also apparent that the police, who
have gladly monitored the run for the past three years, have said that even if an application for road closure had been re ceived, they would not have approved it on the grounds that the road is danger ous. If that is indeed the case, then why did
the police themselves close the road last week so theycould practice their escort techniques for the Great British Cycle Race? This is utter nonsense. It is so dangerous that despite many
representations to the council for traffic calming measures and for additional pe destrian crossing to be put in place, these requests have been repeatedly ignored. The reason given is because the ap
proach to the crossing from the Padiham direction would be around a bend, which would leave the stopping distance slightly compromised. So it is okay then, for children to run
the gauntlet to cross the road at the same spot to catch the school buses? It is also so dangerous that since the
Highways Authority made a complete pig’s ear of resurfacing the road between Toll Bar Cottage and Dean Brook Bridge, we have been without road markings. This was about six weeks ago and, yes, on a dark, wet morning that stretch of road is now very dangerous. It was only on Saturday morning that
the British (^cle Race came through the village with its entourage of cars and mo torcycles. Anyone who knows anything about the speed of the cyclists will know that they were all exceeding the speed limit. This is alright, is it, on what police describe as a dangerous road? Yet this little annual event which does
so much good for the Macmillan Nurses and the (^stic Fibrosis Society has been banned. Last year alone, the event raised some £5,000 and since the inaugural run three years ago, the event has raised in excess of £10,000 in total. I have not, as yet, heard of anyone on
either the local parish council or the Rib- ble Valley Borough Council being pre pared to speak up in support of this event. Perhaps it is time they did something in-
-stead of sitting on their hands? One last thought. Consider the London
Marathon, for which many of the major roads in the capital are closed for up to seven hours. Our local fun run is looking for a mere
15 minutes. All the hard work has been done by a team of dedicated individuals, from finding generous sponsors to re cruiting a team'of reliable marshals and ensuring safety and generally organising and running the event. So a big thank you to all the jobsworths
■
www.clltheroeadvertlser.co.,,1 ,
www.clltheroeadverllser.co.uk Clltheroe Advertiser &Tlmes,Thursday, September 30,2010
B Write to The Editor, Clltheroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clltheroe or email:
duncan.smith@
eastlancsnews.co.uk
Follow the debate at
www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk
in the council, the HSE and the police au thority who between them have managed to destroy the efforts of a community. One day, one of you might need the help of one of the two charities which the eveiit is designed to support and when you do, it will be given freely without any questions
being asked. Think about it, you obviously haven’t
done so far.
R.J.
E.McILROY, Carleton Avenue, Simonstone
Is this way to treat
charity fund-raisers? DURING the past three years, the Stork Hotel in Simonstone has raised over £12,000 for charity by organising a series of fun runs. Straight after last year’s successful
event, Ian, Morag and Nicola (the licen sees) and the committee started planning for this year’s run, which was to have tak en place on Saturday, September 18th. Two weeks before the race they were
told that it could not take place. The rea son given? Tliat the road was too danger ous. What about the same road and a lot
more roads in the area being closed for the Tour of Britain cycle race on Sep tember 11th? As well as a another event in May or June time. Is it one rule for cy clists and another for a very popular char ity event? The Stork Hotel plays an important
role in community life in Read and Si monstone. Is this the way to treat a hard working group of people, striving to serve their communities and charities? MRS SJ. HOWELL, Buckshaw Tcrvace, Simonstone
We’re committed
to giving support REGARDING the Read and Simonstone Fun Run, any cancellation of an event is saddening, none more so after a lot of volunteer hours are dedicated to help with the good causes they are committed to support. St John Ambulance is committed to
supporting many events in the Ribble Valley, and our volunteers are trained and dedicated to make these events safe. Whatever the reasons for such a large
event to falter so close to the event day, it is vitally important that organisers get the details right, and it is attention to the details that can make or break a large event.
If things go wrong, then it is usually
through missing something in the plans which can lead to significant harm or
distress and possible demise of future events. What the public often does not realise
is the amount of guidelines and legisla tion which often goes with the planning, and because the event went smoothly one year does not mean the potential for something to go wrong goes away. An example would be a bouncy castle
blowing away in unexpected high winds because it was not securely tied down, causing a fatality; once it happens the rules change for everyone. ■ Roads (as in this case) are again the subject of changing rules and condi tions that affect both the road user and pedestrian. I can also sympathise about, perhaps, the communications and the delegated responsibilities to ensure the road management is the right type may have led to some assumptions about what was thought to happen, as to what actu ally happened!
St John Ambulance in the Ribble Val ley wish to extend our support to organis
ers to be part in any planning of events, and to lend some of our experiences and knowledge to make these events safe for all concerned. We meet every Monday at 7-30 p.m. at 13 King Lane, Clltheroe, or
can be contacted at: Clitheroe@lanca-
shire.sja.org.uk
PHILTHAIN,
St John Ambulance, Clltheroe
Grow^ food instead
of building homes REGARDING Co-operative Estate’s proposals for housing to the rear of Rid- dings Lane, Whalley (Clitheroe Adver tiser, September 9th). I am against any plans to build housing
on green field land, even to help house the fast-increasing population of Great Britain caused through unrestricted im migration. Green field land should only be used to grow food for the population already living here, especially since we have to import so much now. Heaven help us if we ever get into an
other situation like we had in 1939-45. Around 35,000 merchant seamen were killed trying to help keep the UK popu lation fed and cany on the fight against socialist Germany. One last point, is Co-operative Estates
anything to do with the Co-operative par ty who became closely integrated with the Labour Party?
BERT HARDWICK, Whalley
Our road is being
blocked by builders AS a resident of Whalley, I cannot believe how the builders on Calderstones park can get away with blocking the roads for residents. Every time I have been out in my car
I have been delayed by 10 minutes, wait ing on the wagons, vans and machinery to move out of the way. The builders are using the roadside as
a car park, which is another safety issue, and because of the builders the road has been left full of mud. I would like the people that are involved
with traffic to sort this problem out. STEPHEN ROBERTS, Whalley
Thank you for the
excellent service IT is with great regret that many of us heard that our “Travel For AH” Low Moor bus service is closing. We would like to thank the owner, Paul
Sharpies, for the regularity and help this bus service has provided, particularly for the elderly people in this area. A big thank you too for the specially
hand-picked drivers of the Low Moor buses, for the thoughtful and considerate way in which they took their passengers to
their various destinations. MRS PAT COLEMAN,
Kemple View, Clitheroe
... and more thanks I HA'VE been asked to write and thank the drivers of “Travel for AH” for being so kind to passengers in the Henthorn and Low Moor areas. Paul, we are sorry we won’t have your
staff driving the buses any more and re ally hope that they find new employment soon.
LAURA BAILEY QUINTON,
Hazel Grove, Clitheroe
A stark warning ^
for dairy industry YOUR “As I See It” article on Septem ber 23rd by Kathleen Calvert is a stark warning of the problems facing British
The issue of food security has never
been paid so much lip service than in re cent times and unless we begin to address the issue we will find ourselves at the be hest of exporting nations with regard to supply and price. Just imagine if we had been any more reliant on Russian wheat exports, things might have been a sight different in the shops this winter. The problem when we become reliant
on imported food is we can only dance to the tune that is called. As a nation we now import one million litres of milk per day (about 5% of our usage) due to a number of factors; sometimes foreign processors offer great discounts which retailers can not resist and sometimes we just don’t have the producers that we once had with their regular daily supply. An average of 14 dairy farms per week
have come out of, or retired from milk production over the past two years. No one can blame a small producer milking 80 cows with ever increasing costs, regula tions and workloads for seeing no future in the dairy industry when at best you may
just break even every month; the only way to increase margins being to cut costs and that is very difficult when overheads just increase and milk price is set by the pur chaser. Milking at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. 365 days
of the year in a cold parlour with all the pressures that wintering animals can bring and with little or no reward, it is easy to see why so many have gone. This one-time backbone of UK Dairying is crumbling fast and once these small fam ily units have gone they will never come back. Just counting our neighbouring farms we know of six that have left dairy ing recently. Just as Kathleen points out about the
economies of scale allowing the big boys in processing to discount milk to ridicu lous levels, the distribution of wealth for milk favours heavily the retailer and the processor with the producer getting of fered what is left. Most farms are producing milk at a loss
(if we had to factor in wages for ourselves at a minimum wage we would not be here past the end of the month), whilst most retailers who contract milk direct from a processor retain a massive 18 to 21 pence per litre profit, and this has seen a 20% increase in the past year alone. Where it becomes less transparent is with the proc essor, but the average retention is still 23 pence per litre. Farmers are forced to either give up or
intensify (to the detriment of the animal in many cases) making economies of scale the only way to achieve a return at all. The answer is not to mass produce and factory farm, nor intensify to an unsustainable level, but rather to give fair trade to farm ers who if they were in a developing coun try would be protected under Fair Trade rules. We have cut our costs to the bone and
no flesh remains and now the retailers must surrender some of their profit or we might just see a large stainless steel pipe emerging from the Channel Tunnel! The retailers need to be regulated by an om budsman with real power, which in turn must be funded by the big supermarkets to help ensure that the remaining dairy farms are paid a true value for their milk and that they are given the chance of a
future. Whatever the farm system - whether
it be organic, biodynamic, conventional, niche or otherwise - a fair price reflect- ins true nroduct value must be oaid: to
B Write to The Editor, Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe or email:
duncan.smith@
eastlancsnews.co.uk Follow the debate at
www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk
not be food secure is suicide, to be held to ransom for our daily bread would cause unthinkable problems and we cannot al low food to follow this path. One final staggering statistic is that we
now import 41.1% of all the food we eat and this has not been as high since 1968. Farmers need to stand together and put differences of opinion aside to ensure we have a voice that will be heard and retail ers need to take a responsible and sustain
able stance before its too late. IAN O’REILLY,
Gazegill Organics, Rimington
Poem partnership
was boon to town CLITHEROE Chamber of Trade and Commerce would like to thank Theresa' Robson, Jo Harding and Pennine Lanca shire Poetry Stanza for inviting businesses in Clitheroe to take part in their recent in spirational project “SHOP!” Fifty Clitheroe shops and offices dis
played poetry written by talented local writers capturing the essence and unique essence of going about our daily business in Clitheroe. “M. Hartley & Son” takes everyone back in time to the gentleman’s outfitters on King Street, where a remind er of its existence still remains, and then we’re swept forward to “Shopping from a Martian’s Viewpoint”. Following Clitheroe’s recent status as
official Food Town of Lancashire “Ode to Sausages” and “Mushy Peace” are amongst the ‘foody’ celebration in verse. Fiona and Tony from Molly’s made Chamber members, poets and guests veiy welcome at the launch of the anthology “Here is Where to Candy Sticks - Poems About Shopping in Clitheroe”. Thanks also to Chamber members
Dean Carney Photography for getting involved in the project and capturing the moment, to the talented Kimberley of Design 360 and to Liz Walker of De signer Knitting Yarns for joining in the spirit of the event by involving her group in knitting a 5ft wall hanging “I am a Knit ted Woman” by Clitheroe author Jane Eagland. Most of all, special thanks to all the fine
poets - Clitheroe Chamber of Trade and Commerce is honoured and grateful for your poetic praise of our fine town and’ very much looks forward to working with Pennine Lancashire Poetry Stanza again. CLITHEROE CHAMBER OF TRADE AND COMMERCE
Final chance to
sign up for run JUST a final call to anyone who wants to
join in the 8th Annual Amelia Cup Run this Sunday, October 3rd. The run is to help raise the vital funds
needed to help with the research and to improve treatment for Cystic Fibrosis suf ferers. CF is the UK’s most life threaten ing, inherited disease. Entry for the run is £12.50 or by spon
sorship. We enrol at Moorland School from 9.30 to 10.15 a.m. Runners, joggers, walkers - everyone welcome. Just come along and enjoy it - we’d love to see you. For any more information coptact me,
Gail Bailey, on 07980743610 or e-mail:
gailbailey6S@googlemail.com. Many thanks to all those who have al
ready entered or who have supported us in the past - we really do appreciate it and it makes such a difference.
GAIL BAILEY, Clitheroe
Strategy - rotten
to the core! IT was pleasing to learn from last week’s letters page that I am not the only person to read and try to understand the 102- page document entitled “Ribble Valley Core Strategy Consultation”. Dr Michael Harper is quite correct,
it is an alarming document. It is also de signed to make you put it down after two or three pages due to its complexity. No wonder hardly anyone knows what core strategy entails, because not many people would be prepared to give up their leisure time to read this document. Please only give this booklet as a Christmas present to people you don’t like! It was therefore refreshing to read
Michael Harper’s letter and Duncan Smith’s editorial, which both gave an out line of these alarming proposals to build a minimum of 1,500 houses across the Rib ble Valley. One of the major faults with this con
sultation document is that it makes no mention of any plans to increase our edu cational or health centre facilities. If we are to build 1,500 new houses we need new schools and bigger health centres. Currently there are three options avail
able at the Ribble Valley Borough Coun cil (RVBC) public consultation road shows. The amazing thing is that all three presume we accept there are to be an ex tra 1,500 houses across the Ribble Valley. Where is the option for people to say they don’t want any more new houses or they only want 250 extra dwellings? If you live in Clitheroe, Whalley or
Longridge and are forced to accept these proposals, you will vote for option three as this gives these three towns the fewest new houses. Unfortunately, it means the Ribble Valley villages will have 900 new homes dumped on them. I don’t think so. With this in mind I have submitted
an Option Four to RVBC which reads: “There should be no further new housing developments in the Ribble Valley until extra education and health service facili ties can be provided”. I am asking you to support Option Four
in an effort to ensure that your children, grandchildren or great grandchildren can attend a school in the town or village they live and we can all still get appointments to see a doctor. Hopefully the fourth option will form
part of the future Core Strategy consulta tion meetings starting in Whalley tonight. Unfortunately it was not submitted in time for the Longridge meeting. But I was not aware of the meeting being held in Longridge. Does anyone know the dates of any other meetings?
STEVE RUSH, Mearley Syke, Clitheroe
C o r e s t r a te g y m e e t in g
A PUBLIC meeting to discuss Ribble Valley’s Core Strategy - its basis for how the borough should be developed in the future-will be held in Clitherog on Wednesday October 13th. As part of the borough council’s con
sultation period, which ends on Octo ber 20th, the meeting is a chance for people to ask questions about the core strategy and make their own construc tive comments or suggestions. It will be held at the borough council chambers, in Church Street, starting at 7 p.m. For more information about the core
strategy visit the council website (www. ribble
valley.gov.uk) or call at the Rib ble Valley Council offices in Church Walk, Clitheroe, where comments logged to date can also be viewed.
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