After 2 weeks of much needed R&R after the hectic run up to Christmas, I am now ready again to “get back in the saddle”.
Today I went into the Town Hall for the Licensing Committee hearing. We were to consider 2 sites for an event planned around summer for a Shamania Festival aiming for 2000 visitors.
Last year they held the festival on a hillside between the villages of Fence and Roughlee. We had few complaints then and on the Saturday night of last year’s event at around 11pm I drove up to the site to see for myself. The event looked well planned and they had security people in place. The music in my opinion was not too loud, but we drove into Roughlee to see what it was like there. I couldn't hear anything at all.
The licensing committee starts at 1pm and we went through until around 5.15 to enable everyone to have their say. We had lots of objectors at the Licensing hearing mostly on the issue of noise. Our environmental officers told the committee that they would do sound checks throughout the festival and the organisers would liaise with them on the levels. The committee considered that the applications met the criteria for the Licensing Act 2003 so we granted both applications.
Tuesday 7 January
In the evening I attended the West Craven area Committee. We move our committee around the Earby, Salterforth, Kelbrook and Barnoldswick. Tonight we were in Barnoldswick at the Baptist Centre. It can be a bit cool in winter there so I put plenty of layers on, as it turned out it was nice and warm. We had 5 planning items on the agenda and these tend to take up most of the time. Plenty of residents attended and had their say. The agenda had 19 other items besides the planning ones. Pendle Council was one of the forerunners of delegating authority down to Area committees; many other councils all over England have now followed. This brings the democratic process closer to local people and allows them to participate.
The pheasants - 2 cocks and 3 hens continue to come down close to my kitchen window to see if I have put anything out for them to eat. As I had run out of birdseed, which they can hoover up at great speed, I had put down some cooked rice. They eat it but they obviously prefer the birdseed.
At lunchtime I paid a visit to Hartley’s Farm Foods Ltd. In Nelson. Michael Hartley showed me around their impressive factory where they process meat mainly for sandwich bars. I watched as beef from Uruguay, which they had bought by the container load, was quickly thawed. It is then bagged and steam cooked in ovens for around 8 hours. The meat is then rapidly cooled in a refrigerated room before being taken out of the bag, sliced and packed into air-free packs. The whole factory had very strict hygiene rules and I had to wear a clean overall, hairnet, and covers on my shoes. The business looked extremely successful and providing jobs for local people.
In the afternoon I attended the Public/Private Partnership Board at the new No1 Market Street in Nelson. This is the Liberata/Pendle Council board, which considers the services that Liberata provides for Pendle. We met in the boardroom, which is fitted out with video conferencing facilities. The building internally is huge and has space for the 300 extra jobs that are going to be accommodated there.
I then nipped home to get the wood-burning stove fired up before turning around to come back to the Town Hall for a Member Development Group meeting. Here we met with Blackburn College who are proposing to put on a degree course for councillors. Some councillors showed an interest in the degree, which takes between 2, and 4 years and we decided to offer it to all of them.
Thursday 10 January
The Mayoress and I went into the Town Hall for a meeting with Committee Services who are this year organising the Mayors Ball. We decided to hold it at Colne Muni again and to have a black and white theme. We are also trying to get a swing band to entertain.
Workers at Strategy pack chocolate for Father's Day
After that we went to Strategy Group Ltd on Lomeshaye Estate in Nelson to collect a cheque from them for the Mayoress’s charity appeal.
We turn the camera back on the press photographers
This year the company had sent e-Christmas cards instead of normal ones and had saved £200 doing so. We had a tour round the factory and were shown chocolate being packed in special offer packs for Father’s Day.
We all get into our protective clothing for the Cheque hand over from the Strategy Group
In the evening we went along to visit the Samaritans on Market Square in Nelson. They cover a wide area from Rossendale up to the Yorkshire Dales and are available to listen to anyone who has something that is troubling them. The local branch was formed in 1973 and has helped many people since that time. We met several of their volunteers who all looked to enjoy what they were doing. Their director told us that they had over 100 volunteers but always needed more as they operate every day, all day. If you want to consider becoming a Samaritan give them a ring on 01282 694929.
We meet with the Samaritans who are doing a great job
Friday 11 January
The Mayor’s secretary left just before Christmas and as the position is still vacant, we have agreed to hold a monthly update meeting with Richard Townson who is the Service manager. We went though all of the forthcoming events, which we have been invited to, and also all of the special things coming up. These include Meet the Bradshaw’s at Colne Muni on Friday 7 February, The Pendle Business Awards on 27 February, The Mayors ball on March 7th and Pendle Community Volunteers Awards – which we haven’t as yet fixed the date for. So lots going on - and as my term finishes in May not long to do it in.
Cash handover from Pendle Operational Services from the Bit of a Do Raffle
After the meeting we nipped into the Mayors parlour for another charity cash handover, this time it was the raffle at the Mayor’s Bit of a Do held in December. The press turned up for a group photograph and we had a chat with the officers who ran the event.
At 3pm I went into the monthly administration’s meeting with council officers.
Saturday 12 January
We held another of our Meet the Mayor Surgeries, this time at New Road Community Centre in Earby. The idea of this is to get out of the Town Hall and into the Towns and Villages in Pendle to listen to residents concerns. We also took the opportunity as we were in Earby to go along to the Earby Parish Council’s parish rooms. The parish Councillors were all busy taking down their Christmas trees, which had been above all the shops during the festive period. The Christmas decorations in Earby were excellent and I am sure that their residents appreciated them.
Sunday 13 January
Today it was Barnoldswick’s turn to get their Christmas Trees taken down. So I went into to town with my trailer at 10.30 and met with my fellow councillors David, Ian, and Margaret. Between us we took down what must been around 60-70 trees and removed the lights from them. After about 2 ½ hours we had completed the task and had taken all of the trees to the re-cycling depot.
