Due to the severity of the weather and national pressures on salt supplies Lancashire County Council is continuing to only grit priority routes. A map of the priority routes in Clitheroe can be found here.

Full details of the council’s policy can be found here .

Clitheroe’s County Cllr Allan Knox has this week been in daily contact with officers to see what can be done to assist local people.

County Cllr Knox said: “In particular there appears to be some local discretion about the county’s policy as regards emergencies and today I have been informed that certain grit bins are being restocked.

“However residents should be aware that grit from bins is for use on highways only, not on private property such as driveways.

“If you are aware of an emergency situation please do not hesitate to get in touch.”

Cllr Allan Knox and the Lib Dem team have been told that Ribble Valley Borough Council is aware that in parts of the Borough wheelie bins and paper sacks are overdue for collection.  The Council apologises for these delays which are due to the unusually adverse weather conditions.

They advise that – weather conditions permitting – bins will be collected on the next regular collection date.  In the current circumstances where there has been delay, side waste (i.e. additional items) will be collected

Paper sacks will also be collected on the next regular collection date, this collection also being subject to weather conditions at the time.  Overflow from paper sacks can be put out in carrier bags.

County Councillor Allan Knox has been inundated with queries about whether not people’s streets have been gritted or more importantly - whether or not they should be gritted.

The council policy revolves around priority roads and a map of all priority roads in Lancashire can be found here and a map of priority roads in Clitheroe can be found here.

Whatever the the rights or wrongs of the county council’s policy it states the following:

The criteria for this prioritisation of roads is as follows:
County Motorways (e.g. M65 Junction 10-14)
All Principal “A” Roads
All “B” Roads·
Other Roads
- between or through large centres of population
- serving hospitals, ambulance and fire stations
- leading to main centres of employment and on important commuter routes
- leading to important industrial and military establishments
- single access to villages
Allowance has been made for the obvious geographical and topographical differences in Lancashire in terms of climate and altitude, resulting in the East Lancashire districts receiving an increased level of coverage (“A” roads plus 35% of the remaining network) compared with the flatter districts in West and South Lancashire (“A” roads plus 17.5% of the remaining network). Notwithstanding this differential, it should be clearly understood that the majority of the highway network will not receive the winter service and moreover, housing estate roads and minor roads without appreciable gradients have been specifically and intentionally excluded.

However during periods of severe weather, the service may be extended to non-priority roads (secondary routes) but only during hours of daylight and after all the higher priority roads are clear.

County Cllr Allan Knox said: “The policy does leave question marks about such things as bus routes, which I will be raising in the New Year with officers. In the meantime I hope the information and the maps will help people understand where is actually meant to be salted and then they can rightly raise a question if that does not happen.”

Ribble Valley residents are advised that the inclement weather has affected the borough’s recycling and refuse collection service.
 
Because of the heavy snow, many properties due for collection on Friday, December 18, and Saturday, December 19, have not had their bins emptied, while no collections were possible on Monday, December 21.
 
Where possible, missed collections will be collected in accordance with Christmas refuse collection arrangements detailed below.
 
If the inclement weather continues and refuse collection services are further disrupted, arrangements will be made to collect refuse as quickly as possible. Further details will be available from www.ribblevalley.gov.uk or 01200 425111.
 
The changes to recycling and refuse collection times over the festive period are: Normal collection date (rearranged date) – December 21 (December 19), 22 (21), 23 (22), 24 (23), 25 (24), January 1 (January 2).
 
There will be no refuse collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and no green waste collection during the week beginning Monday, December 28.
 
Refuse will be collected as normal on December 28, 29, 30 and 31.
 
Christmas trees will be collected during the week beginning Monday, January 11. Trees should be chopped up and placed in inside green bins, or for households not on the green wheeled bin service tied up and left with blue bins or lilac sacks.
 
Christmas wrap, cards and cardboard can be left with white sacks, although there will be no white sack collections on Christmas Day, December 28 and January 1. Other Christmas waste can be taken to the Henthorn Household Waste Recycling Centre in Clitheroe.
 
Normal refuse collection will resume on Monday, January 4

Lancashire’s roads will continue to be gritted over the next 24 hours as staff continue to battle to keep main routes open.
 
The list of ‘priority routes’ which are salted first include all main A and B roads, part of the M65 and a number of other busy main roads vital to keeping traffic moving. These roads are tackled as a matter of urgency before other less busy routes are considered.
 
The county council’s highway team has now received the latest weather forecast from the Met Office which means that the gritting crews will continue to work round the clock to grit and plough. With cold temperatures and snow forecast for the next 4 to 5 days, this means that in Area East (Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley, Ribble Valley) further snow has been forecast for Monday afternoon and evening. Precautionary gritting has already begun on priority routes and gritters will be patrolling throughout the night to respond in case more difficult conditions develop in particular local areas. Read the rest of this entry.

Lancashire County Council’s gritting teams have been working round the clock over the weekend to tackle snow and ice on the roads.

In East Lancashire (Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Ribble Valley) crews have been working since Thursday on the priority and secondary routes in Pendle. The number of crews working on the priority routes have been doubled and small “quad” type vehicles have been deployed to clear priority footways. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Residents in Ribble Valley are advised of changes to recycling and refuse collection times over the festive period.

The changes are: Normal collection date (rearranged date) - December 21 (19), 22 (21), 23 (22), 24 (23), 25 (24), January 1 (2).

There will be no refuse collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and no green waste collection during the week beginning Monday, December 28. Read the rest of this entry.

Last week was a horrendous week for Afghanistan and saw me cross a personal Rubicon as I became convinced that the British mission is futile there.

As the news rolled on last week no-one could underestimate the scale of what was going on Read the rest of this entry.

A Firework was thrown into a postbox in Clitheroe, destroying the contents.

The Clitheroe Advertiser reports that mindless vandals targeted the postbox in the Littlemoor Road area of town.

The incident happened between 1-30 and 2-30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Residents and businesses in Clitheroe are being asked for their views on proposals for the future economic prosperity of Clitheroe.

Ribble Valley Borough Council, the Ribble Valley Strategic Partnership and Lancashire County Council have commissioned the Clitheroe Town Centre Masterplan, which is now open to a two-week consultation and will be the subject of an exhibition in the Ribble Valley Civic Suite this Friday and Saturday (November 6 and 7)

Members of the public are being invited to have their say on the plan, which sets out an economic strategy for the town, together with development proposals for Clitheroe Market.

Lancashire county councillor Allan Knox said: “This is an opportunity for Clitheroe residents to express their views on the future of the town.

“An outline vision is now in place based on considerable research and all comments on the vision and how we move forward, will be valued. I would urge people to have their say.

“There are no prescriptive solutions to this exercise - we want to here all solutions.

“For what it’s worth I believe that Clitheroe works best when we have evolution , not revolution and that we need small specialist shops, not large multiples that would turn us into another clone town.”