The Liberal Democrats and Labour Group on Lancashire County Council have come to an agreement on how the County Council should be run after no one party was given overall control of the authority in the recent elections.

Both parties have signed up to a document in which they say that:

The Liberal Democrat and Labour groups acknowledge that no party has overall control of the county council. Both groups are fully committed to ensure we provide the people of Lancashire with services in an open and democratic way, and ensure the county council has a strong, stable and open leadership. This is an agreement to support the Labour Party to form a minority administration on the basis of supporting their nomination for Leader of the county council.

The Liberal Democrats describe the document as being a route map for a Greener, Fairer and Stronger Economy for Lancashire. Key policy proposals include:

Children and Young People

• Expansion of available classroom capacity to accommodate increased school intakes as appropriate.
• Explore ways to resource the extension of 15 hours of free early years education to cover out of term time weeks.
• Youth and Community Centres – no charge for use by voluntary and community groups; moratorium on further closures;

Economy

• A commitment to the provision of the resources to help create economic growth and jobs across Lancashire, particularly East Lancashire.
• We will drive forward the Enterprise Zones and the Preston City Deal with partners and will strongly promote the development of a National Aerospace Supply Chain Centre and Skill City support more apprenticeships.
• Eliminate duplication in service provision.

Transport and Highways

• County wide sustainable transport planning to support the development of the county economy.
• Find mechanisms to reinstate bus routes and community bus services in areas of deprivation and rural areas around the county and approach central government for financial support reinstatement of illuminated bus timetables where applicable.
• Highway services to be reviewed to improve practice and repairs.
• Review winter gritting routes to provide better service to residential areas in hilly areas.
• Review grit bin provision with a view to providing additional bins in areas of need.
• Continued support for 20mph limits residential areas with additional engineered solutions where necessary.
• Visible enforcement of 20mph limits in residential areas using portable SpIDs.

Social Care

• Social care to provide early warning of individual difficulties with particular reference to dementia care.
• Support for carers by respite enhancement.

Environment

• A green energy plan to develop green industries worth about £5m over two years from 2014 to 2016.
• A priority for both parties is an urgent review of the provision of HWRCs throughout Lancashire
• Feasibility study for the use of county owned sites for green energy generation.

Staff

• Introduce the Living Wage for Council employees

Cllr Allan Knox said: “At the outset of the negotiations the Liberal Democrats discussed the same priorities with both the Conservatives and Labour Group and suggested a Rainbow Coalition of all parties, I find it astonishing that the leader of the Conservative group has called these ‘irresponsible demands’ 
- to me they are what the people of Clitheroe and Lancashire have told me they are crying out for.”

The full details of the agreement can be found here.

An agreement has been reached by negotiators from the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups on Lancashire County Council under which the Liberal Democrats would support the Labour Party in a minority administration.

The agreement will be put to meetings of the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups before today’s Annual Meeting of Full Council.

Full details of the agreement will follow ratification later today.

The county council held its elections on 2 May 2013 at which point no party had gained the 43 seats necessary to take control of the council. The full results were:

Labour 39
Conservatives 35
Liberal Democrats 6
Independent 3
Green Party 1

Liberal Democrats are continuing their negotiations with both Labour and the Greens to get a better deal for Lancashire.

County Councillor Bill Winlow, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group said today, “We have been in intensive discussions with other parties since the local elections earlier this month. These discussions have been based around a policy document produced by the Liberal Democrats, in which we call for support for the vulnerable, pursuit of shared services with districts and the provision of an  infrastructure that will provide for sustainable economic growth for the whole county.”

LibDems proposed a rainbow alliance in order to address the difficult financial situation faced by the County. With no single party winning a mandate, we had hoped that all parties would put aside their political differences and work together. County Hall needs to save £1 in every £3 it currently spends in order to make the books balance over the next 4 years.

We regret that the Conservatives have broken off talks. Despite extensive efforts on our part the Conservatives showed little intention to conclude an agreement.

Lib Dems will nonetheless continue to talk to both the Greens and Labour in the hope of joining with them in a progressive administration for the benefit of Lancashire residents. We recognise that some of the proposals we put forward will cost more and as such when we come to set the budget in February 2014, there will need to be strict budgetary control of the County’s finances.

These policies all form part of the Lib Dems calling for a Greener, Fairer and Stronger Economy for Lancashire.

Over the past few years I have been working with my fellow Lib Dem Town Councillors to ensure that an alternative was proposed to Conservative Ribble Valley’s Core Strategy which proposed a minimum of 1300 new houses in Clitheroe. We also put strong objections into the subsequent major planning applications that followed them

To help residents understand what we have been up to I thought it would be useful to have all these documents in one place

• Core Strategy response
• Planning Application for Land off Henthorn Road
• Planning Application for Primrose and land off Woone Lane
• Planning Application for Standen
• Planning Application for Waddow View
• Planning Application for land behind Kenilworth Drive

The latest update on Lancashire’s Gritting service was announced this afternoon as follows:

Update for: 14/01/13 13:04
We have weather predictions of snow/ice and temperatures reaching -6.5. We will apply precautionary salt to all priority routes.

We will also be monitoring the conditions very carefully over the next 24hrs and a further salting of the priority routes will be carried out at 03:00hrs on Tuesday morning.

A map of priority routes in Clitheroe can be found here.

Cllr Allan Knox has succeded in getting Ribble Valley BC to review the operation of its Events Safety Advisory Group (ESAG) after ESAG was castigated by many for the cancellation of this year’s Clitheroe Community Bonfire.

A motion to the council in Cllr Knox’s name was passed unanimously.

Speaking at the council meeting Cllr Allan Knox said: Read more »

Cllr. Allan Knox has been contacted by Lancashire County Council this afternoon (Friday 17th August) regarding the potential for yet more flooding. They report:

The Met Office has forecast another spell of heavy rain to cross Lancashire this evening and overnight, bringing possibly up to 80mm (over 3″) in some Pennine areas. At present there are no flood warnings or alerts, but the Environment Agency [EA] will be monitoring river levels constantly, are currently clearing their trash screens and have key operational staff at home on rest time in advance of what they expect to be a hard night. As they are the lead organisation for the provision of advice to the public relating to flooding, the EA will be updating their advice on their website  as necessary during the weekend.  

In preparation, Lancashire highways service has put extra crews on standby over the weekend in case local roads are at risk from flood water or falling trees and our Emergency Planning Team is in contact with other members of the Lancashire Resilience Forum in case a coordinated response is needed at any time, and have taken steps to notify all the affected District Councils. 

The environment agency has announced another flood alert for Clitheroe and the surrounding area at 15.27 on Thursday 5th July.

The alert is for the Upper River Ribble, River Hodder and River Calder. It says:

Flooding is possible for the Rivers Ribble and Hodder and other watercourses between Settle and Samlesbury, including at Clitheroe, Gisburn, Sawley, Waddington and Ribchester. Flooding is also possible for the River Calder at Whalley. Low-lying land and roads will be affected first. Heavy rainfall with intense bursts is expected from this evening to tomorrow evening.

Constantly updated information can be found on the Environment Agency website.

As I write this we have had extremely heavy rain locally for nearly the whole day.  The forecasts say there is little chance of it easing before Saturday. Already the Environment Agency in the North West, has issued three flood warnings as well as 28 flood alerts.

On their website they say:

We’re asking people in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, the Wirral, North Cheshire and Lancashire to remain vigilant and prepared for flooding from this afternoon through to Saturday, after the Met Office warned of very heavy rain. We have mobilised teams across the North West to check on flood defences, clear any river blockages and closely monitor river levels. These teams will be working around the clock to reduce the risk of flooding, and will be out in force again over the coming days.

If you want to see the latest flood advice for Clitheroe you should go here.