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.” 

Many Clitheroe and Ribble Valley residents will be aware of the fire that broke out in Clitheroe Health Centre on Tuesday 27th October.

Although the fire was small and concentrated, the building’s lighting, heating, IT, and telephone system were all knocked out and an immediate decision was made to close the centre. Read the rest of this entry.

Clitheroe residents who live in the Mearley Brook Flood Alert area will soon be receiving a leaflet from the Ribble Valley Borough Council detailing how they out to prepare for the a potential flood alert and how to respond if flooding occurs.

In addition the Environment Agency are arranging a flooding related one day exhibition at Clitheroe Library on Tuesday 24th November. the latest updated Flooding Advice and Recovery leaflets will be available for all members of the public attending.

A new Home Office crime map which allows people to compare crime rates in Clitheroe has already been available in Lancashire for over three years.

The Lancashire MADE Public website broke new ground in 2006 by giving people access to a wealth of information on crime and disorder where they live.

By simply entering their postcode, people who log onto the site can find facts on calls to emergency services, violent crime, anti-social behaviour, deliberate fire setting, vehicle crime, road safety and domestic burglaries.

The site was set up by the Safer Lancashire partnership, which includes councils, the Police, fire service, the probation service and the ambulance service. The site breaks crime rates in Clitheroe down by district council ward. You can find out what it is in your area by clicking on the link and then moving the cursor around the map to where you live.

Lancashire County Council will spend an extra £54,000 on Clitheroe highways thanks to support from Cllrs. Allan Knox and Stephen Sutcliffe.

The decision was made at recent meeting of Lancashire Locals Ribble Valley. Here’s how the money will be spent: Read the rest of this entry.

Concerns are rising about the future of rural schools in the Ribble Valley, reports County Cllr. Allan Knox.

First came a report in the Lancashire Telegraph on Monday where it reported:

Former headteacher Bob Stott, who is now in charge of education from birth through to 18 at Lancashire County Council, said they may appoint one head for up to three primary schools to ease the crisis.

The next day Allan received a email from the Tory cabinet member in charge of rural schools which contained a briefing note for a potential themes that could be considered in a review of small rural schools.

It used phrases such as “mindful of emotive issues, “reshaping of provision” and “tightening of funding…likely to challenge the ability to continue to fund these levels of resources in small schools.”

County Cllr. Allan Knox said: “Rural schools, like post offices are at the heart of rural communities. If we really care about the rural communities then we should do all we can to protect them.”

Lancashire County Council has launched the public consultation stage of a plan for a local 20 mph zone.

It will cover an area between the junction of Eshton Terrace and Mitchell St, along the railway line as far as the end of Kemple View and then across to Edisford Rd (but not including Edisford Rd) and back up to the junction with Thorn St and back to its start.

The scheme will also include in excess of 50 speed bumps and bus cushions.

Already local residents have contacted your Lib Dem team of County Cllr Allan Knox, and borough Cllrs. Mary Robinson, Alan Yearing and Ruth Hargreaves saying that they think the scheme is excessive.

The Lib Dem team agree and have put together amendments to the plan, which will still improve road safety, but not involve humps on nearly every street.

County Cllr Allan Knox said: “For many years now we have been calling for traffic calming measures on both Henthorn Rd and Edisford Rd and we see no reason to change that, particularly when you look at accident statistics.

“But, amazingly speed bumps are also planned for roads such as Windermere Ave, Ennerdale Rd and Millthorne Ave, plus a host more.”

“Most of them see only residential traffic as people go to and from their homes, and we can see no reason for the speed bumps on these streets unless local residents have firm evidence based reasons for their need.”

Cllr Alan Yearing added “It seems crazy that Edisford  Rd. is not included in the scheme when it is clear from accident statistics that this is the most dangerous road in the area.

“It would surely be better to use the cash that would be spent unnecessarily on some the residential streets to put in measures on Edisford Rd that ensure the speed limit there is adhered to.”

“We also want a mixture of speed calming measures on Henthorn Rd not just speed bumps.”

The Lib Dem team have launched their alternative to the County’s proposals and are asking residents to support it by signing the petition below.

They also want to hear if you have evidence why any other street should stay in the scheme.

You can sign the petition here .

Voluntary, community and faith groups in Ribble Valley are being given another chance to apply for a Lancashire County Council grant.

Local Gateway Grants are still available through the Ribble Valley Lancashire Local and can be typically used to fund projects costing between £1,000 and £5,000. Read the rest of this entry.

Lancashire County Council’s Local Grants scheme enables each County Councillor to put forward proposals for expenditure which they can spend to enhance the well-being of people who live in their area (division).

For this year each County Councillor has a budget of £1,250. If your local County Councillor agrees to recommend your application it will be submitted to the relevant Lancashire Local committee for a decision.

Cllr Allan Knox said: “Obviously £1250 is not a huge sum of money and I would like to try and ensure that my allocation goes as far as possible.” Read the rest of this entry.

Despite the original traffic order saying that work here would start on August 3rd, local residents will have noticed that this is not the case.

I have contacted National Grid, who are in charge of relaying the gas main and they have informed me that, due to issues with contractors, it is unlikely that will start before next week.

However, they do say that they will finish within the original timeframe and that they will inform all householders who will be affected.

Whether “affected householders” just means the residents of Well Terrace or the more broader area affected by the diversion and traffic orders they did not say.

If there is any change to this I will keep you updated.

For a map of the traffic order click here.

There is going to be a Temporary Road Closure on Well Terrace - Clitheroe from  the A671 Chatburn Road to the junction with B6478 Waddington Road.

The road will be closed to all traffic, except for access, to allow National Grid Gas plc to carry out the renewal of a gas main.

The duration of the closure will be from 0800 Monday 3 August until 1730 Friday 21 August 2009 or until completion within this period.

The project manager responsible for the work will be Malcolm Dowie who can be contacted through the National Grid plc customer care number 0800 521660.

A plan of the diversion route can be found here.

For too long now the congestion on the northern end of Woone Lane has been getting worse and worse.

With  cars parked on both sides it is impossible for vehicles to travel in both directions at anyone time and when larger and longer vehicles try and pass along the road then it becomes quite common for the 200m length of road to be blocked for up to 15 minutes.

Cllr. Allan Knox said: ” In recent weeks I have been contacted by both the police and senior officers at Ribble Valley about the congestion that arises here.”

“Everyone I speak  tells me how dreadful things are here.The county needs to take action and make the road one-way.”

You can join the campaign by signing the petition here.

Over the year’s Clitheroe’s Castle museum has accumulated a lot of stuff that may not have any great intrinsic value to collectors, but has great value to those of us who care about the history of our Town and Borough.

However, now it would seem that the whole lot is up for grabs.

The Lancashire Telegraph reports  the Tory council leader as saying:

Over the last 50 years we have accumulated a lot of stuff and it is going to cost an awful lot of money to store it now.

The first thing we need to do is go through the collection and identify items that aren’t of value or worth keeping. We’ll offer these back to the families if they were donated and then maybe sell them at auction.”

However, there are many items in the old collection which has great important significance to local people and it would be a great disappointment if Clitheroe’s collected history was flogged to the highest bidder.

Some local people are saying that the council now the cost of everything and the value of nothing - I hope they are wrong!

My Lib Dem county colleague from Preston, Mark Jewell, has been hitting the headlines in the Daily Mirror, due to a Freedom of Information request he made revealing that  Lancashire County Council have used anti-terror laws to spy on staff. Read the rest of this entry.

The new Tory regime at Lancashire has made it’s first major decision. And what is it you cry? Well according to the Lancashire Telegraph  it is the fact that they are changing the Red Rose logo from the stylised Charles Rennie Mackintosh logo back to the Tudor Rose.

The Tory Leader, Cllr Driver, claims that the current logo is a Labour Rose but a quick google image search produces this image for the Labour Rose, which to me seems very different from (and much less stylish than) a Rennie Mackintosh one

Cllr. Driver also claims that he is not interested in logos but services. If that is the case then why does he not make the his first announcement about an improvement in services not about logos?

Instead we will soon see the Tudor Rose returning across County letterheads, the website and no doubt notices, signs and buildings all with attendant costs that would be better spent on services.

So what can this be signifying? Well it could mean that art nouveau and culture are being rejected because we fear that the Spanish Armada are about to sail up the Ribble.

Or wait what’s this? I have found a Labour Party that uses Lancashire’s current logo. It is the Irish Labour Party. Maybe Cllr. Driver sees a Labour revival in Lancashire starting across the Irish Sea.

Britain’s democracy is at a turning point. Not in living memory has confidence in politicians, trust in the system, or faith in the government’s capacity to change things been as low as it is today. The expenses scandal has exposed a culture of arrogance and secrecy that has long been at the heart of our democracy. Read the rest of this entry.

Allan Knox has managed to retain the Clitheroe seat on Lancashire County Council for the Liberal Democrats. He succeeds his colleague Cllr Stephen Sutcliffe who held the seat for the Lib Dems for 12 years.

Allan said: “I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported me in my campaign. I intend to carry on the good work for our area. The Lib Dem Team will keep in touch through regular newsletters and do all we can to help improve local facilities and services. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue.”

You can contact Allan through this website or by following allanmknox on Twitter or Facebook.

The result in full:

Allan Knox  1864
Tory 1841
Labour 416

The council has informed me that the waste paper collection for today is running very late due to a training exercise this morning.

It is hoped to get everything collected by tonight, but anything not picked up today will be collected tomorrow, Friday 15th.

1. Taking real action to tackle the recession locally - Allan backs Vince Cable’s plan - the Tories vetoed Lib Dem suggestions to set up a local recession partnership to find real solutions to real problems
2. Keeping the opt out from EU legislation  for Clitheroe’s firemen - working time directive could see the end of our retained firemen
3. Providing the affordable housing that many Clitheroe residents so badly need - we  needed over 250 in 2008, the Tories provided just 34
4. Making sure that there are no cuts in care for our elderly people - David Cameron says he will freeze council tax, so how will we pay for the care that our growing elederly population so badly needs
5. Ensuring that Lancashire and Ribble Valley Councils take real action to tackle climate change - neither Ribble Valley council’s   leader nor his predecessor and their officers can tell you what it is and therefore cannot take action to reduce it.
6. Providing funding to make sure we have cleaner streets - Locally Tories have vetoed a £26,000 plan by Allan Knox and the Lib Dems to ensure we have cleaner streets in Clitheroe.

It would be trite to paraphrase Aaron Sorkin and say that: “The mayor of Ribble Valley was not the target” but unfortunately many local people are thinking that last week’s terrorist arrests were because a bomb was due to go off to coincide with the Mayor cutting the ribbon at Homebase.

So instead let’s begin by concentrating on those stubborn things called facts and find out where we are. Read the rest of this entry.

Yesterday afternoon things were starting to wind down for Easter. In the sleepy market town of Clitheroe it had been the most exciting week in ages due to the demolition of the chimney at the local cement works, and the fact that our first ever Homebase DIY store was set to open the next day.

In my role as leader of the opposition on Ribble Valley Borough Council I had two meetings that afternoon, one with the council leader where much of the discussion centred on how the media covered local events and one with the IT Manager about various technological advances.

The irony of these two meetings was not lost on me by the end of the day and as events unfolded during the evening I made a conscious decision not to blog but to try and stick to putting the facts on twitter. Read the rest of this entry.

The tallest chimney at Castle Cement, in Clitheroe, has been demolished following the decommissioning of Kilns 5 & 6.

It just gets better!

You couldn’t make this up! The hidden saga of Conservative waste in local councils has started to come to the surface as the spotlight shines on Conservative controlled councils. Here are a few examples of what Conservative Councillors have wasted money on Read the rest of this entry.

Cllr Allan Knox and Clitheroe Liberal Democrats have slammed as ‘totally inadequate’ a government scheme supposed to help families facing the loss of their homes.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme was announced in November last year by the Government following an alarming rise in the number of people having their homes repossessed by mortgage lenders.

But Labour ministers have restricted the scheme to only 6,000 homes across the whole of England. That means only one in 25 households facing repossession claims in the courts - the first part of a process mortgage lenders have to go through to repossess a home - will get help under the scheme. Read the rest of this entry.

People are constantly telling the Lib Dem team that they want to see extra cash spent on cleaner streets.

Indeed it is what government inspectors are saying too, when they described the quality of our “local public open spaces as poor.” Read the rest of this entry.

Christmas bonus payments for 2,000 elderly people in Ribble Valley to help with winter fuel bills will not be paid until nearly Easter, warns a leading local Liberal Democrat.

According to research carried out by Liberal Democrats in Parliament, nearly one in ten older people will be getting their Christmas bonus at a time when their grandchildren are getting their Easter eggs. Read the rest of this entry.

Attempts to move forward with a much needed residents’ parking scheme for residents of York Street and Church Street have been kicked into the long grass by Tory councillors, for yet another round of “unofficial” consultation.

The consultation will include more meetings with the same vested interest group who have vehemently opposed all forms of residents’ parking for over 10 years. Read the rest of this entry.

Clitheroe Town Council is to spend £3,500 cleaning the statue of the soldier on Clitheroe’s cenotaph.

The project, which had long been a goal of Mayor, Cllr David Berryman came to fruition at the Town Council meeting of  Monday 26th January, when it was agreed to appoint Anelays as the contractor to carry out the work and to fund the project from savings in this year’s budget.

This will mean that work can start as soon as possible on the site, the only query now is whether Listed Building Consent is required from  Ribble Valley Borough Council.

Cllr Allan Knox who proposed motion at the Town Council said: “Hopefully the work will be carried out speedily. The fact that Anelays have been appointed as contractor should help as they are on sight already doing work on the rest of the Castle Scheme.”

As more and more Post Offices are forced, by Government diktat, to close, one side effect has been the increasing volume of queues to Clitheroe Post Office.

Lib Dem Cllrs Allan Knox and Cllr Alan Yearing are looking at potential options to deal with the problem that often sees the Post Office queued out the door at busy periods. Read the rest of this entry.

There have been some unbelievable examples of Government waste recently. At a time when everyone else is belt-tightening, we see Labour ministers pouring our money down the drain.

“After all the lectures Gordon Brown gave us over the years about being prudent, his own government is wasting massive sums of taxpayers’ cash,” said Allan Knox.

Labour’s shameful list of waste Read the rest of this entry.

For obvious reasons there will changes the Ribble Valley Borough Council refuse collection dates over the festive period.

The changes are: Normal collection date (rearranged date), December 24 (23), 25 (24), 26 (27), January 1 (2), 2 (3).

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 29. Read the rest of this entry.

10 ways to help you save energy, money, and help prevent climate change.You could save £270 per year*. Read the rest of this entry.

Cllr. Allan Knox is supporting campaigners who want to get rid of plastic bags.
Local residents will be aware that plastic bags can take between 400-1,000 years to break down, and like all forms of plastic they do not biodegrade. Read the rest of this entry.

£3.40 a week doesn’t go very far right now. But that’s the rise millions of older people received this year in their basic pension.
£3.40 a week to cover gas and electric prices that have gone up by as much as 40%. £3.40 a week to cover the soaring cost of basic foods like bread, eggs and cheese (up by a quarter or more). £3.40 a week to pay rising council tax bills.
No wonder pensioners are feeling the pinch! Read the rest of this entry.