We Can Be Heroes

Road safety measures along the A49 through Charnock Richard are progressing, thanks to LCC for this work.The majority of people will accept that the short term disruption is worthwhilefor the longer term benefit. Hopefully the measures will increase awarenessamongst those motorists who travel through Charnock Richard, of the potentialdangers along this stretch of road. Over the years there have been all too manyvehicles in the fields along this road as a result of their ownershaving more ambition than capability. Reducing the speed limit from theexisting 60mph to 40mph will mean that, at maximum speed limit and this is alimit, not a target, it will take less than a minute longer to travel throughCharnock Richard along the A49.

Twomeetings this week were a result of my involvement in two of the currentChorley Borough Council task groups, “Private Rented Housing” and ”Tourism andPromoting Chorley”. These task groups are brought together to address specificitems on behalf of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

ThePrivate Rented Housing task group is becoming quite a vociferous group withmuch debate, as one person tweeted this week “Local Government at its best”proper debate without any political bias and hopefully real outcomes to thebenefit of both tenants and landlords. The basic aim is to improve the qualityof private rented housing, improved quality housing makes life for tenantseasier contributing to their health and wellbeing, and quality housingshould also make the properties easier to market for the landlords.

TheTourism and Promoting Chorley Task Group has been meeting for several monthsand is drawing to its conclusion. The most recent meeting saw presentations byrepresentatives from United Utilities, LCC and Astley Hall each of whichprovided a useful insight into how tourism might be promoted throughout Chorley.

Quiteby accident I was fortunate enough to sit in on a meeting regarding the ChorleyCenotaph proposals and new design. It is always encouraging to listen to peoplewith a true passion and pride in what they believe. Hopefully the outcome fromthe consultation period will have taken into account the opinions of all thoseindividuals, and groups, with something to contribute. "We can be heroes, justfor one day", these people were and are for eternity, I just hope that all thesepeople of Chorley Borough are appropriately recognised.

Mostimportant next week is the christening, on Sunday, of our son Frank. Leading upto that, there is full Council on Tuesday, for the annual budget meeting and morelocally, I will be attending a presentation on the suggestion for floodlights,at Charnock Richard Football Club, and the Annual General Meeting of HeskinVillage Hall Committee, in addition to my usual walking about a bit.

Only one Chisnall planning application this week: 12/00048/FUL for replacement agricultural building at Douglas Farm, German Lane, Charnock Richard.

Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow

Looking back, this week has been mainly focused around being healthy, which is relevant in this Year of Health and Wellbeing.

Two days were invested in the "Championing Health in Your Community" training programme resulting in an accredited qualification from the Royal Society for Public Health. Two days of thought provoking presentations, full of interesting information and the opportunity to meet like minded people, time well spent, but only if I use what I have been taught, which I will. I will be attending a Public Health Conference on 2 April and am representing Chorley Council on the Staying Healthy table at the Local Democracy Event on 15 March.

Get Up and Go is exactly what we did on Saturday at the Winter Playday. Roxanne had a thoroughly enjoyable two or three hours watching Punch and Judy, trying Circus Skills, decorating (and eating) cakes, joining in the fun gymnastics and best of all holding and learning about Owls.

The Woodland Garden project at Charnock Richard Primary School is taking on a life all of its own, even in the half term break. In addition to offers of help from parents' we have had offers of help from Birkacre Nurseries and a landscape gardener, Chorley Council are being extremely positive and helpful in these early stages. I will be applying for help as part of the Keep Britain Tidy Big Tidy Up and for a Green Partnership Award. I need to make sure all this is co-ordinated as a whole and will be setting up a meeting of all interested parties soon. Just to think that I mentioned this as part of a class three homework question and it has grown, in a short time, from a suggestion to a project. The phrase"Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow" is especially relevant.

I always enjoy talking with people who have lived in the area for a long time and this week has been no different. Diversion of a footpath generated no comment at all until I was contacted by an 85 year old lady, who had no opposition to the footpath redirection, but did question the reasons why and reminisced about growing up in Heskin. Really interesting to hear about life and times past, if only these people would write down their experiences for future generations, perhaps there is scope for a project with the library, I will look into it.

Frank had his latest round of immunisations on Friday, whilst the subject of much debate in recent years, these injections are important to prevent the infectious diseases we used to live with.

I am aware of two new planning applications in Chisnall, these being:
12/00091/FUL for demolition and replacement with a new building at Festive Lights, Preston Road, Charnock Richard, PR7 5HH
12/00098/FUL which is a partially retrospective application for agricultural / livestock buildings at Hilldale, Preston Road, Charnock Richard, PR7 5JP

Four Thousand Holes

The Beatles sang about four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, enough to fill the Albert Hall. Well it's still a bit like that in many places around Lancashire however since 1967, when the Beatles first published the song, things have improved. Perhaps in Blackburn they could now fill St George's Hall and in Chorley, the Little Theatre. I do spend an amount of my time reporting roads that need fixing, generally using FixMyStreet.com as that directs the report to the correct place.

This week has been reasonably busy, having attended the Parish Council meetings in Heskin, Charnock Richard and Coppull, prayers were offered at Charnock Richard and Coppull and hopefully the decision, today, to make praying illegal at meetings such as these, in a Christian Country, will not change this. Amongst other things, I asked Charnock Richard Parish Council to consider applying for a grant to plant trees around the village (Forestry Commission Big Tree Plant), which will compliment the work I am doing with the school to renovate their Woodland Garden. I advised Heskin Parish Council on the recent thefts from cars in the village and Coppull Parish Council on a site visit I had, with Lancashire County Council, at Chisnall Hall Colliery regarding the planting of a community woodland. Chorley Borough Council Development Control meeting took place on Tuesday and saw 9 applications to be decided upon, two of which require a site visit at the end of February. I make the effort to visit each site before the Development Control meetings but do find the formal site visits useful.

On Tuesday I took a day off work to attend a Social Media Conference at the Gujarat Hindu Centre, Preston, with two excellent speakers, Euan Semple and Mahroof Hussain, if anyone gets the opportunity to see either of these then do so.

Sad news this week as our rabbit, George, died. He was buried in the garden at the side of his run during a brief ceremony when Roxanne said a short prayer. Speaking of Roxanne, it was her parents' consultation evening this week, at which we were greeted by the school choir singing in the reception area and Roxanne's smiling face on the front row. Roxanne is progressing well and all thanks to Mrs Calvert who, I believe, is being an inspiration to our daughter. Baby Frank is putting on weight and we have sent out the invitations for his Christening.

I am going to see some people tomorrow regarding parking in Heskin and will spend some time around Charnock Richard and Coppull West, as I do each week. I am taking two days off work next week in an effort to compliment my efforts in promoting the NHS Bowel Screening Campaign, by attending training as a Health Champion, just hope I pass the exam.

Just Starting

Having attended a Social Media Conference yesterday, I have decided to set up a Blog. I started to type that this was a personal diary, it isn't as it will be available to all and is therefore very public. However it is part of my presence on the web and will be there for all to see. Give me some time to find my feet and the blogging will begin. I will let you all know what I have been doing on behalf of the people of Chorley and in particular those residents of Heskin, Charnock Richard and Coppull West.