Make Things Better By Working Together

I have already posted about Baku (The Hunters Lodge) as that has taken some of my time recently, I genuinely hope it is successful and benefits the community. I have had conversations with the Public Protection Officer who is clear that the licence application is for an upmarket venue where people can enjoy a drink and a meal.

Anyway what else…

Health Champion

I am now one of a minority (but growing number) of Chorley Councillors who is a Health Champion, having attended and fully involved myself in, a training course on Championing Health in the Community, resulting in achievement of the Royal Society for Public Health Level 2 Award in Understanding Health Improvement.

The training provided a useful grounding in the knowledge required to identify how to work effectively in helping people who need support and encouragement to make positive changes in their lives, including how to help them access further assistance (in, for example, identifying barriers to change, and setting goals) towards the objective of adopting and maintaining a healthier lifestyle.

There is (quite rightly) much said about health inequalities in certain communities and much effort is focused on these areas. My aim is to identify the differing health inequalities in rural areas where, there may be different challenges than in, for example, town centre communities. I will be assisting with Health and Wellbeing events in Chorley over coming months with a view to seeing if there is anything that can be applied in a rural environment.

I believe it is important that people involved in the community are involved in encouraging people to be fit and lead a healthy life, with the aim of increasing the number of healthy years people live.

Road Traffic Orders Coppull West

20mph zones in Coppull West have been implemented and many residential roads are now marked as being 20mph zones. There are mixed views on this as many of the areas are such that speeding is not a significant issue. My feeling is that the zones should be outside schools and areas with high volumes of pedestrians rather than being, what seems to be, everywhere. Notwithstanding, anything that might contribute towards drivers travelling with more care can be only a good thing and it has been confirmed to me that the 20mph applies to all road users, including cyclists (just like traffic lights!)

St John’s School Pupils Quiz Speeding Motorists

Mentioned at a Police And Communities Together meeting some weeks ago the Police have, in conjunction with teachers and year 6 pupils from St John’s School in Coppull, been stopping speeding drivers and quizzing them about the consequences of their speeding.

PC Lee said: “We want rural roads in Chorley to stay safe and we look forward to local schools and pupils helping us with this campaign in the days and weeks to come.”

“Sometimes when people are given a fine they are more concerned about the impact on their own personal finances, rather than considering the consequences of speeding. This is a great way to prove to them face-to-face what they are doing is simply wrong.”

I am in full support of this and it will be coming to a primary school near you.

Working Together to Make Things Better

Thursday (3 May) sees the local council elections and the first anniversary of my being a local councillor.

I am due to stand for election again in 2015, during which time my priorities are squarely with the local communities of Charnock Richard, Heskin and Coppull West.

Despite what some might say local councillors can do little to influence national policy. The theme song to the children’s programme, Arthur, contains the lyric “Get together and make things better by working together”, which is about right.

Local councillors can take action locally to work with local people to make things better for everyone and with this aim, I do inform fellow residents of potential planning applications that may affect them, I do take direct action such as cutting hedges to make pavements safe to walk along and tidying litter from hedgerows, I do work with Lancashire County Council to have unsafe road surfaces repaired and have road safety measures put in place, I try and have community facilities installed, I do encourage local people to be healthy, I do work with the local Policing team to improve safety in our villages and I do represent the opinions of those residents who make their opinions known to me in all manner of things. I also make the best decisions that I can, based on the information I am presented, in the committees with which I am involved.

These things I do, not because I represent a national political party, but because I care about where I live and because I am me.

My other blog www.chisnallplanning.blogspot.com includes summary details of planning applications in Chisnall ward, as I become aware of them.