Joining Jack

It came to my attention recently that there is a young boy living in Charnock Richard, called Jack, who has an incurable disease. The disease is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and is one of the most common fatal genetic disorders to affect children around the world. Approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide is afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

It is a devastating and currently incurable muscle-wasting disease. Symptoms usually appear in male children before the age of five (Jack is 4 and looking forward to life, as would any 4 year old). Progressive muscle weakness of the legs and pelvis eventually spreads to the arms, neck, and other areas. By age 10, braces may be required for walking, and most patients are confined to a wheelchair by age 12.

Eventually, this progresses to complete paralysis and increasing difficulty in breathing, requiring ventilation. The condition is terminal and death usually occurs before the age of 30.

Please (no, forget the politeness) You must visit www.joiningjack.org to read about the charity, you will be amazed and I make no excuse for keeping on about this in future posts.

The coming years are not going to get any easier for Jack’s family and they will need the support of our community.

Follow jack on twitter @alljoinjack, and if you are doing any sponsored events this year I think this is a worthy cause.

Shake Rattle and Roll

A busy few weeks at work and at home, decorating Frank’s bedroom, tidying the sitting room, gardening and keeping Roxanne happy along with the many and varied tasks that present themselves as part of my civic duties has left little time to write a blog post.

So, a short summary of what has been going on…

I spent a good few hours at the Mini Health Mela at Tatton Community Centre, well organised and a great sense of the community pulling together. Follow up activity will be taking place so watch this space. Reports of the event are online at:

Cunliffe Centre

Central Lancashire NHS

Chorley and South Ribble Breathe Easy Group

One of the twice yearly Southern Region Neighbourhood Meetings took place at the beginning of June; these are a useful meeting to discuss issues specifically related to Chisnall ward. Despite the verbal complaints, dog fouling is low on the list of reasons for people contacting Chorley Council’s contact centre.

My application for a community project for renovation of the Charnock Richard Primary School Woodland Garden was successful. The school are delighted and hopefully work will be starting before the school holidays. However the budget is tight and there are a number of trees that require attention, to pay for this would use the entire budget and more, so I am seeking out help in this area. Fortunately none of the trees are covered by Tree Preservation Orders.

A public presentation and awareness event for the Chisnall Hall Colliery Community Woodland took place in mid-June. I attended and was slightly disappointed that more people did not attend, however those living close by and some of the affected farmers had attended and asked relevant questions.

Due to the many concerns I held a public meeting to discuss the planning application for demolition of 2 Nursery Close and development of 10 houses behind, on the former Buttermere Nurseries site. The meeting proved more popular than I anticipated and many thanks to The Bowling Green staff for allowing us to use their meeting room. The application goes before Development Control Committee on 10 July.

A planning application has been submitted for floodlights at Charnock Richard football club and it has divided opinion, making it difficult for me to represent a majority. I have remained impartial and have listened to and discussed with people in support and in opposition to the application. I can appreciate that for a sports team to have the ability to progress, but be prevented from doing so through lack of facilities must be frustrating. I am also keen to preserve any part of the Green Belt anywhere. Following my request, the application will be taken to Development Control Committee for their deliberation on 10 July.

At a Licensing Sub-Committee on 20 June the 24/7 licence application for Baku Lounge at the Hunters Lodge was approved, by a majority vote 2 in favour and 1 against. I accept that economics will dictate a place cannot open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, however I maintain my opinion that a 24/7 licence is unreasonable on the part of people living close by, not only here but anywhere.

The Farmers Arms music festival saw what has been the hottest day of the year so far and with the way the weather is going, it could well be the one and only hot and sunny day of the year. A good event raising money in aid of a good cause; however the rain over preceding days prevented the field from being used as a car park, thereby generating some congestion on the road.

My mother has been in and out of hospital over recent months and whilst visiting her, one evening, a lady approached me regarding vibrations in her house, caused by traffic which is not helped by a roundabout immediately outside her house. Whilst satisfied to listen to twelve bar blues and Big Joe Turner, the lady does not want to actually shake, rattle and roll. I have followed this up, the roundabout has now been resurfaced and vibration surveys are to be conducted. My thought is that, for a house to be vibrating, such that it is disturbing the lady’s sleep, there is probably something more wrong than the road surface.

The Heskin skatepark, as requested by Dom, from The Meadows, took a step forward as Heskin Parish Council gave it their blessing, or rather did not oppose it. Some neighbourhood consultation is required, which is probably best done by the Parish Council, as is some fundraising, about £15,000 is needed, for which I am making applications for grant funding. This will not be a quick project, but I will do all that I can to make it happen within a timeframe that allows Dom to make use of it.

The first meeting of the Chorley Borough Council Governance Committee took place on 28 June, which I chaired. A good meeting, I thought, with a good mix of questions and debate. Trying to decipher local government accounts is not the easiest thing to do, a couple of training sessions have helped. As long as the committee realises it exists to question the reasons why things are done and not necessarily to validate the £ values in the accounts then we will move forward. The Governance committee covers Audit and Standards making for an interesting combination of responsibilities.

The Members Support Working Group discusses member development related issues there appears to be a change, for the worse in my opinion, in the way member development is being arranged as training specific to certain members is being introduced, whereas previously training was open for all.

Forthcoming events include walking, with Roxanne and the school, at Charnock Richard Walking Day on Saturday 7 July; making representations, as Ward Councillor, on the applications at 2 Nursery Close and the Football Club Floodlights, at the Development Control Committee on 10 July. I need to visit someone with a flooding problem and then there is my annual medical to prove that I am medically fit enough to be a Scuba Diving Instructor.

Planning matters related to Chisnall Ward are covered in my blog Chisnall Planning http://www.chisnallplanning.blogspot.com/

Riparian Rights

A day of considerable rain on Friday 22 June caused flooding throughout Chorley Borough, Charnock Richard and Heskin suffered, though not to the extent of such as Croston. However, my ‘phone that evening was busy; hopefully I managed to help all those who contacted me, however, one such ‘phone call will take a while to resolve and has introduced me to the issues affecting landowners where their property borders a watercourse.

Riparian rights are the rights of a landowner in respect of a natural watercourse on, or adjacent to, their property. Now, this sounds idyllic and conjures up images of a tranquil stream or babbling brook at the end of a garden, attracting a large amount of wildlife for the fortunate residents to enjoy. Unfortunately, not in this case as the watercourse is more of a neglected ditch, or broken pipe through which the natural watercourse is supposed to run freely. Such rights originated in common law, having evolved from disputes in the past to become law.

A “watercourse” can be both open and above ground, such as a stream or river, or enclosed below ground, such as a spring. Notably, a watercourse need not at all times contain water but can be dry at certain times of year and, for the purposes of riparian rights, is deemed to be a natural-flowing channel rather than a man-made channel or still body of water.

The part of these rights that affect the people who have contacted me is that riparian rights affect not just those that have a watercourse flowing across their land, but also those with land where the watercourse forms a boundary with another landowner. In fact, even further than that, the rights apply where a watercourse passes immediately adjacent to a boundary, even if it is outside the landowner’s ownership, as the flow of the watercourse has the potential to affect this land.

So what are these riparian rights? The key points are as follows:

Two points that have relevance to us…

• The landowner has the right to protect his property from flooding and erosion.

• Where a watercourse provides an ownership boundary, it is presumed under riparian rights that the mid-point of the watercourse is the boundary point unless expressly stated to the contrary on a title deed. - It is a right to receive the flow of water in its natural state without undue interference to quantity or quality.

…and two that are not relevant to us…

• A landowner may fish his own river provided it is by legal methods with the appropriate licenses.

• It is a right to abstract water for domestic purposes up to a stated amount. It should be noted that riparian rights provide only a common law basis for landowners, but in recent time further legislation has been drafted in support of these rights to cover more complex cases. Most notably the Environment Agency provides licensing for commercial water extraction, fishing and the carrying out of works to alter a watercourse.

Where riparian rights exist it follows that there will also be responsibilities; in the same way that a right exists to receive a flow of water without interference, there is also a responsibility on land owners to ensure that they preserve this right for other landowners. The watercourse must be maintained and kept free from obstruction including trees and shrubs on the banks and even dead animal carcasses that may contaminate the water. Fish must also be allowed to pass freely.

Earlier, mention was made to riparian rights having originated in common law, evolving from disputes in the past to become law. It would appear these disputes are not only in the past and my role is becoming one of trying to sort out a long standing dispute to the benefit of several residents.

Planning matters related to Chisnall Ward are covered in my blog Chisnall Planning www.chisnallplanning.blogspot.com

Men’s Health Week: June 11-17th 2012 & Cancer Awareness Month

This week is National Mens Health Week so the following is all about Mens Health, some good links and the message is clear, to all the males out there, get to the Doctor early rather than hoping something will go away. Early detection means a higher chance of a successful outcome.

National Men’s Health Week:

National Men’s Health Week (NHMW) was first held in June 2002 and is celebrated each year in the week leading up to and including Fathers’ Day.

The purpose of Men’s Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.

Heart disease remains the single biggest health problem for men, which is why the Men’s Health Forum has chosen this theme to kick off their “You Only Live Once” (YOLO) campaign for 2012. However, we mustn’t forget that almost 43,000 men are diagnosed with a form of male-specific cancer each year in the UK and the Everyman Campaign throughout the month of June is focusing on male cancer awareness.

Important checks and advice for men

Ask any man how he is feeling and the chances are the reply will be “fine”. But did you know that about one third of men report a long-standing illness, with musculoskeletal problems by far the biggest problem of all, followed by cardiovascular disease. Also roughly one third of all men in the UK have raised blood pressure.

Other men’s health issues consist of high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and smoking & alcohol consumption. Statistics show that proportionally men die earlier than women in all age groups.

The average male life expectancy at birth is just 75 and in some areas and among certain groups of men it is 5 -6 years lower.

On average men in the UK visit their GP 40% less frequently than women

More than one male death in six is caused under 75 is caused by coronary heart disease

The incidence of prostate cancer has increased over 135% in England and Wales since 1971

The number of men with testicular cancer has more than doubled in England and Wales since 1971.

There is a higher incidence of prostate cancer in black men than their white counterparts.

Testicular Problems

Embarrassing as it may be, testicular problems are no laughing matter. Testicular issues affect thousands of men in the UK at some point in their lives and while many lumps turn out to be benign, testicular cancer kills many every year.

The most common symptom of testicular cancer is a painless swelling or lump in one of the testicles.

Fortunately, the treatment for testicular cancer is largely successful and around 95% of those who undergo treatment are cured.

The earlier the cancer is discovered, the more successful treatment will be. So the message must be – if you notice any swelling or lumps on your testicles or scrotum, go and see your GP.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and kills one man every hour in the UK.

www.everyman-campaign.org/

Men may have any of the symptoms of prostate disease (e.g. difficulty in passing urine or frequency in urinating, pain when ejaculating), or indeed no symptoms at all. In fact, it is important to note that most men with symptoms of prostate disease do not go on to develop prostate cancer.

However the message must be – if you are having difficulties, consult your GP.

You Only Live Once – “YOLO”

Three times as many men as women die from coronary heart disease (CHD) before their 75th birthday. This year's Men's Health Week message is clear: you only live once – so get involved and get active!

CHD accounts for around 117,000 deaths in the UK each year and approximately one in four of these deaths are in men. A number of risk factors have been identified, the most important ones are:

·     Lack of cardio-respiratory fitness (CRF). People who do not exercise are twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who exercise regularly. Men can cut their risk of dying from CHD in half by becoming moderately fit.

www.nhs.uk/livewell/fitness/Pages/Fitnesshome.aspx

www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Fitness.aspx

·     Obesity: The best way to treat obesity is to reduce the calories in your diet and to exercise more

www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx

·     High blood pressure – Around 30% of people in England have high blood pressure but many don’t know it. If left untreated, high blood pressure increases your risk of a heart attack or stroke. The only way of knowing there is a problem is to have your blood pressure measured. All adults should have their BP checked at least every 5 years.

www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/conditions/high-blood-pressure.aspx

·     High cholesterol level - Cholesterol is a fat made by the liver from the saturated fat that we eat. Cholesterol is essential for healthy cells, but if there is too much in the blood it can lead to CHD.

www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthyhearts/pages/cholesterol.aspx

·     Smoking: best advice – quit! www.smokefree.nhs.uk/

·     High Alcohol Intake - There's no guaranteed safe level of drinking, but if you drink less than the recommended daily limits, the risks of harming your health is lower. http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

Further Information / Advice and Support:

http://www.change4life.co.uk/

www.malehealth.co.uk/heart

www.heartuk.org.uk/index.php?/home/

www.nhs.uk/livewell/prostatehealth/pages/prostatehome.aspx

www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/pages/goodfoodhome.aspx

www.bhf.org.uk/

Times They Are A Changin'

Election night, 3 May 2012, was a late one, arriving home in the early hours of Friday morning, a new council resulted and as there are no Chorley Borough elections in 2013, at least two years of me being part of the opposition party began. Several people were disheartened however the natural order is that things change, to quote Bob Dylan “And don't speak too soon; For the wheel's still in spin… …For the loser now; Will be later to win”

My opinions on local election results being influenced by national issues have been written here previously and it seems wrong, to me, that hard working local councillors (regardless of their political colour) are cast aside whilst some without any local agenda or those who have been less active remain. However that is democracy and we would be worse off without it. The two (or is it now 3?) Independents in Chorley remain the exception to the hypothesis that people vote based on their opinion of national issues. Our Chorley North West Independents continue to generate the largest number of votes, so there must be a case for spending all day everyday walking round talking with people.

Our group AGM elected our officials for the coming year, Peter remains as group leader, Greg was appointed deputy, Alison as secretary and I remain as group Treasurer. Shadow Cabinet positions, representatives on committees and outside bodies were agreed at our group meeting and more or less (apart from Overview and Scrutiny) were ratified at the full council meeting, the next day.

As is tradition at the first full council meeting of the civic year, a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor were sworn in. I can only say that it has been a privilege to have spent the past year watching the Mayor Pat Case in action, a truly inspiring lady. Roxanne always talks about meeting Mayor Case and I am sure it is a memory she will retain for many, many years.

Due to the changing political balance I ended up as the only one of our group with a chair, that being of the Governance Committee and my seat in the council chamber moved from a back seat to a front one.

Committees, on which I will sit until May 2013, are: Licensing and Public Safety, General Purposes, Members Support Working Group, plus Chair of Governance. I have mixed feelings about no longer sitting on the Development Control Committee. Two positives are that as Development Control meets at least once a month, involves many people with many opinions and generates a large agenda, it does take up a large amount of time, so that time is now freed up to spend with my family and concentrate on local issues. Secondly, I can now better represent the ward and say what I think about planning applications without the concern of having been considered to have pre-determined a decision. My year on the Development Control Committee has been extremely useful, I have used the opportunity to learn as much I possible about the planning process at Chorley Council and it will help my work throughout Chisnall ward.

I will continue to attend Executive Cabinet and Borough Parish Liaison meetings. I will also continue to attend Development Control meetings on occasion and definitely when there is an application in Chisnall ward under consideration. I remain as the council representative on Heskin Village Hall Management Committee, which I will continue to support. I will also continue to be involved in representing local people and local issues at the Parish Council Meetings of Charnock Richard, Heskin and Coppull as well as the PACT meetings and any other events at which I can offer a positive contribution to local people.

Baku

Concerns remain and it appears that the Public Protection Officer may have misunderstood comments from residents in close proximity to the Hunters Lodge. The deadline to submit comments on this application for a 24/7 eating, drinking and entertainment licence ended on 16 May.

Why a 24/7 licence is being applied for and the implications of this are unclear and is generating much angst amongst local people, who are concerned about an intrusion of their privacy. Rumour being generated locally and a lack of communication from the people who are to be responsible for running the venue, are compounding the concerns of neighbours of the Hunters Lodge.

I stand by my comment that it will be good to see the venue being used again, however this must not be at the expense of anyone’s quality of life and I hope that I will not have to report any unacceptable noise or behaviour from Baku.

2 Nursery Close

No longer sitting on Development Control Committee, has an immediate benefit. I have distributed a leaflet to each of the 400 or so houses in the central area of Charnock Richard, informing people of this development and explaining that I will be speaking against it.

I am not against development, as an increasing population will have to be provided for, however development must be carefully planned such that it enhances and improves the places in which people live. Charnock Richard cannot escape development and has had two relatively large applications approved recently. However, this proposed development is inappropriate and will have a significant negative impact on existing residents, has significant highways limitations and I will do all I can to encourage refusal of the application.

I will be submitting a formal written requesting that the application for demolition of 2 Nursery Close and development of 10 houses behind, be recommended for refusal.

I will also be requesting to speak as ward councillor at the Development Control meeting, following which I will publish my comments made at that meeting here.

Dog Attacks

Particularly concerning and something I brought up at the most recent Police And Communities Together meeting is the increase in attacks on dogs by dogs, this has happened twice recently, with one case being particularly disturbing as a dog walker was protecting a dog from being attacked resulting in the dog walker being attacked.

I have written to the dog warden expressing my concern and hopefully something will be done before someone is seriously hurt, maimed or even killed.

Mossies Footpath TPO

I am still working on this and have today (17 May 2012) had a message from the Chorley Council Conservation Officer, with a glimmer of hope. The habitat along this footpath needs protecting for many reasons, not least of which is that it is a valuable wildlife corridor.

Pre-School

Eventful as ever and I often wonder why I volunteer as Chairman. Then I remember that if I didn’t do it no-one else would and the setting would have to close, losing the provision provided for children and their parents and leaving 8 people without employment.

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.

Baku Eurovision 2012?

Baku Lounge


Baku, the land of fire and silk, the host city for Eurovision 2012, the scientific, cultural and industrial centre of Azerbaijan, or is it a bar on the A49, Charnock Richard?

Baku Lounge, which is planning to be the latest venue at the Hunters Lodge, is advertising that it will be opening on 22 June. With some more careful planning the opening night could have coincided with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest and an opportunity for a Eurovision party on 26 May has been missed!

The Hunters Lodge, many years ago

Whilst not obvious from the outside I have been told that a considerable amount of refurbishment has taken place inside, my opinion is that it will be good to see the building being used once again and any renovation can only improve the appearance of the building. Hopefully the venture will be successful and will contribute to, rather than adversely affecting, the community.

There has been some speculation and concern over the licence application which is for 24/7 eating, drinking and dancing and several concerned residents have contacted me, including one resourceful person who, thanks to the wonders of social media, tracked me down at my desk at work. I have contacted Baku and they have stated that plans are to be open Friday and Saturday evening and on a Sunday, so not 24/7, though specific times have not been provided. The times advertised for the opening event are 19:00 to 02:00 so it is possible that these might be the evening opening hours.

Having had discussions with the Public Protection Officer at Chorley Council a 24/7 application provides the proprietor with the greatest opportunity to make the venture a success, as the opening hours will be dictated by economics. The officer was adamant that any breach of the licence conditions will be treated seriously and action will be taken, with a 24/7 licence the conditions are the same regardless of the time of day.

Anyone with any comments to make (in support of, or opposition to the application) can do so, by contacting Chorley Council please note that any objection must relate to the licensing objectives and include facts not supposition of what might happen. The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) “Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 Consolidated Version published 10 December 2009” is relevant and is linked here.

There remains much rumour over the exact type of venue this might be, I know no more than anyone else and can only go off the licence application. Whilst not directly connected to this application, the same applicant intended to renovate New Southworth Hall (which many will remember as Campions) on Cuerdale Lane, Samlesbury, into an Upmarket Cocktail Lounge called Baku and gained Listed Building Consent in 2010 for a single storey extension to the rear, formation of a covered seating area and outdoor area enclosed by a 3.2m high perimeter wall (07/2010/0356/LBC), for whatever reason this has not happened and the property has since been sold.

Baku not, in this instance, the largest city on the Caspian Sea but a bar on the A49 in Charnock Richard and hopefully in harmony with the community, not causing residents to be fired up but running smooth as silk.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/alcohol-drugs/alcohol/guidance-section-182-licensing

http://www.chorley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2398