Borough goes to the polls
ASECOND consecutive summer of momentous political decisions is due to get under way next week as voters head to the polls in the Lancashire County Council elections.
The county hall elections may be the hors d’oeuvre before June’s snap general election, but the outcome of the vote will arguably play as crucial a role in the lives of Hyndburn residents, with a direct bearing on spending decisions over areas such as schools and roads, as well who decides who pays what in council tax.
The LCC elections on May 4 are set to be a keenly contested fight, with the Tories aiming to seize control of the county hall they lost four years ago, and Labour looking to strengthen their position as the largest party.
Labour and the Conservatives are standing in all six Hyndburn seats.
Changes to the ward boundaries have seen the old wards of Great Harwood and Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors merged into one new division resulting in a seven-way contest, with two candidates each from the Conservatives, Labour and UKIP, plus the Greens.
Voters in this division will elect two councillors.
Conservative group leader Coun Geoff Driver has pledged to reopen libraries closed by the Labour administration, and support new community-run libraries with ‘financial and professional advice’. He says the party are committed to reinvesting in subsidised bus routes and putting an extra £5million of reserves into highways maintenance. He said: “The county council administration have actually said that the council’s financial situation is precarious, they won’t be able to meet their statutory responsibilities at the end of the year after next. It needs sorting out and we feel we are the party to do that. We are hopeful of winning seats in Hyndburn. We are not complacent but we are reasonably confident of winning an overall majority.”
Green councillor Gina Dowd said they are hoping to double their numbers to two, ‘at the very least’ in the election.
She said: “Our priorities are to ensure that the County Council takes a lead in encouraging new jobs in sustainable industries across Lancashire – including communityowned renewable energy, and energy efficiency, and setting an example with its own buildings. Greens will continue to fight the fracking industry taking hold in Lancashire, which would destroy our other important sectors in agriculture and tourism.”
The Greens say they are also committed to public services for people in need and support for local community facilities.
Labour group leader Jennifer Mein said they have achieved “an awful lot in the face of absolutely relentless cuts” by the government.
She said: “We have had to make some really difficult decisions. We have got our staff on the living wage and signed up to the Unison care charter, and the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership is proving very successful at growing the economy. We’ll be doing even more to try and reduce hospital admissions. Core spending per dwelling in Lanca- shire is £73m less than the England average so we need to lobby government to make the funding fairer and work with our private and public sector partners, health and police, to create a better service.”
Hyndburn UKIP branch chairman, Paul Thompson, said they were focusing on securing invest- ment in local infrastructure. He said: “We think a lot more money should be invested in Hyndburn, the roads are absolutely appalling. We also think Accrington Victoria hospital could be put to better use with wards reopened to look after the elderly where they don’t have space for them to be in hospital. The libraries also need supporting, especially to provide technology to people who don’t have access to computers. We would also campaign for more funding for support for dementia sufferers, hubs and carers by cutting costs from the middle management structure.”