Where to dish out our levy cash?
PRINCE Charles celebrates a landmark birthday this year and the Mayor of West Lancashire is hosting a special celebration of this occasion.
The prince turns 70 on Wednesday, November 14 and Cllr Noel Delaney is inviting West Lancashire residents who are also 70 in 2018 to an afternoon tea in the Mayor’s Room in the council offices on that date.
Places are limited for this special event and will be awarded on a first come first-served basis.
If you live in West Lancashire and are 70 this year, or have a relative who lives in West Lancashire who is 70 this year, contact Jill Ryan at the council on 01695 585017 or email jill.ryan@ westlancs.gov.uk as soon as you can or you may not be able to book a spot.
Cllr Delaney said: “Don’t delay.
“Contact us now or you may miss out on this chance to celebrate Prince Charles’s 70th birthday.”
HERE is your chance to have your say on how West Lancashire Borough Council should spend money raised from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
CIL allows the council to raise funds from developers who are undertaking new building projects in the borough.
The money the council collects must be used to pay for a wide range of infrastructure needed to support new development around the borough.
This can include open spaces, parks, play areas, outdoor sports facilities, playing pitches, cycle paths, footpaths, and community facilities.
In recent years the council has given funding towards helping a wide range of projects, including:
The exciting Tawd Valley Park Masterplan proposals.
Improvements to a stretch of canal towpath between Burscough Wharf and Glovers Swing Bridge near Lathom.
The renovation and the extension of Mere Sands Wood Visitor Centre, Holmeswood.
Government legislation sets out how and where the council must use the money.
The majority of the CIL collected by the council must be used on infrastructure projects.
The council will save the bulk of the money up to fund larger, costlier projects in the future, but each year will allocate up to £100,000 to be spent in the next financial year.
The council wants to know residents views on how some of this money it has collected should be spent in the 2018/19 financial year.
The council has shortlisted a number of suitable projects from a much larger list of almost 100 potential schemes. The projects are: £60,000 for improvements to Hunters Hill Country Park, Parbold.
£40,000 for improvements to Cheshire Lines Path, Downholland.
£31,000 for improvements to Sluice Lane Public Right Of Way, Rufford.
The council wants to know if residents support CIL funding being spent on these projects.
Or you can tell them why you think any other projects listed at www.westlancs.gov.uk/CFP should be considered for funding in 2019/20 or even suggest your own ideas for suitable projects.
A smaller amount of the monies which the council collects must be used in the area local to where the money was collected from.
This ensures CIL money is spent directly where development takes place.
Usually, these local money are given to the parish council who decide how to use them in their local area but some areas, like Ormskirk, do not have a parish councils, so the council must decide how to spend those CIL monies in that local area.
The proposed Ormskirk projects are:
£30,000 for improvements at Coronation Park.
£40,000 for play area improvements at Thompson Avenue.
£50,000 for traffic signal coordination improvements in Ormskirk Town Centre.
£32,000 for improving a cycle and pedestrian link between the rail station and bus station in Ormskirk town centre.
Due to national guidance the public consultation regarding those Ormskirk projects is limited to Ormskirk residents and businesses.
Cllr John Hodson, portfolio holder for planning, said: “CIL money can help make some exciting projects a reality and the council really wants to hear what the public thinks, so please take part in this consultation.
“Each year the comments we receive help decide what we spend the money on so it’s important that you get involved.”
Comments on the consultations can be sent to the council any time up to Friday, November 9.
Further information on the draft CIL funding programme can be viewed, between the same dates, by visiting www. westlancs.gov.uk/CFP or dropping in to your local library or council office to view the documents.
If you have any questions phone 01695 585171.
You can submit your views online or by completing a comments form that is available at www.westlancs.gov.uk/CFP or in local libraries and returning it to the council by email to CIL@ westlancs.gov.uk or post to CIL Officer, Development and Regeneration Service, West Lancashire Borough Council, 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, L39 2DF.
All comments received will be considered as the council prepares its final recommendations. A final decision on how we spend CIL money will be made by the council’s cabinet in early 2019.