Rossendale council leader
LAST week, the council made the difficult decision to charge for garden waste collection.
It is not something we would have wanted to do in an ideal world but something we had to do because of reductions in our funding from both Lancashire County Council and the Government.
The County Council have just cut over £550,000 from our waste subsidy, meaning we had few options to make the service viable without making a charge.
We are one of the last councils in Lancashire to introduce this charge for what is a non-statutory service.
This option was put forward by a cross party working group involving both Labour and Conservative councillors.
Less than 20p in every pound of our Council Tax money goes to Rossendale Council and we provide a range of services for that, all of which are important to Rossendale residents.
The council’s budget will have lost £24m of funding from Government by 2020, which means we have had to make some very tough decisions, sadly this is unlikely to be the last one.
Although Rossendale Council faces tough times, the Labour group are still managing to deliver big projects. Since 2011, we have prioritised improving our town centres and although there is still a lot to do, much has been achieved. Spinning Point – Rawtenstall town centre redevelopment continues at pace and we are now looking at phase two.
A further public involvement session will be held on Saturday, October 14 at Longholme Methodist Church 10am to 12pm. You can also talk to Councillor Andy MacNae, on Facebook, on Thursday, October 12 between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. I will also be writing to all residents and businesses in Rawtenstall to outline the vision for phase two and ask for your feedback.
Civic Pride Rossendale was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service recently. This prestigious award is not handed out lightly, and is incredibly well deserved. The group, like all the other residents groups that get involved with litter picking and planting in the borough, do so much to make Rossendale a great place to live. Congratulations to all those involved.
Families throughout the borough are beavering away in specially organised workshops to help them put together lanterns for the Lantern Parade, which will take place in Stacksteads on the evening of October 28. Do go along if you can make it, it is a spectacular evening.
Like many local residents I joined in the art trail /open studio visits last weekend. This year 40 local artists and crafts people opened their doors in 19 venues across the borough. For those who missed it, the Whitaker will be showing a sample of pieces from most collections over the next few weeks.