Your views
HILLS ARE FULL OF BEAUTY
I LIVE in Waterfoot and I have lived in the Valley all of my life and I love hiking and photography. I love hiking around the hills of Rossendale and further afield.
While hiking up and around Cope Lowe, Waterfoot, I spotted this image (right) looking over Ramsbottom and Peel Tower and I instantly fell in love with the view and felt a real of proudness of what a beautiful area we live in.
I was hoping that you could share the image, as I feel it could open up that found respect for the area and help people fall back in love with the beautiful countryside we live in. Chris France via email
SPINNING POINT NOT RIGHT PLAN
I WAS shocked to read the letter from Alyson Barnes in the paper, responding to the Scribbler’s calls for political unity and questions about the divisiveness of the plans for Rawtenstall.
Shocked for several reasons.
I will try and address the points in turn. The letter itself was full of misleading information.
It was stated that Conservatives are in favour of Spinning Point. This is incorrect. Conservatives are in favour of regenerating the town centre, however Spinning Point is not the right plan.
It destroys and ignores the heritage of Rawtenstall and Rossendale.
It fails to tackle some of the serious problems like parking. And it is being done against the views of the businesses and residents of Rawtenstall. As such we could never support this. We would seek to re-consult everyone involved in the future of the town.
There is then a discussion about working together in local politics.
As I’ve stated before this is something I fully support. This is the first time I have heard Alyson say this.
Never before has an interest been shown in working together. I firmly believe if the Labour group had worked with Conservatives on these proposals instead of steam rolling their ideas through, these plans would have been stronger and more widely welcomed.
To date Labour have not sought or listened to any alternative suggestions on these plans, full stop. It is a shame this change of heart has only just materialised.
Secondly – electioneering. I won’t say much more than with her seat and her control up for election it makes sense for the leader to use something like this to push a political message out. Words are nice, but actions speak louder.
Seven years into Labour’s control of Rossendale and all we have are their broken promises and failed opportunities.
Finally, the plans themselves. Someone said to me recently ‘when you have Rossendale Civic Trust and the Chamber of Commerce working together you know something is wrong’. I couldn’t agree more.
Residents have spoken to me in significant numbers against these plans.
In fact, I’ve yet to find someone outside of Labour who believes this is the plan that Rawtenstall needs. They call this a ‘vanity project’.
The inability of the Labour leader to hear this demonstrates that the time for change is now. Before it is too late.
Our team are united in the mission of delivering a better Rossendale for everyone. Day in, day out the conversations we have with you on the doorstep are shaping our plan. And day in, day out we are delivering for you. Personally, I think the record of the last few years speaks for itself. Annabel Shipley Interim Conservative Group Leader, RBC
DISAPPOINTED AT BABY POOL
HAVING the day off with my young son, we went to Marl Pits to use the baby pool (open from 12-1). We arrived at 12.03 and was told it was at a maximum capacity of 25.
So disappointing to see the facility so poorly used and parents being turned away.
We will again have to take our business outside of Rossendale! Mr Smith An angry parent
SAD DAY AS DEPOT CLOSES
I AM having to mop tears from my keyboard as I type my observations.
It is of course the final nail in the proverbial and the closure of Rawtenstall Corporation, Rossendale Transport and lastly of course Rosso, which I was just managing to come to terms with.
When the sale was announced we lost the prowess of being only one of a few municipal transport undertakings left in the country.
Thanks to various general managers and the council it has survived for more than a century.
As we have become aware money is now a problem in most undertakings, including transport, and the carrot offered to the council would be hard to resist.
But looking forward now to 7th April 2018, the lads and lassies at the Haslingden depot are ‘celebrating’ the closure of the premises and the loss of local transport completely in Rossendale.
We are now reliant upon Rochdale, Blackburn and Burnley depots to supply staff and vehicles for the Rossendale area.
So now I would wish to pose a question to the council and the directors of Transdev. Will this not make an impact on waste production and greenhouse gases?
Firstly I am presuming there will be a considerable amount of ‘dead mileage’ bringing buses from the outlying locations to operate the Rawtenstall routes. Or will this be an opportunity for smaller bus companies such as Pilkingtons et al to tender for the non ‘mainline’ routes serving non profitable local estates, I am sure Transdev will be happy to do this.
Secondly I have not heard of any staff reductions, therefore staff living in the Rossendale area will have to commute to their new locations.
Again, waste of person power time and burning fuel for transportation.
Thirdly I am presuming the buildings in Haslingden attracted rates etc and will need to be reoccupied in order that the loss of income is minimal. William M Ewing via email