LCC so out of touch on woodlands call
County Council’s cash-is-king approach against the grain for community-inspired Valley
IT’S hard to tell whether Lancashire County Council’s leadership is capable of admitting to ever getting anything wrong - but recent events suggest attention to detail isn’t its strong point.
The decision to sell a number of woodlands the authority owns in and around Rossendale should have been the subject of discussions in advance.
Instead, it appears the first we knew about it here in Rossendale is when the ‘for sale’ signs went up.
The good news is that the woods were removed from auction after community groups and local politicians swung into action.
It was also reassuring to see a local county councillor, Tory David Foxcroft, put local people ahead of party politics and tell the Tory leadership in Preston that they needed to have a rethink.
Several sites across the Valley had been due to be sold by Lancashire County Council on December 3 at a combined guide price of £150,000, but they have been given a stay of execution after a bid was launched to declare the woods as assets of community value.
The sites that were at risk were Greenfold Tree Planting Site, Sunny Bank Woodland and Bottomley Tree Planting Site in Crawshawbooth, Horncliffe Quarry Woodlands in Rawtenstall, Scar End Hey Tree Planting Site in Weir and Crow Wood in Edenfield.
According to the county council: “These lots have been withdrawn from the auction, due to community interest which was not forthcoming when we advertised the sale in September, but has come to light since we put them forward for sale.
“No decision about their future will be made until this community interest has been explored.”
A good result - and well done to the local borough council, which helped trigger the community asset process, and the local community groups involved, for ensuring they were able to act in time.
But hopefully LCC’s political leadership will pause to reflect on what went wrong here - and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Of course, the gaping hole in the county council’s finances is a massive worry, and there remains the prospect of the county council going bust within the next few years if finances don’t improve.
The fact that the county council has been all but silent on the scandal which is funding cuts ever since the administration changed from Labour to Tories a couple of years ago gives the impression council leader Geoff Driver and his team are happy to just keep swinging the axe.
And they’ve swung the axe quite effectively from a PR - and therefore, vote-winning - point of view.
They can boast saving libraries, bus routes and museums, but hidden cuts to things like support for troubled families, police funding to make public transport safer and discounted bus fares to help disabled people get to work have all been implemented.
Maybe to the county council, selling a few woods they don’t have much use for made complete sense. If it did, it smacks of an authority which is out of touch with the public it is meant to serve.
Selling woodland which could be used for anything in the future was always going to generate opposition.
And here in Rossendale, there’s a proven track record of community groups and organisations stepping in to make things happen. Look at the Whitaker, look at Ski Rossendale.
Look at Civic Pride or the new management team for the markets.
LCC could have gone about its woodland disposal in a very different way. Instead, it chose to go straight for the cash. It could not look more out of touch if it tried.