Coun Miles Parkinson
Council leader
AS this is my first Observer viewpoint since the recent Council local elections, I want to let you know that we will continue to work hard in our drive to keep costs down and carry on our prudent financial management since taking control of the Council in 2011, whilst protecting your front line services and ensuring that Hyndburn is very much open for business.
My new Cabinet members and I have bold aspirations for a prosperous Borough.
Cllr Paul Cox, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Cllr Jenny Molineux, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, Cllr Joyce Plummer, Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Loraine Cox, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration and Cllr Munsif Dad, Cabinet Member for Education, Leisure and Arts, are raring to go.
They are all keen to start work on their areas of responsibility within their portfolios, and, like me, they are really looking forward to the busy year ahead. We’ll carry on working with local business partners to deliver new employment opportunities.
Last year we helped create over 2,000 new job opportunities and helped in the delivery of new manufacturing and distribution units in several of our employment areas, including Frontier Park and Altham business sites.
We’ve already worked to deliver new family homes across Hyndburn by developing brown field sites and protecting the green belt land around all our townships.
We’ll carry on bringing forward brown field sites for regeneration and supporting the campaign for an extended M65 and improved rail links, to allow for better access to Manchester and Leeds in our drive for increased prosperity in Hyndburn.
We’ll continue our campaign to bring visitors into Accrington. Just recently a fabulous free music festival featuring Toploader brought thousands of people into the Town Square, and we look forward to welcoming several thousands more to enjoy many more events there including the ever popular Food & Drink Festival on June 1.
We’ll carry on working with business owners in the area around the Town Square to refurbish their shop fronts and will spend over £1 million on grants to restore some of the great heritage features in Accrington town centre.
We’ll also continue our drive for cleanliness in the Borough and will continue to take a tough stance on litter louts and irresponsible dog owners who blight our streets, parks and open spaces.
Our message is clear - if you don’t drop litter and cigarette butts, and always pick up after your dog, you won’t risk a fine.
Health and wellbeing are vitally important for a better life, which is why we’ve invested in all our parks, and eight of them now boast the prestigious green flag, with another one to be submitted this year.
We now have a new Local Nature Reserve at Peel Park & Woodnook Vale and we’ve provided new equipment and sports provision right across the Borough, including projects at Milnshaw and Mercer Parks.
Also, this Sunday, May 19, we look forward to the official reopening of Rhyddings Park after its £2 million transformation.
Of course we can’t do this on our own, communities are at the heart of what we do and we’re blessed here in Hyndburn to have so many people and groups who volunteer their time and energy to make where we live better, and our parks and open spaces are great examples of what can be achieved by the community. A huge thanks to them all.