Non-Darwen town board member is ‘breach’

2:54pm Wednesday 12th September 2012 in News

THE leader of Blackburn with Darwen Liberal Democrats has hit out at the appointment of a ‘non-Darwen’ councillor to the town centre partnership board.

The board, set up to help regenerate Darwen town centre, has four councillors, one being the executive member for regeneration and three Darwen councillors.

The other councillors on the board are Labour’s Eileen Entwistle, Brian Taylor and Dave Smith.

Fernhurst councillor Denise Gee, a Conservative, was recently appointed to the board, but Whitehall councillor David Foster, said this was a breach of its constitution.

He said: “They have put up a councillor whose ward is outside Darwen.

“It is a breach of the board’s constitution and I have written to all members of the board.”

Coun Gee, who has a stall on Darwen’s three-day market and lives in the town, said she had a right to sit on the board.

She said: “Anybody who wants to question my values for Darwen can go ahead.

“I represent Blackburn with Darwen and my family business has been in Darwen town centre for decades.”

Comments(2)

louderfasterlonger says...
4:55pm Wed 12 Sep 12

I agree with David Foster on this. The Constitution actually states Exec. member for Regen. and two from the Darwen Wards.
Which is exactly what they had before Cllr Gee joined. Perhaps if one of the Lib. Dems. was nominated by the opposition he would overlook the extra member on the board.
Having just looked at the constitution, it also calls sunnyhurst, sunny hill. So neither Cllr Taylor or Smith ought to be on the board if we want to be padantic.

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pm1960 says...
5:29pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Part of Fernhurst Ward is in Darwen and part in Blackburn. All of Fernhurst Ward is in the Rossendale & Darwen Constituency. So it can be argued that Fernhurst is a 'Darwen' ward.
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The original constitution said that the 3 ward Councillors from Sunnyhurst ('Sunnyhill' !) should be on the Board as that ward covers about 90% of the town centre. However that got changed somewhere along the line.....
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The solution is easy - just go back to the original constitution !

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