Clitheroe town council asks for help after factory redundancies (From Lancashire Telegraph)

The council is doing everything in its power to make things worse in Clitheroe. Planning applications are being approved that will just add to the unemployment problem when those that buy the houses will have no employment to go to.
It is not only Castle cement that has made redundancies. Ultraframe has laid off over 500 people in the last few years. Stalwart has closed, and many other businesses have cut back.
People all over are getting fed up with the jobcentre when they are told to apply for at least three jobs per week or have their benefits stopped when there are no jobs and people are being made redundant all over the place.
They can throw as much money at the problem as they like but with so much industry being exported to China,and any job vacancies going to foreign agency workers things are never going to improve. If things get much worse the potential for civil unrest is going to become greater.

Several RVBC councillors voted against a motion to reject a planning application which would have reduced potential stone reserves in Lane Head quarry and therefore the longer term future of existing Hanson jobs. Perhaps you can excuse Longridge councilors but one of them was allegedly key Lib demmic Susan Knox, its all part of the eco-fascist inspired plan to economically cleanse all the indigenous locals from the Ribble Valley. The new 20 Mph speed limits are also a good reason for decent people to avoid Clitheroe in future.

Things aren't helped when the government allows a major company like Tesco's to take on workers whilst only paying them Job Seekers Allowance PLUS expenses on Night Shifts, (google it for more details), what the hell is this country coming to.

Tesco's makes millions in profit's it can afford to pay it's workers properly, what happened to the minimum wage?

petestan wrote:
Things aren't helped when the government allows a major company like Tesco's to take on workers whilst only paying them Job Seekers Allowance PLUS expenses on Night Shifts, (google it for more details), what the hell is this country coming to. Tesco's makes millions in profit's it can afford to pay it's workers properly, what happened to the minimum wage?

Is not only Tesco's. Sainsbury's have done the same

Where are the green brigade now, it seems they have protested people out of work as we knew they would.
they targeted castle cement for years. ah well we can all sit around and admire the scenery. come on greenies whats your answer,

Maybe all you clitheroe boys and girls shouldn't have voted Tory then! What did you expect to happen when that sweaty faced buffoon George Osborne screwed up the country.

shytalk wrote:

petestan wrote:
Things aren't helped when the government allows a major company like Tesco's to take on workers whilst only paying them Job Seekers Allowance PLUS expenses on Night Shifts, (google it for more details), what the hell is this country coming to. Tesco's makes millions in profit's it can afford to pay it's workers properly, what happened to the minimum wage?

Is not only Tesco's. Sainsbury's have done the same

This is no longer true Sainsburys, Waterstones and TK Maxx, have now left the scheme. A spokesperson for TK Maxx stated in The Guardian on the 16/2/12 "We take our responsibilities as a retailer and employer very seriously and work with a number of bodies that help people get into work. We do not currently support compulsory non-paid work experience in our business." The same article also indicates that Poundland may also be reviewing it's position. With regard this scheme. I will in future only shop at stores which do not subscribe to this "initiative". I hope everyone else chooses to do the same.

So sad to see that the real world is now threatening to creep in to the rural idyll that is the Ribble Valley. However, as it seems that due to housing being economically out of reach of the majority of the historical local population Mr Evans probably has nothing to worry about. The people who are likey to vote against him are probably having to live outside of the constituency, whilst having to commute back in to their work, (whilst it lasts). Effectively this means that the people with traditional ancestral ties can now no longer have a say in what should have been their community.

jack daniels wrote:
Maybe all you clitheroe boys and girls shouldn't have voted Tory then! What did you expect to happen when that sweaty faced buffoon George Osborne screwed up the country.

Actually Clitheroe itself is a Lib Dem town it holds most of seats on the Town Council although now there are 2 or 3 Tories out of the 10 councillors.

http://www.clitheroe
towncouncil.gov.uk/P
ages/Councillors.htm

petestan wrote:
Things aren't helped when the government allows a major company like Tesco's to take on workers whilst only paying them Job Seekers Allowance PLUS expenses on Night Shifts, (google it for more details), what the hell is this country coming to. Tesco's makes millions in profit's it can afford to pay it's workers properly, what happened to the minimum wage?

Codex Alimentarious

Malthus wrote:
So sad to see that the real world is now threatening to creep in to the rural idyll that is the Ribble Valley. However, as it seems that due to housing being economically out of reach of the majority of the historical local population Mr Evans probably has nothing to worry about. The people who are likey to vote against him are probably having to live outside of the constituency, whilst having to commute back in to their work, (whilst it lasts). Effectively this means that the people with traditional ancestral ties can now no longer have a say in what should have been their community.

Quite true Malthus, but don't hold your breath with regards to Nigel Evans getting re elected. If he does he will find he has lost a lot of votes.
There are many who don't like the fact that he now bats for the other side. Peoples views are being ignored,and their other views are about to be obscured by concrete. Those who enjoy the finer things in life are not happy bunnies at the moment. Those that do work and now find themselves unable to do work are upset off even more.

shytalk wrote:

Malthus wrote:
So sad to see that the real world is now threatening to creep in to the rural idyll that is the Ribble Valley. However, as it seems that due to housing being economically out of reach of the majority of the historical local population Mr Evans probably has nothing to worry about. The people who are likey to vote against him are probably having to live outside of the constituency, whilst having to commute back in to their work, (whilst it lasts). Effectively this means that the people with traditional ancestral ties can now no longer have a say in what should have been their community.

Quite true Malthus, but don't hold your breath with regards to Nigel Evans getting re elected. If he does he will find he has lost a lot of votes.
There are many who don't like the fact that he now bats for the other side. Peoples views are being ignored,and their other views are about to be obscured by concrete. Those who enjoy the finer things in life are not happy bunnies at the moment. Those that do work and now find themselves unable to do work are upset off even more.

Unfortunately I doubt Evans is going anywhere. Clitheroe residents may not be happy with him but the rest of the Valley especially the villages and the Preston area will keep him in place.

Besides which most people vote for a National Goverment at a general election not who they want as their local MP and I can't see many in the Ribble Valley ever voting anything but Tory.

Evans knows this hence why he can get away with being the Deputy Speaker and effectively not vote on anything or do anything for his constituents. He used to be in the local paper regularly spouting off about various things that were happening, now you hardly hear anything from him until it comes to election time.

A recent report said the 60% of the cement being used to rebuild Iraq, is being suplied by a French company.
Questions. 1, How many troops did France have In Iraq, when Sadam was overthrown. (NONE) 2 What is Nigel Evans doing about it. Hansom cement is in his patch. Oh! silly me. He is more interested in being Deputy Speaker.

So with employment opportunities reducing daily why do we need another 4000 houses in the Ribble Valley? Why are 1859 of these to be built in Clitheroe. The problem here is that RVBC are relying on out of date facts and figures. All the data the Council are using comes from 2008 when we had employers like Castle Cement and Ultraframe employing over 900 people. Since then there are many businesses around Clitheroe that have either shut up shop or reduced their employee numbers dramatically. I don't think the Council's decision of more houses for fewer jobs makes much sense. What will make sense to RVBC is the £38million plus they will receive in council tax over the next 6 years.
The current government have reduced local govenment funding and Tory run councils are towing the line in order to back Cameron and his gang. But the RVBC cannot manage without raising more revenue. So the answer to the 1,000 plus people who have so far signed a petition against the unfair housing distribution in Clitheroe is - the more we build the more money we make!!!

Also to previous posters looking to change the colour of Clitheroe and the RV politically. Don't forget the Purple and Yellow of UKIP!!!

Steve Rush of course the council wants more council tax it's obvious, plus if they are to be believed, they have no choice in the matter of the no. of houses as supposedly it's a government edict.,they just have a choice of where they go.

The reality is though that the developer will only build so many IF they can sell them and they will not build them all in one go, they will be phased in over a number of years depending upon how soon they sell.
Clitheroe is already becoming a commuter town and this will just mean even more of them as there is not much work locally.

All UKIP does is split the voters even more, therefore giving Evans even less chance of being voted out, as we saw in the recent by-election.

petestan wrote:
Steve Rush of course the council wants more council tax it's obvious, plus if they are to be believed, they have no choice in the matter of the no. of houses as supposedly it's a government edict.,they just have a choice of where they go. The reality is though that the developer will only build so many IF they can sell them and they will not build them all in one go, they will be phased in over a number of years depending upon how soon they sell. Clitheroe is already becoming a commuter town and this will just mean even more of them as there is not much work locally. All UKIP does is split the voters even more, therefore giving Evans even less chance of being voted out, as we saw in the recent by-election.

UKIP are gaining a hell of a lot of support in the Clitheroe area.

shytalk wrote:

petestan wrote:
Steve Rush of course the council wants more council tax it's obvious, plus if they are to be believed, they have no choice in the matter of the no. of houses as supposedly it's a government edict.,they just have a choice of where they go. The reality is though that the developer will only build so many IF they can sell them and they will not build them all in one go, they will be phased in over a number of years depending upon how soon they sell. Clitheroe is already becoming a commuter town and this will just mean even more of them as there is not much work locally. All UKIP does is split the voters even more, therefore giving Evans even less chance of being voted out, as we saw in the recent by-election.

UKIP are gaining a hell of a lot of support in the Clitheroe area.

If you say so but at the last general election on 2010 they came in 4th place miles behind the 3rd place Lib Dems, Evans increased his majority by 600 votes and Labour vastly increased their votes.

petestan fails to see what UKIP are doing here in the valley.

Two years ago we had no voice and no choice. it was cons or libs.
And that is not much of a choice is it.
Now we have a 3rd choice UKIP who are increasing their share of the votes every time we stand in any election.
two years ago our vote here was zero. now its stands at 26% in the Clitheroe area (cons 31% libs 30%) not bad for a new 10year oldish party.

Lancashire is now the top area in England for UKIP voters and supporters. We increased our votes from the last election by 54%. Mr Evans will be in retirement by the next election mark my words. He is like them brass monkeys, sees nowt, hears nowt, and bygum says nowt. he writes well enough but with little or no results. What a waster.

With regards to the housing boom here in the valley, Ukip was the first party to see what it was in its true colours, a multi million pound pay back to the Cons backers.
Dont forget that both the Cons and the Libs ( suitcliffe and Berryman) all support more houses here in the valley and especialy Clitheroe.
Both of them approved more housing in the Whalley area.

UKIP (when Steve was asked to help due to him working in Whalley and knowing a lot of the residances there) was asked early on with the Whalley applications to keep our parties name off any correspondence due to the orginisers wishing it to be a none Political campaign.

Pity that the Libs are now using their support (S.Knox) in their
monthly propagander sheets, to make it look like they are the only ones who care. What a load of Bull.

With regards to more Employment and trying to get more companies to move here. That is going to be very hard to do. The Hyndburn area has lots of new buildings still empty, they are unable even to get any enquiries. So what chance has the RV.

Most of the current workforce in the RV are either foriegners or live outside the RV. So why build new houses for them.

UKIP Ron in your dreams, UKIP has no MP's in the House of Commons and the 13 euro MP's they had are now down to 11 due to defections, all that happens when UKIP runs is as I said you split the voters even more making it even more likely Evans will be re-elected. Unfortunately the villages in the Ribble Valley are all Tory territory and will never vote anyone else in. I agree most of the workforce in the Ribble Valley live outside of it due to the cost of houses but unfortunately even the so called "Low cost" houses are way to expensive for people to actually work and live here.
Personally I don't know how they can call them low cost as the buyer not only has to get a mortgage on the quarter or half of the part they own, but they then have to pay a massive rent on the part they don't.
How are young people supposed to afford it especially given the wages paid here.

well i agree with 90% of what petestan is saying about the housing market and availablility.

I wish like him people would stop saying the lower cost housing are affordable.
There is no way normal people can afford them.
It appears from the news channels that most housing thats being built for the affordable housing market are being sold to overseas investment people, being done before they are put on the market here in the UK.
Backing up the facts that they the developers are only in it for the big money.
Keep writing petestan we need more like you to offer a good debate.