Roughlee Parish Council
Police Q&A (6 Mar), elections, planning appeals, Parish Gathering...
First, to let you know that our next Parish Council meeting is on Monday 6th March at 7pm in the Village Centre.
We are expecting that the meeting will be attended by our local police officers who will be able to answer questions and deal with your local concerns. So if you have things you wish to discuss with the police please attend at 7pm.
Also on matters affecting the Parish Council, you may be aware that local Council elections will be held on 4th May 2023. These elections are for Pendle Borough Council and for Parish Councils including Roughee. At the moment Roughlee has 7 Parish Councillors but from the 4th May this will be increased to 9 members.This increase is to facilitate a wider diversification and to open up membership to new faces.
The Parish Council are therefore seeking expressions of interest from residents of Roughlee Parish who are interested in serving on the Council. The positions are on a voluntary, unpaid basis but if you are interested in getting involved in local matters and looking after our village please consider putting your name forward. Elections for the Parish Council will only be held if the number of candidates exceeds the 9 members. If you are interested please keep an eye out for the formal notifications or contact our Clerk, Mary Reed, to discuss further details.
Moving into Spring the FORA group are planning a programme of improvements and planting. These works include the planting of the Queen’s Canopy, part of a national programme of tree planting to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee. The village trees will be planted adjacent to the river near to the stepping stones footpath crossing.
Other works of improvement include upgrading the verge in front of the bus shelter at Happy Valley. The verge suffers from damage by heavy vehicles turning at these cross roads. We have recently received funding from the Borough Council to put sets into the verge which will hopefully restrict the damage and greatly improve the appearance of the verge.
As you may recall the Parish Council have submitted objections to planning applications at Whitehough (for 5 houses) and at Dam Head (for 2 houses). Both applications were refused by the Borough Council but in both cases the applications have been appealed to the Planning Inspectorate. If the appeals are accepted by the Inspectorate we will have the opportunity to comment on the Grounds of Appeal.
Finally a date for your diary. Every year we hold the Annual Parish Meeting which we call the Parish Gathering. This meeting is a legal requirement so that villagers can hold the Parish Council to account. Over the past few years we have tried to introduce a programme of presentations and items of interest followed by networking over a glass of wine. This year’s Gathering has been arranged for Monday 22nd May and we look forward to seeing you there.