Roughlee Parish Council
Barry Watson, Capital grants, Parish Gathering (1 July)...
Our later-than-normal meeting in May (due to bank holidays) started with the equivalent of our Annual General Meeting, this is the annual process that we go through to appoint officials and any associated tasks. This proved to be straight forward with all duties staying the same. However, Barry Watson decided it was the right time after 12 years of service to step down as a councillor from the PC. I would like to take this opportunity for the work, time and service that Barry has given us over those years. It’s been a pleasure in both of my tenures to have worked with Barry. I wish him well. We did a have some new faces at our meeting showing interest in joining the PC. So let’s hope that we can keep them interested and enthused.
April / May is the time when we can bid for capital grants from PBC and one of the ideas that we had, was to try to replace the very tired railings and concrete posts in front of Waterfall cottages with a more aesthetic stone wall. Sadly, we have hit a few stumbling blocks which have made it a non-starter. First was cost, with the limited funds that we (the PC) have and the potential grant funding available from PBC, it was felt that the project financially was too big for us take on by ourselves and we had a fear that it could take us 3 or more years to complete it. Secondly and more importantly, we have been professionally advised that due to the proximity of the wall to the highway it is most definitely a Lancashire County Council task and that we could be naïve in attempting it. With this in mind, we alongside PBC have raised the issue with LCC and will continue to encourage them on its progress. Needless to say this could take a very long time.
It’s the time of year when we hold our Annual Parish Gathering, this is due to take place in July and plans are well advanced with the guest speakers, unfortunately, the date has had to be changed (due to an election of some sort) and we have provisionally pencilled in Monday July the 1st for this event. So please put the date in your diary’s as this is your opportunity to meet the the team, find out what what we do, but more importantly have glass of wine and some nibbles after the event.