Parish News

The Annual Parish Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 13th May, and you are all invited to attend. Local groups and the PC will be talking about what has happened in the village during the last year and what will be happening in the future for about one hour then we will finish with beer, fine wine and high-class nibbles. This is a village social providing us all with the chance to catch up with what is happening, those we do not see often enough and the local gossip – it is always a good night so please come along.

The Parish Council now has a full membership and your Councillors for 2025/26 are Lynne Rushworth, Garry Grimshaw, Daniel Goldsbrough, John Connor, Jayne Harthan, James McGregor and me. Our contact details are in this newsletter.

The big news in the month has been the fire at the Pendle Inn mid-afternoon on 22 April. The fire was at the rear of the extension building used as a wash and drying room and a store which included cleaning products which helped accelerate the fire. The fire was intense when fire engines arrived and used a variety of equipment to extinguish the fire.

Peter from the Pendle Inn reported that there was limited damage to the pub and the conservatory which should not take long to put right. There was no fire damage to kitchen, but smoke and water had spread into the area. It took a couple of days to tidy up but the pub soon re-opened – well done to them.
We are all aware of the congestion that can occur on Cross Lane above the Village Hall due to parking on both sides of the road so only permitting one vehicle though at any one time. On occasions drivers also park on the footpath so forcing pedestrians to walk in the narrow space available on the road.

The PC have been lobbying Lancs CC to address this issue and proposed parking enforcement in the shape of double yellow lines on the Village Hall verge side of the road – the other side has a footpath offering refuge to people alighting from vehicles. A site meeting was held with LCC Traffic Engineers back in March and they were generally supportive and so a process has begun. This is always a long process of assessment, consultation and hopefully the issuing of Traffic Regulation Orders. The PC have submitted images of parked vehicles and congestion as evidence. If you take any pictures of congestion in this area, please forward to me or post on the Residents Facebook page and I will send them to LCC to add to the assessment process.

We have again entered the Best Kept Village Competition and judging starts in early June. Please do your bit and adopt the public areas near to your home, whether it’s just weeding and sweeping the roadside, litter picking, sweeping paths, putting up hanging baskets or by planting flowers etc. The village cannot win without your support.

A couple of items to bring to your attention, there was a theft of fencing timbers from the layby at the entrance to Boothman Park on 3/4th of April and the Planning Inspectorate supported PBC refusal of a planning application for solar panels at Ogden Hill Farm because the scale of the proposal would have an adverse effect on character and appearance within the AONB.

FYI – Network Plus are planning to a temporary road closure on Cross Lane operative from 0800 hours on 9th June 2025 until 1700 hours on 11th June 2025 or until completion of the works within this period.

Final Reminder, the Annual Parish meeting will be on Tuesday 13th May.