Remembrance Day 2020

Contacting the Parish Council

Face Masks in Pendle

Pendle Council have let people know about the new measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus in Pendle. These include the need to wear face masks in enclosed public spaces such as shops and supermarkets from NOW (20th July 2020) in Pendle – www.pendle.gov.uk/coronavirus

Lane House Lane Playground

The playground continues to be open and is Covid safe.  It does not need to close in Lockdown 2.0.

Signs have been erected following the government guidance I have received.  Please remember to social distance, and if the playground is busy, you may wish to return a little later.

We hope that you can now enjoy the playground knowing that it is safe.  It will be sanitised every week until further notice.

Information and Help

I've received a link from Lancashire County Council with the details of all the help contacts during this time. Please do take a look and contact someone should you need to:

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/your-health-and-wellbeing/coronavirus/#section4

The 2020/21 budget

As the new Council Tax bills have been distributed to all households, I thought it important that the Parish Council shows you what we have budgeted for the year 2020/21.

The Councillors decided that, in order to protect Ball Grove Park, we should take ownership from Pendle Borough Council as soon as we are pleased with the quality of the maintenance on the Park. With this in mind, the amount of precept that the Parish Council has requested has risen from £52922 to £90000. The hope is that we can maintain Ball Grove for less in 2021/22 so the precept would be adjusted accordingly next April. All others areas of the budget have also been increased as the Councillors see fit in order to deliver the services that we do for the next year.

I have attached a pie chart showing the division of funds and an explanation sheet of what the actual money would be spent on.

Please see the pie chart and details in the attached files below.

Community Benches

Last year, we were lucky enough to secure funding for 2 community benches. One of these is at Boulsworth Drive, and the other is behind the Community Shop and Library.

Recycling

Pendle Council is taking a tough line with people who are putting general rubbish in their recycling bins.

Our recycling crews will be stepping up their efforts to check the blue bins for paper and card recycling for contamination.

If people put things we can’t recycle in their recycling bins we won’t empty them until they’ve removed the wrong things which contaminate our loads.
 

This is because Pendle Council has had 156 tonnes of paper and card rejected for recycling because it was mixed up with other rubbish including nappies and food waste!
 

This is almost a month’s worth of paper and card recycling which has been wasted and put into landfill.

It costs £130 per tonne for landfill. So for a 156 tonne amount the cost to Pendle taxpayers is a staggering £20,280.

To help tackle this problem, our crews will be putting stickers on the bins asking people who’ve put the wrong things in the wrong bin to remove them.

People can recycle it right by checking on their recycling calendar or look online on our website:  www.pendle.gov.uk/bluebin

Dog Fouling

The most complaints that the Parish Council receive are regarding parking and poo! As we always get an increase in the amount of complaints about dog poo at this time of year, at the recent Parish Council meeting, the Councillors decided that the issue should be highlighted.

As a result, I have purchased 10 cans of orange forestry paint (so that it washes away), to spray dog fouling around the Parish and then post the pictures. Hopefully this will make offenders aware that it is not acceptable, and then we can ask Pendle Council to monitor the areas with the biggest problems more often.

Here are the first few that have been taken since Thursday last week (12th December 2019).....

PRESS RELEASE

As Craig McBeth has missed 6 months worth of meetings in 2020, the law states that he should be removed from the Council.  This action has now taken place, and the Councillors will be filling the vacancy in due course.

In the meantime, please still be aware that Trawden Forest Parish Council would like to make it clear that, the actions, comments and political affliction of Craig McBeth in no way represent those of Trawden Forest Parish Council.

Dementia Information

Lancashire County Council have produced a newsletter from the 50+ Assembly and Older Peoples Champions with details of support, groups and events for people with dementia.  Please take a look at the newsletter below....

Potholes....

I know that there is a lot of talk about potholes on various pages, but I thought it would be useful to post the link to the County Council's page for reporting them, and the phone number to request a claim form if you've had your car damaged. They are:
Report a defect: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parkin…/fault-search.aspx
Claim form: 0300 123 6780 or email highways@lancashire,gov.uk

Make sure that you take a picture of the pothole that you've damaged your vehicle on, and you'll need to get a quote for the repairs to your vehicle.

Ball Grove Website

Ball Grove have a new website.  Why not take a look?  There's lot of information and some fabulous photo's on there.  The link is http://www.ballgrove.org/

Council Tax - 2019

For those who haven't already seen this, you'll be pleased to hear that the proportion of your Council Tax paid to Trawden Forest Parish Council has only been increased by £400.  This is a 0% rise to the whole bill as there are more properties in Trawden to share out this amount to.
As many of you know, the Parish Council are already responsible for ensuring delivery of some services within the Parish. These are currently all of the bus shelters, Lanehouse Lane Playground, roadside seating, Christmas decorations (the big tree at the Community Centre, the star at the Church and the star at Winewall) We also have to pay for the Countryside Footpath service, and have acquired the garage sites at both Cotton Tree and Ash Villa's on Colne Road.

The Parish Council also supply the dog fouling bags on the Recreation Ground and near to the school in a bid to combat the ever increasing issues of people not picking up after their pets.  More signs have been recently erected to remind people that they must pick up after their dogs.

We also support the fantastic work that the volunteers of Trawden in Bloom do, which keeps our villages looking their best. This, of course is reflected in the prizes that the group win year after year.
From April, we will be contributing 75% to the maintenance costs of Ball Grove as Pendle Borough Council will cut back on the service it provides if not. We have also been transferred various parcels of land around the village that now require the Parish Council to pay for their mowing.  The Parish Council also now owns the full length of the tram tracks.
We also support the fantastic work that the Community Centre trustees do, and have already helped financially to the set-up of the new building as it is an asset to the whole village.

The Parish Council have recently sub-contracted a new Lengthsman to do the jobs around the village that, would otherwise get left.  So far this year, he's rebuilt part of a wall, cleared out gullies and drains on Colne Road, and made some huge in-roads to the overgrown Harambee Surgery Garden.  Please take the time to have a look at this garden; it really is surprising how big it is.
If you would like any more information about anything we do, please do get in touch

Parish Councillors

Councillors have an active interest and concern for their local community. They represent local people and work in partnership with them and others when necessary. They help facilitate the provision of local services and facilities and take decisions that form the policy of the Council.
Councillors are not paid and have to abide by a local government code of conduct and declare their financial interests in the parish. Councillors must also declare a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter under discussion at a parish council meetings.