A Month in the Ward: Your Councillors’ Update for May

By Councillors Tom Besford and Richard Jackson, Labour and Co-operative Councillors for Littleborough Lakeside

May has been an incredibly busy month for us both, and we wanted to give residents an update of what we have been getting on with on your behalf.

On the environment and green spaces front, we have been working hard to get repairs done to the bandstand in Hare Hill Park after it was vandalised again - something that is as frustrating for us as it is for the community groups who use and love the park. We also attended meetings of LEAF, Friends of Hare Hill Park and Littleborough Civic Trust, to stay closely connected with the people who give so much of their time to our local area. We have also been managing a difficult situation between the Council and park volunteers over the booking and use of facilities at Hare Hill Park, working to get that resolved in a way that works for everyone.

Fly-tipping at Summit has been dealt with, blocked gullies and potholes reported, and we have been tackling antisocial parking at the lake during the half-term good weather - something that generated a lot of messages from residents, and rightly so. We have also reported antisocial behaviour at the High Nets Course at Hollingworth Lake.

We wrote to the MP regarding the lake garage following yet another break-in. Three failed planning applications later, we think it is time for some public pressure on the situation - it cannot simply be left to deteriorate further.

We have been supporting residents affected by dust from the Bloor Homes development site, which has caused real distress for some households nearby. Two residents have also been helped to access assisted bin collections, and we have supported a local business with a planning permission matter.

A rat infestation on Todmorden Road has been dealt with, and the shop in the old Royal Oak pub was closed following a breach of licensing laws, something again that many residents raised concerns about. We have also started enforcement proceedings regarding suspected unlawful activity in the green belt.

The proposed school streets programme at Smithy Bridge Primary has been reviewed and will be coming to the next Pennines Township meeting along with an update on the A58 traffic reduction measure we raised as a priority for the Council in a motion at the end of last year. We have read and shared information about new local domestic abuse services commissioned by the Council. Tom has also joined the EM Green Champions group.

We raised the chaos at Sudden junction with the relevant cabinet member, discussing practical solutions to ease the pressure there. We have also continued pushing our campaign against the illegal digging of peatland on Blackstone Edge, an issue that matters deeply to the long-term health of our upland environment.

It has been a busy week of scrutiny committee meetings between us we sit on all 3 of these committees - Health, Schools and Care; Communities, Regeneration and Environment; and Corporate. These are the arguably some of the most important meetings we attend as Councillors as they are where we as members have the ability to scrutinise the decisions being made and to ensure that services are delivering for residents. 

We have been liaising with the Friends of Littleborough Stations about Network Rail going back on commitments around new public toilet facilities at the station and look forward to attending their upcoming meeting to discuss this further.

Both of us also attended refresher training on governance and the Councillor Code of Conduct, and we held our regular surgery at Smithy Bridge Library and Littleborough United Reform Church. Our surgeries are on the first Saturday of the month at the United Reformed Church and the 3rd Saturday of the month at Smithybridge Library (both 10am until 11am) - do come along if you have something you want to raise with us.

This is just a small snapshot of what we have been doing. Behind the scenes there is a constant stream of casework, conversations on Facebook, WhatsApp, by email, over the phone, and face to face. We are always here - don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Contact the Littleborough Councillors