New Leader announces the new Executive for Pendle Council

Pendle Council’s new leader, Councillor Mohammed Iqbal, has announced the new Executive which will run the council for the next twelve months.
The new shared Executive of ten councillors, comprising six Labour councillors and four Liberal Democrats, has agreed a ten point plan for the year ahead.

The new portfolios and the councillors which will lead them have also been agreed, with Councillor Tony Greaves of the Liberal Democrats continuing as Deputy Leader of the Council.

Councillor Iqbal said:

“The driving force for this plan is to protect facilities and services  across all parts of Pendle despite Government cuts and to ensure fairness throughout all our local communities.

“Our top priorities include helping to create jobs for Pendle people by working with a range of agencies including the Pendle Vision Board and Nelson and Colne College.

“We’ll also support this by building a stronger relationship with Lancashire County Council and the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership” he said.

“And we’ll also be working together to tackle housing problems in disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Pendle, for a better quality of life for local people,” he added.

The ten point plan also includes: 
• Work to develop brownfield sites throughout Pendle as a priority over greenfield development
• Tackling street-level Issues that matter to people where they live, including problems with dogs and dog dirt, litter and anti-social behaviour
• Increasing the supply of social housing across Pendle by working with Housing Pendle and other social housing providers  including helping those affected by the ‘bedroom tax’
• Working with traders and other partners to strengthen all our town centres including tackling empty properties, encouraging new traders and the occupation of empty shops.
“Due to reductions in funding from central Government, we will continue to work in partnership with Town and Parish Councils and other organisations to maintain local services and facilities wherever possible,” Councillor Iqbal explained.

“And we will back this up with a funding pot for local community projects and services on a one-off basis to help them carry out this work,” he said.
Councillor Iqbal stressed:

“Despite the funding cuts, I want to ensure that Pendle as a place continues to prosper.

“As the Leader of the Council, I will have an ‘open door’ policy for any businesses and individuals who have ideas that are committed to taking the development of Pendle forward as a place to work, live and to do business.”

The new Executive and their portfolios

   
The priorities for the next 12 months agreed between the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups on Pendle Council as part of the agreement for a shared Executive between the two parties:

•Work to make sure that all parts of Pendle receive fair treatment from the Council in the provision of services and facilities.

•Work to maintain local services and facilities in all parts of Pendle to the maximum possible extent in the face of the draconian cuts in funding imposed by the Government, including where appropriate the programme of devolution of services and facilities, with their agreement, to town and parish councils and other bodies.

•A funding pot for local community projects and services on a one-off basis to assist local groups (including town and parish councils) to carry out this work.

•Work with Housing Pendle and other social housing providers to increase the supply of social housing across Pendle. To include housing designed to be suitable for people on the housing list as well as those affected by the bedroom tax.

•Work to tackle housing problems in disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Pendle. Including continued action to reduce the numbers of empty houses including those causing a nuisance to neighbours, and tackling problems in some areas of private rented accommodation starting with central Colne based on Waterside to be followed if successful by Southfield and parts of Brierfield and Barnoldswick.

•Explore joint working with other agencies to create jobs for local people. In particular we want to build a better and more productive relationship with Lancashire County Council and the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), while maintaining the independence and distinctiveness of Pendle. Getting the Brierfield Mill scheme off the ground is our immediate top priority in this area.

•Work with traders and other partners to support and strengthen all our town centres – to include promoting business in our towns, tackling empty properties, and encouraging new traders and the occupation of empty shops. Priorities to be tackled in town centres include (among others) the old Health Centre in Colne, work to support Nelson town centre, and promoting the unique attraction of our smaller centres such as Barnoldswick.

•We will put special emphasis on tackling the Street-level Issues that matter to people where they live, including dogs and dog dirt, street cleansing and litter, quality of green and amenity land, and anti-social behaviour.

•Work to develop brownfield sites throughout Pendle as a priority over greenfield development. We see brownfield sites such as Oak Mill on Skipton Road, Colne and the Mansfield School site in Brierfield as a priority focus for Council action.

•Work to recreate a sense of belonging to Pendle as the sum of its diverse and distinctive towns and villages.

For further information please contact: Sarah Lee, Communications Manager, Chief Executive's Policy Unit, Pendle Council, Town Hall, Market Street, Nelson, BB9 7LG

Tel: 01282 661988