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Hyndburn leader set to snub bus lanes meeting over 'blackmail' claims

12:36pm Wednesday 26th November 2008

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A COUNCIL leader could be set to snub a meeting to discuss controversial bus lane plans after claiming: “It feels like we are being blackmailed”.

Coun Peter Britcliffe, of Hyndburn Council, said that he was angry people’s concerns over the Pennine Reach scheme were ‘not being listened to’.

The meeting will take place at The Globe Centre in Accrington on Friday where representatives from the county council will discuss the plans with local “stakeholders” such as Hyndburn Council.

The proposals is to link Hyndburn, Blackburn and Darwen with a dedicated bus lane.

Coun Britcliffe said: “We have not yet decided whether to pull out of the meeting but there will be a protest outside.

“We have been told that projects in Hyndburn, including the new Accrington bus station and the development at the Church and Oswaldtwistle traffic lights junction in Blackburn Road, may not go ahead without Pennine Reach.

“It feels like we are being blackmailed. The county council is just patronising everyone.

"We are talking about people not being able to park in front of their own homes.

But a spokesman for Lancashire County Council said there were no plans to create an actual bus lane through Oswaldtwistle.

The spokesman said they wanted to ‘ease the flow’ of rush-hour traffic in Union Road by restricting parking between 8am-9.30am and 4.30pm-6.30pm Monday to Friday.

County bosses said no parking spaces would be removed.

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paul of darwen, Darwen says...
5:05pm Wed 26 Nov 08

once again peter britcliffe shows himself to be incapable of making the kind of difficult decisions one would expect from a leader of a council. Of course the Accy bus station is linked to this, after all where else will the money come from in the current climate. Of course some people will face some pain during peak periods but surely he looks beyond the present when planning what is best for residents in his borough? After all that is what normal leaders do. He must surely realize that as traffic increases (which is inevitable) one day the government, regardless of their political colours, will just slap yellowlines on the road. Then everyone loses out, not just those on the route as a result of his shortsightedness.

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The Pink Panther, Jacks Key Drive, Darwen with Blackburn says...
5:41pm Wed 26 Nov 08

I'm afraid Paul you are quite wrong Paul, Cllr Britcliffe does have a plan - that is to send Hyndburn back to the dark ages. Why else would they spend a small fortune on borough signs that look like they were produced in the 1800s? The rishton one is even incorrect as it doesn't even mention hyndburn so it looks like they are saying rishton council is an excellent council! Then again was that done on purpose by a man who called for the council to spend another small fortune changing the council name to something from the 1920s. Perhaps Cllr britcliffe spends his evenings huddled near a wireless, eating rationed food and powdered egg listening to winston Churchill addresses. The sad irony is that because of this backward attitude towards his council his residents lose out as government funding is often linked to the forward looking attitude of councils. He won't even produce a council newspaper to keep people abreast of what his council is spending taxpayers money on, why? Perhaps because he wants to hide the real cost of this backward plan, I mean, this was the guy who said he would replace plans for public art with a park bench. We have to be grateful other areas do not display such backward attitudes else we would never have had iconic structures like the angel of the north but instead a load of park benches collecting attracting booze filled hoodies and pigeon excrement.

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mr plod, Blackburn says...
7:45pm Wed 26 Nov 08

leave peter alone, he is a relic of the past and should be on display in a museum

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mr plod, Blackburn says...
7:50pm Wed 26 Nov 08

snubbing a meeting is a cop out though, if he really does have any principles he should vote against the entire scheme then when the next election comes he can campaign as the man who stopped his residents getting a new multimillion pound bus station.

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john the boss, great harwood says...
8:56am Fri 28 Nov 08

thats right play it safe by snubing the meeting that way ,you,ll look like your doing good ,but really your playing it safe , by been middle of the road,,,get in there and vote agaist it ,

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