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A meeting is planned for Monday evening (March 9) at New Road Community Centre, Earby, between Earby Town Council and some Pendle Councillors including Cllr David Hartley (Lib Dem) and Ryan Gifford senior Regeneration Officer, Economic Growth. All West Craven Area Committee members have been invited as well.
It is unknown if the meeting is open to the public, but if enough people turn up, what are they going to do? Probably around 7pm, but don't hold us to that.
What Happened?
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The original criticism from Earby Town Council was that
a) Pendle Borough Council was deciding where Earby Town Council's allocation of funding should be spent.
b) Earby Town Council's proposals were rejected by Pendle Borough Council "without explanation".
c) Earby Town Council does not agree with the funding proposals from Pendle Borough Council, particularly on areas outside the Town Council's boundaries - such as Sough Park.
d) Earby Town Council claim there is a Conflict of Interest, with David Whipp due to his position as Pendle Council leader, and Councillor on Barnoldswick Town Council, Lancashire County Council and the West Craven Area Committee - and that he should have no involvement in the allocation of funds.
"Funding - the facts.Earby Memorial Park, Sough.Earby Town Council is criticising Pendle councillors over funding for Earby Memorial Park at Sough.Since austerity, almost all parks in Pendle are maintained with money from local town and parish councils. Many parks are now owned by the local towns and parishes.
The exception is Earby Memorial Park at Sough.
Until 2024, Earby Town Council, together with Kelbrook & Sough Parish Council, paid for maintenance at the park. But the town council withdrew from the arrangement and cancelled funding.The two sports clubs at the park, Kelbrook Phoenix and Earby Memorial Bowling Club rose to the challenge, taking on a lot of the maintenance work.Pendle Council's West Craven area committee re-ordered its budget and, with support from Kelbrook & Sough parish council, managed to cover the funding shortfall for the time being.As well as day-to-day maintenance, Pendle councillors looked for funding to improve the park, and got an Environment Agency grant towards rebuilding the collapsed beck wall.
But costly improvement work on changing rooms, toilets and drainage were beyond the reach of available funding.With local government reorganisation looming, Pendle's West Craven councillors are keen to put the park on the best possible footing for when our area goes into a new unitary council. The park is in the peculiar position of being the only one in Pendle not supported by the local town council.Pride in Place Impact Fund.Last year, the Government announced it was awarding £1.5 million to Pendle Council through a new 'Impact Fund'. The money is to be used on three specific themes: Community Spaces; High Street Revitalisation; and Public Spaces. Pendle Council is responsible for allocating the funding. Projects are to be completed by 31st March 2027.Pendle Council's executive committee decided to allocate the funding across five areas, after EXCLUDING Nelson (as it has a separate funding pot).At this point, different decisions on the distribution within Pendle could have led to very different outcomes for Earby. On a population basis, it could have been around £72k, or even zero on a much less equitable split.The decision on funding by PBC's executive was for each area to INCLUDE communities around the principle townships, each PBC area committee, together with town & parish councils, was asked to suggest projects.In order make the money go as far as possible, area committees and parish & town councils were asked if they could contribute match-funding towards projects.Consultation meetings were held with local councillors across Pendle. In West Craven, this included all the town and parish councils.Submitted schemes were then scored against criteria by Pendle Council staff. Criteria includes: eligibility; deliverability in the timescale; affordability; and match funding availability etc.Overall, the cost of submitted schemes is around double the funding available within the programme. Parish and town councils across Pendle have earmarked funding towards projects, as have area committees.An online survey has been carried out to ask people's views on the programme, and asking for other suggestions if further funding becomes available.West Craven.In West Craven, projects in Salterforth (War Memorial work; flag pole; and toilet improvements) are included in the Barnoldswick AREA allocation.Projects in Kelbrook and Sough (play area work; improvements at Earby Memorial Park) are included in the Earby AREA allocation.Earby Town Council submitted a number of schemes with an estimated cost equivalent to the whole of the allocation for the Earby AREA, which includes Kelbrook and Sough.The town council also made some projects conditional on carrying out CCTV improvement work, which may not meet eligibility criteria, receiving a low score against the criteria.As a result, some of the higher-scoring schemes couldn't be included in the programme.
Five of the eight projects in Earby included in the programme were put forward by the town council. c£65k is earmarked for these five schemes. A further £48k is earmarked for the three other projects in the Earby township.At this stage, there's still some flexibility with the Impact Fund programme. Pendle Council's executive committee will be considering the survey response at its meeting on 19th March, when the programme will be finalised.In the meantime, there's a meeting tomorrow evening (Monday 9th March) with West Craven area committee members and town councillors.Legacy Fund.At its budget meeting, Pendle Council agreed to my proposal to create a 'Legacy Fund' which will benefit every part of Pendle.The fund is re-allocating money held in a 'Project' reserve, which won't be needed given Local Government Reorganisation due in just two years time.Town and parish councils across Pendle will be awarded grants from the fund for one-off projects of their choosing. Allocations are based on the electorate (proxy for population) of each parish/township.In West Craven, provisional allocations are: Barnoldswick - £28,300; Earby - £12,200; Kelbrook and Sough - £4,500; Salterforth - £4,300. The allocations are due to be confirmed at the PBC executive meeting on 19th March.It's intended that town and parish councils can use this funding in whatever way they see fit.
If you've read to the end of this very long post, thank you!"
Reading between the lines it appears Cllr Whipp's response indicates the funding allocation was not to be decided by Earby Town Council alone, and that the Area Committees would also have a say, and that projects would be evaluated by a criteria set by Pendle Council.
Given that Cllr Whipp is the leader of Pendle Council, what influence did he have on setting the criteria for the funding allocation? And also as a Councillor for West Craven Area Committee he holds influence on what that Committee wants to propose, which could, and indeed seems to, conflict with what Earby Town Council want to do with the money.
Monday's meeting looks set to be a showdown between Earby Town Council vs Pendle Borough Council and West Craven Area Committee. Will Earby & Coates councillors David Whipp and David Hartley show up and represent Earby, listen to the Town Council's views, or will they have another agenda of "self promotion" as Earby Town Council suggested in a recent press release.
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