I always try to attend Ribchester Parish Council in my capacity as Borough Councillor and always promise the clerk a written report but then forget or get sidetracked. This time I got a little bit more organised and wrote a report which I didn’t have tome to distribute to the clerk before the meeting. I therefore gave a spoken version of this report.

There might have been or might not have been a lot happen at RVBC since my last report to you. This is extraordinary in that, ordinarily, the opposite is true. To provide a clear explanation I thought I would write down some thoughts on RVBC happenings or otherwise, as the case may be.

Full Council was on Tuesday 14th October. It was eventful. The first thing to note is that we approved the appointment of a new Chief Executive Sarah Threlfall who will be taking over from Marshal Scott in January. He is retiring after over fifty years in local government and fifty years at Ribble Valley. We owe Marshal a massive debt of thanks for his service and welcome Sarah who will bring a fresh energy and her own experience from being Deputy Chief Exec at Preston City Council.

The October Council marked two years since the historic vote to adopt the Real Living Wage and accredit to the Living Wage Foundation. It was announced in Personnel Committee on 27th August that the Council had finally completed the process of accreditation. I spoke in Full Council to thank Officers for taking us through the process but called out the lack of publicity around such a momentous achievement. I called for a publicity and awareness campaign which spoke to the press and marked our achievement during Living Wage Week beginning on 10th November. My call for the Town Cryer to proclaim was politely declined…

The motion I proposed to accredit the Council to the Living Wage Foundation was a momentous achievement and makes a fantastic statement on how we value those who do work for the Council. The Full text of my comments are available here. Real Living Wage Comments

Progressive politics is certainly making headway at RVBC and as a Labour Group we voted to support a motion by Green Party Councillor which called upon RVBC to declare a climate emergency. The motion places environmental considerations to all decisions taken by the Council and directs the Council to act in a number of ways towards environmental goals. My contribution to the debate focused on the importance of Community Energy schemes, highlighting the success of schemes in Whalley and Chipping serving as proof of concept to take this further across the Borough. Over the coming year I will be raising awareness of this as an important part of Co-Operative Party energy policy, building the discussion, sowing the seeds of ideas and taking us forward as a Borough towards Community Energy.

Casework has been a little slow in finding resolutions, the Buckley Wood Footpath saga drags on with LCC making reluctant progress towards re-opening the footpath, pushed on by myself, the Ramblers Association and Maya Ellis MP.

We’re making slow but careful progress in getting a £40k grant from RVBC’s Jubilee Fund to put towards natural flood management. I sent out a survey to residents asking for them to share impact statements. This along with other arguments has swayed the responsible working group to consider again the expression of interest. I will know more soon. Our Labour Group Leader Cllr Michael Graveston asked a question on flooding at Full Council on Tuesday evening and has been fighting our corner in those working group meetings.

On weedkilling policy, it’s slow progress and I’ll be having a discussion with relevant people after Community Services Committee on Tuesday evening. A motion is written and we’re holding it in reserve in case we can’t get what we want through less formal means.