John Coombes – Putting Fylde First

It is now great to see the work at Ashton Gardens coming together and this project highlights the need for Councillors to sometimes take the long view sometimes rather than bend to public opposition for short term political gain.

Fancy taking advantage of the superb regeneration of Ashton Gardens by setting up business there?

Fylde Borough Council is looking for an innovative tenant to operate a café / restaurant in the Ashton Institute which is nearing completion and will be a centre piece for the historic park. With the construction due to be finished by the end of this year and internal fitting to be decided by the tenant ready for an opening in time for Easter 2010 this is a fantastic opportunity to grab a prestigious location for a new business venture.

 The Ashton Institute was an iconic landmark in the park before it was painstainkinly dismantled for storage. The regeneration of the park, amongst other major projects, is seeing the building being completely rebuilt as per the original plans, something that those opposed to the Gardens Lottery bid said would never happen! It is accompanied by extensive seating areas outdoors and currently has a license application pending, to allow people to have a meal and a drink in the sunshine. After discussions with interested partners the cabinet portfolio holder gave notice of her intention to withdrew the application for a “carry out” licence for the cafe.

The ground source heat pump which will provide the heating for the institute is also now in place.  This was another great example of working with a Town Council for the benefit of the community with the St Annes Town Council being able to bid for funding which Fylde Council could simply not apply for. 

My Colleague Roger Small, Cabinet Member of Finance and Resources, said: “The work on Ashton Gardens is extensive and we are all eagerly waiting to see the end result next year when it is completed. The institute was famous for being a focal point to the park and a place where the local community could meet for various activities. The aim is to recreate this to boost the enjoyment of the park. 

“The lease is on offer for the institute and is really a blank canvass for a tenant to enter and create a family friendly establishment that will draw in the crowds. The potential is endless.”

 The council is looking for a tenant that will use their initiative to set up the café / restaurant as well as welcoming community uses for the building and also work with the council to organise events in the park. 

The cost of the rental is just £18,500 per year. The building has yet to be assessed for rates but business rates as well as water and environmental charges will be payable under the terms of the lease. 

Anyone interested in leasing the building can contact either Gary Sams at the council on 01253 658462 or Shafkat Shahzad on 01253 658459

The Town Hall St Annes will become the venue for the official launch of the live monitored CCTV that has recently been installed in the town centres of St Annes and Kirkham.  The formal switch on will take place on the 4^th September and is the culmination of many months of work by Fylde Borough Council and its partners on the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP)  & Community Safety Partnership. 

The new system, which replaces the rapid deployment cameras, has a ‘real time’ monitoring facility.  This means that images from the cameras are now instantly beamed back to the Blackpool CCTV control room, where operators monitor what is happening live on the ground and when necessary take appropriate action. The town centre rapid deployment cameras will now be re-deployed into the rural and more isolated areas of the Borough giving even greater coverage. 

Bernard Whittle, Chair of the LSP and former Conservative County Councillor said, “This has been a real partnership effort and everyone has worked hard to make it happen.  The community has been telling us for sometime that they wanted live CCTV and I am delighted to say that we have now been able to achieve this for them.  The new system will provide local residents with renewed reassurance and confidence to go about their business, particularly at night, knowing that any unacceptable behaviour is being monitored and police deployment taking place with immediate effect. The links to the central CCTV control room now provide positive policing and the effective use of resources. Whilst Fylde remains one of the safest places in Lancashire this new addition will hopefully help us achieve the overall aim of becoming the number one safest place to live, work and visit.” 

My Cabinet colleague Councillor Cheryl Little, Cabinet Member for Community Safety at Fylde Borough Council said: “These new cameras should be a signal to the residents of both of the towns that we are doing everything we can, including joining forces with other organisations, to make sure their home town is safer. It is a fantastic addition to an already exemplary arsenal of crime deterrents we have implemented.” 

Conservative Councillors fought the 2003 District Council elections with a manifesto that included the committment to more CCTV cameras for the Borough.  I am delighted that FBC has been able to play it’s part in making this happen and that we can now start to reduce the fear of crime whilst at the same time show we are keen to reduce anti social behaviour and take legal action against anyone caught braking the law in the Town Centres of Fylde.

The cameras are a culmination of months of partnership working between the Community Safety Partnership, Blackpool Council, Fylde Borough Council and Western Divisional Police. The cost of the scheme has been met through funding from Fylde Local Strategic Partnership, the Community Safety Partnership, the Safer Lancashire Board and Fylde Borough Council, up to 2012. Blackpool Council has carried out the installation and, following the 04 September launch, will be entering into a Service Level Contract with Fylde

Readers of the blog who also take the local papers will no doubt be aware of the recent negative campaign being waged by certain Councillors in their constant attempt to undermine and de-stableise Fylde Council. Recent comments made in the letter pages of both the Lytham St Annes Express and Blackpool Gazette do nothing but put Councillors in a bad light.  In a time of economic downturn, with people loosing their jobs, shops and businesses closing surely their are more constructive debates to be had both in the Council chamber and the columns of the local papers?

The latest tactic being deployed is the “rumour mill”  Apparently the opposition know my thoughts and decisions even before I have made them.  Perhaps a “senior tory” may be tipping them off?  I think not! Well they need to get their facts from the horses mouth as the latest rumour about me handing in my resignation is pure mischief making.  There is far too much to do and so many positive projects on the near horizon to be dealt with to be stepping down at this time. 

However as in any well run organisation the Conservative Group has an Annual General Meeting where it decides on it’s senior officers for the forthcoming year, if I decide to stay and more importantly if they want me too, I will be happy to continue working hard for them and the community.  Whatever happens the Community will be first to know about it, not opposition members!

Readers should be aware that at present political parties such as the Liberal Democrats and local anti conservative pressure groups are working hand in hand with so-called Independent Councillors to develop an anti Conservative propoganda campaign for simpe electoral gain.  These negative, personalised attacks do nothing but “turn voters off”  They may deny it, but I can assure you that those people (and we all know who they are) will be standing for election in some shape or form in future elections, against Conservatives. 

There is no such thing as an Independent, every one has a political allegiance.  The sad fact is, that in Fylde, those people who support the national parties of Labour, Lib Dem, UKIP etc think that they stand a reduced chance of being elected if they come clean about their political persuasion – therefore they stand as Independent or anti conservative as I prefer it. 

It’s time to draw a line under the recent smear campaign waged by certain Opposition Councillors, the use of the Standards committee as a political weapon and the constant mischief making in the press, it does no one any good in the long run.

I felt I must respond to the recent Lytham St Annes Express article through my blog as I was not asked to comment in the report. I feel I must do so as it’s content is far from accurate and again is driven by a deliberate campaign being waged by Cllr Hayhurst to undermine the Council.

The Notice of Motion (NOM)put forward by Cllr Hayhurst was a political stunt to resurrect an issue which was put before members over two years ago. The Councils Chief Executive has issued a full report on the reasons surrounding the departure of the Director of Streetscene and that the report makes it clear that his departure was nothing to do with any financial impropriety.

The Streetscene overspend was £309,000 NOT the £1.6 million which Cllr Hayhurst constantly uses to sensationalise this matter. This figure came about from external financial pressures faced by the department which were unavoidable. The Express mentioned some of these pressures in their article but the key items of overspend came from vehicle repairs, diesel increases, overtime and insurance losses from the Poulton vandal fire.  This single overspend did not lead to the closure of the St Annes Pool, although I admit, it did not help, it was a combination of external pressures such as the bill for the Concessionary Bus Travel which forced this decision.

All 51 Councillors have been given an opportunity to view the full independent report by the CX at any time. All but a handful of elected members have taken the time to read it.  The report cannot be made a “public” document for internal/contractual reasons only.

Cllr Hayhorse mentions a “Yes Minister” script on this issue and the news report says that Officers and ruling Conservatives did not respond. This I need to clarify. The constitution of the Council “Does Not” allow Councillors to debate a NOM unless the NOM mover asks for a vote at the meeting, for it to be heard – Something Cllr Hayhurst did not request! Therefore the Mayor referred the matter to committee. 

I would have been more than happy at the meeting to have put him right on this matter and to have had to opportunity to verbally correct his misleading comments. I can assure readers that this matter has been fully investigated, lessons learnt and processes put in place across the Council to ensure that potential overspend risks are identified quickly to avoid the risk to Council services in future.

I fully accept and expect opposition Councillors to oppose policies and decisions of the ruling Conservative administration, however, it is both disappointing and destructive when they deliberately use the media to misrepresent the facts. Councillor Hayhurst has stated in public that “he would rather see the ship sink, that it become a success without himself at the helm” This is a shameful stance for a former Council Leader to take and shows a blatant disregard for both the Council organisation and the job he has been elected to do.

I urge readers to ponder on these facts whenever they read stories generated by Cllr Hayhorse and I assure them that the Council has nothing to hide in respect of any aspect of it’s operations, personnel or financial Management.

In 2007 the conservatives resolved to refursbish the  key public convieniences across the Fylde, modernising the key locations with new modern DANFO operated toilets, and upgrading and increasing the cleaning regimes for those exisiting sites that were deemed to still be accpetable.  At a time when local Authorities across the UK were closing their toilets Fylde came up with a scheme for joint working with Blackpool and Wyre which secured our commitment to Public Toilets at a cost effective price.

One site, where with hindsight , we made a mistake was with Fairhaven Lake. When we carried out a footfall excercise, the results showed that the greatest demand was for the toilets at the Stannah Bank Car Park end of the Lake.  With that in mind, as well as the implications at the time for DDA compliance and the poor state of repair of the units next to the bowling greens we decided to proceed with modernising the Car Park units and closing the Cafe toilets. 

However after two seasons it has become obvious that we need to provide additional facilities at peak times for visitors.  Therefore the portfolio holder for streetscene has been working with his team to find a solution. David and his team have and now these toilets will re-open during peak times whilst at the same time keeping the cost down for Council Tax Payers. 

I am pleased to report the toilets next door to the cafe at Fairhaven Lake will re-open from Thursday 30th July.  The DDA compliant toilets will still be the Stannah Bank units and this will be included in new signs.  It is vital that we provide such facilities and Iam delighted that we can, even at a time when Government is insisting that we shed as many Non-Statutory services as possible.  Although we have had to take the tough decision initially for closure,  Conservatives at Fylde are finding alternative solutions even when our budgets are tight.

I hope that this “relieves” the past problems that we have had at the lake and again re-enforces our commitment to ensuring that the Fylde retains as many quality services as we can, to help maintain the quality of place for both residents and visitors alike.

At last nights Full Council Meeting I put forward 7 recommendations to the Council for confirmation and agreement.  Many of them were previously agreed decisions on the Town Hall project but others I felt needed to be explored and agreed.  Readers will be aware that the Town Hall project was first initiated by the Independent and Lib Dem Coalition in 2000 and has now been through three Councils to get to this stage.  The current proposals which can be viewed at www.fylde.gov.ukare for the retention of the current Town Hall with a modern extension replacing the Chaseley Building at the rear of the Town Hall.  The top two floors of theTown Hall will be re-developed into apartments with the ground floor being retained for Civic use.  The cost of the scheme is 7.5 million pounds including VAT, which we will be able to re-claim!

With the recent economic down turn we have decided to review the Council previous decisions and to widen the scope of possibilities to meet our future accommodation requirements.  Again last night there was a heated debate between Conservatives and Independent and Lib Dem Councillors which again saw Opposition Councillors wanting the Councils Offices and Staff moving out to Wesham, Although the Council has already been told that the Derby Road site is un-suitable in it’s current form and would have to be totally re-built at a cost close to that of the current proposals.

At the meeting I asked the following questions:

1. That the Council re-affirms its commitment to securing ‘fit for purpose’ office and civic accommodation at the earliest opportunity.

2. That the Council not agrees to consider the potential of leasing or renting accommodation to meets its needs alongside the possibility of retaining ownership.

3. The the Council re-affirms its commitment to retaining its primary administrative base in Lytham St Annes if possible. (the if possible being put forward by Cllr John Benett as an amendment which I seconded)

Just a quick note to say I argued to retain the staff in St Annes in the face of opposition due to the fact that I feel it would be very damaging to the Square should we move over 200 staff out of the immediate area during the current climate.  Independent Councillors said that we did not consider that when we moved staff from Wesham!  I had to point out that the impact of moving just 14 staff from Derby Rd, many of which were not office based, did not have an adverse effect on the local economy – I’m sure readers will agree that moving 200+ and the significant number of visitors to the Town Hall from the Square would be felt.

4. That the five sites within the disposal portfolio, details in the report, be offered to the market once the related planning applications have been determined.

Again I reinforced the point that this process was to gain valuations so that Councillors could decide if they wanted to dispose of them and for what purpose?  Let me assure readers that these assets will not be disposed off if the valuations a low due to the current climate.

6. That a Cabinet sub-committee be established to replace and take over the remit of the Accommodation Working Group and that the members comprise of Myself, Cllr Small and an invitation be extended to Cllr Eastham from the opposition.

7. That a final report be brought back to a future meeting of the full Council before contractual commitment is given to the final format of the Councils office and civic accommodation project. Such a report to include the full financial implications for the Council, including current costings at the time.

Again it is important to point out that the Council has been kept fully informed at every stage of the process and I have worked closely with their nominated representative Cllr Eastham.  Surprisingly after almost an hour of debate the opposition again chose to abstain from any vote! 

It is vital that the Council gains value for money for this project to ensure that no cost falls onto the Council Tax Payer.  The current accommodation is inadequate, energy ineffecient and not able to be used by the public.  The new civic centre will aim to be as cost effective to runand maintain as possible, will have full access to the public for Community use and have fit for purpose offices which will enable us to adopt modern working practices to further improve services and efficiancey whilst at the same time giving our employees sound working conditions.

To simply stay where we are and not build the extension would require a minimum investment of 2.5 million pounds to simply attempt to bring the Town Hall up to an acceptable standard, I believe this would be a short term solution and would be throwing good money after bad.  A full refurbishmwnt of the current Town Hall is expected to cost up to 10 million pounds a figure far higher than we would be prepared to go.  Having said that, if all the previous Councils since 1974 had simply put aside a sum and had a proper asset mangement programme for the Town Hall then it would not have fallen into the sad state of disrepair it is in today and we would not be facing such a tough decision!

In respect of the planning applications to be submitted in August for our 6 sites: North Beach Car Park, the Former CVMU site, Adult Training Site, Public Offices, Wesham Offices and Town Hall these will be used simply to seek a valuation from the market.  A positive decision towards these applications DOES NOT mean that the Council will agree to sell them.  If the valuations fall short of what is required for this project then the Council may consider to lease their offices in the future.  This would enable us to retain these assets until the market has recovered, allowing us to use remaining Capital Receipts to invest in Council infrastructure improvements across the Fylde.

Fylde Conservatives last night proposed a full consultation to review Community Governance across the whole of Fylde Borough. The consultation was instigated by an application from St Annes on the Sea Town Council to increase it’s number of Councillors from 7 to 18. This request would require a Boundary Commission review and therefore it was seen as an opportunity to also review the size of the District Council whilst at the same time asking the Boroughs other Town and Parish Councils if they required any chances to their boundaries or structures.

As Conservatives we promised to review structures and Councillor numbers to ensure that the right level of representation is given to the residents of Fylde. With the current proposals for 18 St Annes Town Councillors, this potentially brings the number of elected Officials in St Annes alone to 39 Councillors including County Councillors, residents have a right to comment’ Opposition Councillors voted against the move and argued that the Council should ‘Consult on having the consultation first’

My colleague Partnerships Portfolio Holder and Staining Parish Councillor Albert Pounder said ‘ this was a ridiculous argument and I was disappointed that opposition Councillors voted against giving residents the right to have their say – This was a classic Turkeys and Christmas scenario and I for one welcome a review which is 35 years overdue’

 A number of light touch reviews have taken place since 1974 however these were just tinkering around the edges and not deemed to be wide ranging. The last review undertaken when Independent and Liberal Democrat Councillors were in charge sparked a furious response from St Annes residents who were again denied a St Annes Town Council. This led to a 3500 signature petition which brought about the new Town Council.

It is interesting to note that ‘ Both the Conservative and Labour Parties have stated that the future of local decision making will be through Town and Parish Councils in the first instance. Both Parties have also made it clear that Town Halls will need to tighten their belts further from 2011 and Government has recently stated that Town Halls need to strongly consider the cessation of Non-Statutory services’

 The review will start in earnest and will be completed in time for the 2011 local Council elections. Residents across the Borough will now be asked for their views on local representation including those in Lytham and Ansdell whom currently do not have Parish Councils.

Cllr Pounder added ‘ We will consider all the responses once collated and will bring the results back to the Full Council for a final decision on how to proceed, I hope that those who voted against this Consultation on Monday will then honour the will of the people’

Housing and the debate about need and demand is always at the top of the debate list in Fylde.  I have made a numebr of posts on this blog on the subject, including the need for the community to be involved this year in a discussion about Fylde’s future and how it will look in the next 20 to 30 years.  This debate will mark the start of our Core Strategy work, probably the most imporatant policy document the Council will produce for a generation.

This week I attended a housing summit in Fylde with partners such as the PCT and the YMCA as well as over local voluntary groups representing disabled residents as well as others.  The quality and mix of the housing stock in Fylde was a key element of our discussions and everyone who attended was surprised at some of the recent findings.

There are approx 35.000 households in Fylde, even if new build rates increase this year, this will only provide a further 3,000-4,000 households over the coming years. With the economic climate still slowing what we must do in the interim and future is make sure that our current housing stock meet’s the needs of our residents and is maintained to a high standard.

The private sector housing stock (privatley owned) comprises of approximately 33,400 dwellings of which 28,500 are owner occupied (people with mortgages on them) and 4,900 privatley rented (investement properties for rent) By comparison the social rented stock (former Council Houses as ex.) only number 2,300 dwellings across the Borough.

The challenge for the Council and it’s partners, as we have recently seen with our attempt to build a new scheme at Heeley Road is that the lack of supply of social rented means that many, often vulnerable households are having to meet their affordable housing needs by renting from private sector landlords.

More than 31% of households in Fylde have an annula income of less than £15,000 and more than 42% of households have an annual income of less than £20,000. Most of us will be under the impression that Fylde is a very affluent area, these statistics clearly show that is not the case for the majority.  Additonal data on income levels show that low income households (less than £10,000 pa) are most likely to be found in the 16-24 and over 60 age groups, again some of the most vulnerable people in our community.  Should we really be turning our backs on these people as Politicians or as fellow residents of Fylde?

With respect to benefit receipt, overall 19% of households contain a person in receipt of a means tested benefit with the proportion of benefit receipt rising to 34% of households in the private rented sector. 

Surprisingly in Fylde just of 34% of dwellings fail to meet the decent homes standard! within the private rented sector (such as HMO’s) the failure rate climbs to a massive 50%  The main cause of failure to meet the standard in both cases is the poor degree of thermal comfort.

The category 1 hazards are dominated by excess cold issues with falls in the home due to poor maintenance coming a close second.  As part of the house condition survey the council also identified 780 dwellings that are classed as long term vacant, most being empty for over 6 months.  we need to work with developers and partners to see how we can return these to use.

However, money is always the main stumbling block! and to simply remove the Class 1 Hazard – i.e to insulate these homes it is estimated that we would need to invest over £42 million pounds. The estimated cost of comprehensively bringing all our sub standard properties up to the decent homes classification would require in the order of £216 million.  That said FBC and the LSP through the FLoWE Officer has made a start at a number of projects to address the home insulation challenge.

As you can see some of these facts are surprising, others shocking.  Fylde is a nice place to live, but it does have it’s problems.  We need to ensure that we maintain the original feel of our Borough whilst at the same time meeting the needs and providing support for those vulnerable households who live on nearly every street in Fylde.  Considered and targeted development and re-generation will be needed in the coming years, we must all acknowledge that, whilst at the same time, ensuring that by building a long term vision of how our communities will look and feel for future generations, is a well managed consultation  with all our residents.

Yet again we have been left frustrated and with serious concerns about the sale of council owned land on Heeley Road, St Annes, after the property developer, set to buy the land, has failed to make the payment deadline. 

We had expected to have completed the sale to Town Manor Developments in May. However since the original, above valuation, offer for the site was made and the deposit eventually paid, the sale has still not been completed and yet another extension on the deadline for completion has been requested.

My latest position is that; “A completion date in May had been agreed between the council and Town Manor after strong assurances by them and local campaigners that the funds were in place, but for some reason the company seems unable to complete the sale. The company has once again requested an one month extension of time prior to completion of the sale”

The Council had made arrangements to sell the land to the Muir Housing Group to develop a much needed supported housing facility, in accordance with the Council’s homelessness strategy,  (readers should note that the principle of why we need such a scheme is agreed universally, even by Lib Dem Councillor Howard Henshaw – whom misled voters in the recent County elections on this issue.  He failed to tell residents that he was all for the scheme – but not in his ward!! he wanted it moving over the boundary to either Ashton, Central or Heyhouses ward!)

After an 11^th hour offer for the site from Town Manor which was £150,000 more than the original valuation! it was obvious that we could not ignor this offer. 

 “As previously mentioned a lot of misinformation was put about by Lib Dem Cllr Howard Henshaw on this issue and his assurances that the money was immediately available have now been shown to be false.  It has always been a concern that the offer from Town Manor was way over the market value and therefore potentially unrealistic. That is why we insisted that a non-refundable a deposit was given for the site. The deadline for this was missed but as the money on offer was too good to miss we allowed an extension and the deposit was eventually received. Although this further extension is unwelcome we have agreed to this final delay as the finiancial benefit to the Borough in such uncertain times will brings about improvements that could not otherwise be realised. 

“Although we are in no doubt of the benefits of the orginal scheme for Heeley Road, we have listened to residents views and quickly came to the conclusion that we needed this windfall to help achieve our desire for local improvements. We have been considering where we might be able to invest the additional funds that the sale would bring in, such as the refurbishment of additional public toilets at Fairhaven Lake and the funding of a rescue plan for St Annes Pool, I hope we do not have to go back to the drawing board after placing our faith in Town Manor. It is really frustrating to have everyone’s time wasted in this way, it puts an unnecessary extra burden on the already scarce time of our officers who have been pushing to complete the deal for several weeks”.

 So in conclusion the Cabinet has not written off the sale to Town Manor but, we are now starting to consider all other available options and approaches as we are determined to use the funds from the sale of this site to further improve local facilities.

Readers will have been keeping a keen eye on the progress being made on the future of  St Annes Pool since the Council’s decision to close the facility in July 2008.  As you know this was down to increased external budget pressures and the lack of interest from the private sector.

On making that tough decision I resolved to undertake a feasibility study which would look at various alternative solutions, for example, closing existing facilities and using the proceeds of their sale to fund a modern leisure centre centrally located in the Borough.  It soon became apparent that this option would not be financially viable and so we continued to speak with Private Sector Operators.  As you know we came to a two year agreement with the YMCA regarding the Pool at Kirkham.  This was achieved through the Conservative members committing to use the DCMS Swimming concession funding towards Kirkham,  to secure it’s future then looking at innovative other funding solutions for St Annes.  It is worth noting that a recent Independent Councillor leaflet distributed in the Rural areas said that they had played a role in securing the future of Kirkham – this is untrue.  Granted meetings were held with the with Rural Splash Group but at this years budget meeting Independent Councillors voted against the Conservative Budget proposals that saw Kirkham’s future secured. 

As part of our budget deliberations myself and senior Council Officers have been in constant dialogue with Government Office North West regarding the unfair burden being placed on the Council as a result of Concessionary Bus Travel and it’s effect of the Councils ability to provide the services expected by Fylde residents.  To be fair they did listen to our arguments and as a result agreed to allow the Council to move some funding pressures out of our revenue budget into our Capital budget.  Difficult to explain , but this is not unusual in Local Government.  Last year alone 72 Councils were allowed to capitalise over £68.5 miilion worth of revenue spend.  Some opposition members and web based critics will try and make this into a political issue, but this is common practice.

As a result of this funding agreement the Councils finances have now returned to a much stronger footing and as a result we have been able to review some of the key projects that Conservative members considered a priority.  The Pool’s being the first one.  Last night the Cabinet resolved to meet with the Fylde Coast YMCA to discuss their latest business plan for St Annes Pool.  Although there are some Council funding implications the Cabinet now feels that it is in a strong position to agree a timetable for the re-opening of the St Annes Pool under a partnership approach which will hopefully see the site flourish and able to offer more facilities than in the past. 

Although it has taken some time to get to this point, I felt it was vital that we did not move forward without first being sure we had achieved two vital criteria.  

1. That any deal to re-open the facility must be supported by a credible business plan, which would see Pool Funding removed from the annual Council budget debate  in the face of ever decreasing grants and:

2. That if a subsidy was needed that it should be affordable, capped and open to annual review based on the future success of the pool. i.e. The pool’s new operator would be expected to find alternative funding streams and increase usage, therefore helping the Council over time to reduce it’s subsidy.

As readers will appreciate we now live in very difficult times and the way we use your money and where is more important than ever!  We have proved that we are a well run, efficient Council which is recognised as delivering value for money services.  As a result of our decisions to halt the endless subsidy to the Borough’s pools I hope we have not only secured their long term future but have also saved you the taxpayer in excess of £500.000 per annum.  Now the Government has agreed this budget  support we can now look to invest in other key services and improvements.

I know this has been an unpopular chapter in the Councils recent history, but I stand by the original decision and I hope that the community will now rally around the Council to help it and it’s future partner make the St Annes Swimming Pool a well used, popular, viable facility.