First a big thank you to all those who have supported the campaign so far. At a meeting of the Burnley Action Partnership last week the council insist that the changes have been made due to their right to manage and their duty to protect their staff; the decision has been made and they have no intention of discussing it further. They are, as in the past, relying on the apathy of people in Burnley to do nothing and allow them to once again to dictate to Burnley residents what they want and not what the communities want. Also there had been established in 2004 a NM Reference Group endorsed by BAP and BCN was represented on that group, this group has been requested to meet several times over the last two years and the council have refused, when requested to discuss the review they say that it no longer exists, the BAP Executive condoned this and BCN said nothing. We have to ask ourselves, where is the true and honest representation of the communities? Who is actually listening and responding to the communities? What is the point of the ‘Big Society’ are the council really going to treat the communities as equal partners?

We know that they are not going to treat the communities as equal partners; they are not going to listen to your views or consult if they choose not to. They are going to ignore established policies, agreements and procedures if they do not fall into line with their wishes and they think that we are powerless to do anything about it. It is up to all of us to let the council know that we are able to agree and work as a united body for the future of Burnley, that we know what is needed in our communities, that we want a say on matters that affect us.

Our first course of action in order to demonstrate the strong community feeling about making changes that affect the communities without consultation is to distribute petitions throughout Burnley, if you see one then please sign to support the cause. If you would like a petition to pass around your street area then please contact either administrator and we will get one to you.

Once we have collated them all then we will be looking at the best method of delivery.

Once again thanks for your continuing help and support to make Burnley a more inclusive and responsible place to live.

PP. Richard Chipps