Cuts? What Cuts?
We have one great advantage in Ewood when it comes to many of the cuts in Council services; we don’t have many services that can be cut. Sports Centre opening hours are to be reduced – we have none of them. Swimming pool sessions are to be fewer – we have none of them either. Branch libraries? – none that I can find. Even after the cuts many other areas will still have better services than does our ward.
When the Conservative led partnership was in power, we realised that, even before the current spending reductions, it was not possible to provide sports centres, youth clubs, swimming facilities etc in every ward. We thought it unfair that some areas of town had high provisions of facilities and other areas had nothing. We also considered many of the facilities provided to be of poor quality and demanding high maintenance.
Our policy therefore was to aim to have facilities of the highest quality located, as far as possible, in the town centres of Blackburn and Darwen so that all of our residents had access to them. When we took power the old Darwen baths had been demolished and Labour were replacing it with a Sports Centre with no sports hall – we soon rectified that error to the relief of the Darwen residents. The facility provided there is now one of the best in the northwest of England and we planned to build a similar centre in Blackburn.
Any chance of this new centre for Blackburn has now receded due to Labour’s decision to keep Shadsworth Centre open against our wishes. This decision is costing us real money, again to benefit one area, and has resulted in reduced usage and reduced income of the new centre in Darwen due to the planned transfer of a number of group activities not taking place.
Our other plan, which Labour are continuing with, was for a massive state-of the-art youth centre close to Blackburn Boulevard – again open to all. The concept of this centre is based on that of the hugely successful Bolton Boys and Girls Club from whom we took advice.
So, apart from the youth centre, Labour are sticking to their policy of providing heavily subsidised services to some parts of the borough while others, like Ewood, are lucky to get the scraps. If you want a Councillor to fight for a fairer Blackburn, then vote Conservative.
Promoted by Colin Rigby, on behalf of Blackburn Conservative Association both of St. Stephens Conservative Club, Robinson St, Blackburn BB1 5PE