Councillor Ken Hind ,Chairman of the Longbridge Conservatives, has called on the people of Longridge to respond to the consultation on the Longridge Economic Development plan by supporting the creation of a Longridge Centre Development Group or Town Team to plan the future development of the town centre.
'' The Longridge economic development report produced by Ribble Valley Borough Council is full of strong aspirations and identifies the various partners who can work together to carry it out, but does not have a proposal within it on how the aims are to be achieved. It produces no plans to put one brick in the ground. If the consultation is allowed to pass without setting in motion the next phase, nothing will be achieved.
'' I propose a group serviced by the officers of RVBC made up of councillors from RVBC, Lancashire County Council ,Longridge Town Council, Longridge Business Group , Longridge partnership, Longridge Social Enterprise Company and the voluntary sector should be set up. The purpose of this group will to identify sites for improvement of the town centre , including retail shopping, liesure facilities , nursery factories ,additional hotel accommodation and extend the conservation area. This group should be called the Longridge Town Team.
''The Town Team will act as a catalyst to interest the existing owners of the land on the identified sites and encourage private sector developers to design and build the facilities needed.
''The emphasis should be on job creation as we seek to avoid becoming a dormitory area and fight to remain a sustainable ecomomic community . The jobs lost by Longridge residents at Berry's chair works at Chipping have to be replaced and small businesses encouraged to grow to increase the availability of job opportunities in the town.
''This group can play a major role in marketing Longridge. The development of Longridge Station opens opportunities for a business advice centre and we need to preserve the cinema for community use.
''The impact of the arrival of Sainsbury's is ignored in the report needs to be considered and how this will impact on the town generally. ''
''Something concrete must come out of this consultation exercise. We cannot rely on a consultation report which sets out creditable aims and objects but provides no method of achieving solutions. The initative has to come from the local community in partnership with local councils and local business.
'' The economic development report is on the Ribble Valley Council web site in addition I shall arrange for copies to put in the Longridge library along with the Longridge Way plans put forward by the local community last year. ''
''In order to move this forward I would ask all respondents to the report to support the recommendation to create a Longridge Town Team.
I have asked the Director of Economic Development at RVBC Mr Stewart Bailey and his team to come to a meeting in Longridge of all the interested groups to discuss the report and hear the views of local people . The invitation has been accepted and the meeting will be called in the near future. It is an opportunity to press the case for a Longridge Town Team .''
''At that meeting we can discuss how we can look at grants for feasability studies to plan the future of Longridge from Pennine Lancashire , LDCL and other funding bodies as well as central government .''
''This is an opportunity which should not be allowed to slip.''