We’ve been reporting on Lancashire County Council’s decision to cease administering the refugee resettlement schemes in Lancashire for most of this month in various forms.

It was mid-month when we exclusively reported the contents of a confidential document that placed the risks of the move into clear terms. The authority remains confident it can mitigate against those risks.

Lancashire County Council is investigating how we got a hold of that report, we have learned. We remain steadfast that our reporting was in the public interest and we were right to do so.

But, subject to any legal challenge, the decision has been made and other authorities will need to pick up the responsibilities that Reform-led County no longer wants to shoulder.

That won’t mean fewer refugees - Reform UK will need form a national government for that - but will mean less funding and less oversight.

Preston City Council - where the leading Labour group regularly refers to itself as ‘radical’ - is the first to raise its hand to take on that funding and oversight. They did so with the backing of the Lib Dems, the Greens and even the Conservatives.

That is the topic of today’s edition.

Lancashire briefing

⛴️ The Fleetwood to Knott End ferry will sail on for at least another year after a funding deal was reached – just 24 hours before the service was set to end.

The operator of the boat has also announced a smaller and faster vessel will soon be introduced, which will improve reliability.

It comes after Lancashire County Council agreed to increase its subsidy for the operation in a move that will keep the ferry on the water until next September.

Wyre Council had already pledged to double the financial backing it provided for the crossing – but the county authority initially said it would be unable to do the same without having an impact on other local services.

However, County Hall has now declared it will also increase its contribution to the ferry in order to offer “reassurance for passengers while longer-term discussions about the future of the service continue” – ending a long-running dispute between the two authorities.

🩺 An ‘outstanding’ care home - ranked among the best in the UK - has had its skilled worker sponsor licence revoked by the Home Office.

Bridgeway Care Home, on Gamull Lane in Ribbleton, is rated outstanding by the CQC and was one of two businesses operated by the Holywell Care Group to have its licence revoked.

But the Home Office has already admitted fault in relation to the other part of their business - meaning the care home is hopeful the same decision will be reached in relation to Bridgeway.

🛼 A landmark Blackburn town centre building which has served as a roller-skating rink, theatre, cinema, ballroom, bingo hall and nightclub over the past century could be transformed again under new plans submitted to Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The application seeks permission to convert the former Q Lounge building on St Peter Street into a bazaar of 14 small retail units inside the distinctive premises. The proposals would also include new first-floor windows to the front and rear of the property.

According to planning documents, the building is currently vacant and the applicant says the scheme would bring it back into active use while creating jobs and increasing consumer choice.

The history of the site stretches back more than 100 years. Planning documents state the building was constructed on the site of the Old Bull Hotel livery stables and originally opened as a roller-skating rink in 1909.

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Preston puts itself forward to manage refugees after Lancashire County Council’s ‘financially inept’ approach

By Luke Beardsworth

Preston has become the first local authority to put itself forward to manage the support services for refugees in Lancashire.

Lancashire County Council controversially became the first local authority to announce it would be withdrawing from the role - and intends to do so by the end of March 2027.

That has been the source of much criticism for a number of reasons that have been well-covered on The Lancashire Lead - not least that it affects individuals who have a track record of supporting British armed forces abroad.

The move ultimately means that Lancashire County Council will receive less funds for its services, runs the risk of a judicial review which would be costly to contest and puts jobs at risk while not actually affecting the placement of refugees in Lancashire. The only way it would affect the support refugees - all of whom arrived legally - receive is if the changeover to a new provider is disruptive.

But it has generated national headlines for Reform UK at strategic points across the year - first before the May local elections when the policy was announced and this month ahead of the Reform UK national party conference.

All of the costs of running the scheme are covered by the Home Office - and those funds are used to bolster services that are accessed by non-refugees.

The Home Office is expected to turn to the other authorities - the 14 councils made up of districts and unitary authorities - to ask them to take responsibility.

That being said, it has also been suggested that a council in Manchester has volunteered to take on the responsibilities - and the funding.

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The county council says the shift makes sense, because those authorities have responsibility for housing, which is a part - though not the only part - of the schemes.

But the words shared by Reform UK at Preston Town Hall last week suggest that this is not the primary motivation of the scheme.

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Lancashire remains on track to be the only place in the north without an elected mayor. In fairness, this week’s meeting was unlikely to change that.

Its continued absence ultimately means a less funding for Lancashire with Lancashire County Council’s leader, Reform UK’s Stephen Atkinson, remaining the most outspoken and high profile sceptic of an idea.

It does rather feel like a debate that should be put to bed by now - as evidenced by where Lancashire is compared to the rest of the north - but it will rumble on for some time yet. Today’s edition looks at this week’s meeting and what happens - or doesn’t happen - next.

Interested in the idea of a Mayor for Lancashire? Not sure whether it's a good or bad thing? And where does local government reorganisation fit in? Ed Walker be hosting a discussion, put on by the Preston Partnership, about that very subject on Wednesday 14 October from 6pm-8pm at Cotton Court. It's free to attend, you don't need to be a Preston Partnership member, and he will be quizzing politicians, business leaders and lobbyists for their thoughts about the Devolution journey in Lancashire. Register here for a place.

Lancashire briefing

🩸 Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent has called on the Government to make an urgent intervention over historic contamination in parts of Thornton by cancer-causing chemical PFOA.

Cllr Vincent say the issue is too big to leave to local councils and even the Environment Agency and is a national issue rather than just a local one.

He was speaking after it was revealed that blood tests carried out on residents in Thornton have proved two thirds of those tested have ‘high levels’ of the toxins in their systems.

The revelations came after a law firm instructed blood tests for 49 residents to see if their blood contained high levels of the toxic substance, following confirmation by the Environment Agency that three sites in Thornton were contaminated by the man-made chemical Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA).

PFOA is known to accumulate in blood and can cause cancer, immune system disorders, as well as high, bad cholesterol.

🪏 There are calls for action against utility companies that dig up Lancashire’s stone pavements during roadworks – and then fail to replace the flags they removed.

Councillors in West Lancashire have highlighted half a dozen streets where tar has instead been used to fill in the holes – creating what one resident described as a “patchwork quilt” effect in what was previously pristine paving.

The likes of gas, electricity, water and telecoms firms are bound by national rules designed to ensure any roads they have to excavate are restored to an appropriate standard – which means matching replacement surfaces to their surroundings wherever reasonably practical.

‘Interim’ repairs that fall short of that standard are permitted for a period of up to six months, but should then be made compliant and permanent.

However, County Cllr Gordon Johnson, a member of the Our West Lancashire (OWL) group on Lancashire County Council, says companies carrying out work in Ormskirk are “often getting away with a quick black tar job and leaving town never to return”.

💷 The topic of a toll on the M65 will not go away despite broad agreement that it was a hypothetical suggestion to a rather unique problem.

Last week, Reform UK’s Accrington North representative at Lancashire County Council, Cllr Joel Tetlow, floated the idea of introducing a toll on the major route between Junction 10 and 14, stretching six miles from the Burnley turning to Colne.

This idea was suggested as the Reform group in charge at county hall has to find £15 million to tackle drainage problems on the route, which due to a historical quirk, is one of the few stretches of motorway looked after by a council, rather than National Highways.

While bad ideas should be described as such if that is what they are, Oliver Ryan, Labour MP for Burnley, has launched a petition against the idea that nobody is suggesting will happen.

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Repeatedly-delayed meeting over potential elected mayor for Lancashire finally happens

By Paul Faulkner & Ed Walker

Lancashire has been told that securing an elected mayor for the county is “a priority” for the Prime Minister and could come with a £1bn funding commitment.

The message was delivered during a long-awaited meeting between the government and the leaders of Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council, who collectively also head the Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) devolution body.

It took place on Tuesday (22 September) when devolution minister Jim McMahon MP visited County Hall for a gathering that had first been requested by the trio last December – and twice since cancelled by one of the minister’s predecessors.

The meeting was originally sought to elicit a government response to a list of demands on which Lancashire had previously indicated its support for a shift to a mayor-led devolution model would depend.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Phil Riley said that, during the discussion, Mr. McMahon stressed that “getting Lancashire into mayoral devolution was a priority, not just for him, but for Andy [Burnham]”.

The minister indicated he would expect Lancashire to receive a cash sum – to go with the additional devolved powers conferred on a mayor – that would be equivalent to similar-sized counties that have already done a deal.

An approximate figure of £35m a year over 30 years – just over a £1bn in total – was mooted, although Mr. McMahon emphasised he was unable to make a formal commitment on behalf of the Treasury by pre-agreeing any precise amounts.

The issue of funding had been one of the key matters on which the LCCA had sought clarification in a letter sent to the government shortly before last Christmas. The authority had said its willingness to “engage positively and explore the principle of mayoral devolution” was based on an assumption that the county would be handed “circa £36m” – putting it in the gold standard bracket of devolution deals.

The Prime Minister has made no secret of the fact that he wants to see more ‘metro mayors’ rolled out nationwide, flying the flag for their areas just as he was able to when he held the position in Greater Manchester.

However, Lancashire has had a historically ambivalent relationship with the prospect of installing a mayoral figurehead – and its 15 main council leaders have rarely found themselves on the same page over the subject despite a decade of internal debate.

It was for that reason the three so-called ‘top-tier’ authorities that now make up the LCCA agreed a mayor-free devolution deal with the last Conservative government back in 2023 – eschewing the greater powers and financial rewards that would have come with a mayoral arrangement.

The agreement was rubber-stamped by the incoming Labour government in September 2024. However, at the time, Jim McMahon – when he previously held the devolution minister post before being briefly reshuffled out of the role – invited Lancashire to bring forward proposals for a “deeper” deal within the next 12 months.

That was widely interpreted as code for agreeing to elect a mayor – and sparked an LCCA-led review to assess whether and how the county would benefit from such a move.

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It is incredibly rare that teachers walk out, but that’s exactly what has been happening in Fleetwood and Preston this week.

That’s because of plans to ‘force’ the academisation of all Catholic schools in the area - irrespective of whether staff want it and whether the school is performing well or not.

Most of those schools have gone through the process - but some are fighting against it.

That’s the topic of today’s edition.

Lancashire briefing

🚔 A former magistrate has hit out at how the long-term closure of a court building in Central Lancashire has been handled.

The woman – who did not want to be named – was speaking after it emerged that the Leyland Family Hearing Centre, on Lancastergate, had shut its doors for major repairs.

She said the experience of her own son, who is involved in proceedings at the facility, suggested communication surrounding the closedown had been poor – and risked disadvantaging people in the family court system.

The MoJ refused to comment on the alternative arrangements that had been made for individuals who would otherwise have attended the Leyland Family Hearing Centre – nor how they had been notified. It also declined to comment more broadly on the former magistrate’s comments.

🌬️ The government has been accused of failing to fully consider a proposal that would have reduced by more than 80 percent the length of the huge trench needed to connect a pair of windfarms off the Fylde coast to the national grid.

Ministers last week gave the green light to the 18-mile onshore cabling route suggested by the applicants behind the already approved ‘Morgan and Morecambe’ offshore windfarm projects, which could power as many as two million homes.

However, a group of parish councils says the decision disregarded the major environmental and economic benefits of an alternative option that they and other local authorities had put on the table.

Back in April – while the government was still considering whether or not to grant a so-called development consent order (DCO) for the chosen route – Lancashire County Council, Fylde Council and Wyre Council submitted a report making the economic case for preparing the energy for the grid via an existing substation at Stanah, near Thornton-Cleveleys, or a new one within the adjacent Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone.

That alternative would truncate the cabling trench by 15 miles – from 18 miles to just three. It proposed that existing overhead powerlines would then be used to carry the electricity to Penwortham and into the national grid.

🍺 The work needed to bring one of Preston’s oldest pubs back to life has been given the go-ahead.

The Old Dog Inn, on Church Street, closed its doors eight years ago – and part of the rear of the Grade II-listed building has since collapsed.

Urgent repairs were completed earlier this year following an order from Preston City Council to prevent further deterioration of the protected premises.

An application was then submitted seeking permission to carry out a more substantial restoration of the decaying three-storey structure, which has now been approved by the authority’s planning officers.

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‘A threat to education’: Inside the battle to control one of Lancashire’s best secondary schools

By Luke Beardsworth, with additional reporting by Alice Jones and Paul Faulkner

Why would you bring in sweeping changes at a school even Ofsted couldn’t find fault with?

That was the main question being asked by teachers on strike at a Catholic school in Lancashire in response to plans from the Diocese of Lancaster to ‘force’ the academisation of dozens of schools.

Corpus Christi Catholic High School in Preston was one of two schools on strike on Monday and Tuesday this week in response to plans by the Bishop of Lancaster to force all schools in the diocese to join a church-run multi-academy trust (MAT).

Staff from the National Education Union (NEU) and NASUWT at the school walked out - and so did the staff at Cardinal Allen Catholic High School in Fleetwood for the same reason. The latter previously walked out for a day in July.

The claim is that the proposed conversion of the Corpus Christi into an academy would see between five and seven per cent of funding sliced away to fund the central services of the Mater Ecclesiae Catholic trust.

That could mean job losses, but would almost certainly mean less funding available to maintain the rated-Outstanding levels of education available to pupils at one of the most over-subscribed schools in the area.

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Charlotte Yates, an NEU rep speaking from the picket line this week, said the entire staff body is behind the strike action.

She said: “[Ofsted] couldn’t find a single point for improvement – there’s no better tribute to our leadership team, teaching staff and governing body than that.”

“[The Diocese] would be better served learning from us rather than trying to impose [academisation] on us.

“If seven percent were taken out of our budget, it’s highly likely that would result in redundancies, which would obviously dilute the quality of education that we could offer, at a time when school [finances] are already squeezed.

“That’s why our entire staff body is unanimous in striking against this – we all recognise the threat that it poses to education, resources and the environment of the school.

“This is about saving our school community as we know it.”

But beneath the surface of a row about the best way to manage an extremely good school is a row over how to best look at education more broadly - and claims that governors who opposed the plans have been gagged by the Diocese.

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There are few things that gets a local journalist going like an object in a pothole to demonstrate its scale.

I’ve seen rubber ducks, toy furniture and a mini submarine in my time. AI might have taken the fun out of this practice, but we do have classic of the genre for you today.

Of course, there is a serious point to it all. Potholes cause accidents. Failure to repair potholes can mean Lancashire County Council is responsible for those accidents.

The councillor at the centre of today’s story did not have an accident - but he does say it is proof that Reform UK is not grasping the nettle of Lancashire’s roads in the way that it says it is.

Lancashire briefing

💷 A row has broken out after a Lancashire county councillor suggested introducing a toll on a stretch of the M65 to help pay for repairs and maintenance.

Joel Tetlow floated the idea as a possible way of raising the £15m needed for drainage work on the route.

The Reform UK backbencher made the “hypothetical” proposal for the six-mile section between junction 10 – the Burnley and Clitheroe turn-off – and the end of the motorway at junction 14 in Colne. No official proposal is under consideration by Lancashire County Council, which Reform runs.

Nevertheless, any prospect of drivers having to dip into their pockets to access part of Lancashire’s road network was condemned by main opposition group leader Azhar Ali as a “double tax” on residents and businesses, which he branded “bonkers”.

Meanwhile, veteran Pendle Lib Dem councillor David Whipp – while supportive of having a “discussion” over the issue – warned that it could cause “chaos” on surrounding roads in East Lancashire.

A quirk of history means Lancashire County Council is responsible for the area between junctions 10 and 14, even though the rest of the route – and almost all of the motorway network in England – is looked after by government agency National Highways.

While the idea is a touch leftfield, it’s worth noting the issue in general is unique in Lancashire and incredibly rare in England.

🌹 Hyndburn residents are being urged to come out and line the streets to pay their respects to one of the borough’s long-serving councillors, Dave Parkins, after he passed away over the weekend.

Dubbed ‘Mr Huncoat’ for his decades of service to people in his ward, news of Cllr Parkins’ death on Sunday was met with widespread sadness from his colleagues and constituents, who praised his dedication to public life.

Before being elected to Hyndburn Borough Council in the 1990s, the 76-year-old had spent years serving first in the Royal Navy and then in the Army as a paratrooper, including service in Northern Ireland.

Arrangements are now being made for his funeral, which is being held on Wednesday, September 23, with a very special role for members of the public who wish to pay their respects to a man who spent most of his life serving the public.

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Councillor bursts tyre on road Lancashire County Council failed to repair for months

By Luke Beardsworth

A councillor in Lancashire says that his own incident with a pothole is evidence to support his belief that there is a gap between performance and rhetoric when it comes to the state of the county’s roads.

Cllr Aidy Riggott, who represents Euxton, Buckshaw & Astley at Lancashire County Council for the Conservatives, was driving along Storrs Lane in Silverdale in the evening on Friday, 29 May when he went over a pothole.

His tyre burst immediately.

The road is a national speed limit route and extremely rural - something that meant Riggott had to wait four hours for recovery.

As a councillor, he has access to the Lancashire County Council dashboard that allows him to see when defects were reported and when work has been done.

He saw that a job had been raised to repair the pothole on Storrs Lane on 6 February with a target completion date of 23 March. Over two months later, with no repair carried out, it resulted in a burst tyre.

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The job being raised in February 2026 means that it falls into the period of Quarter 3 or Quarter 4 of the 25/26 financial year - where pothole repair performance data at the Reform-led authority has not been made public.

The Lancashire Lead understands that the data does exist but is not published because it would not give a ‘fair and accurate’ picture.

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That was a busier start to the week than I am accustomed to. It’s probably fair to say plenty of senior staff at Lancashire County Council felt the same.

On Sunday, we published a withheld report which showed that the authority could be open to a judicial review in the decision it has made regarding withdrawing from the refugee resettlement scheme. The authority - and the report - stresses that this can be mitigated against. Although no amount of mitigation will be as effective as not doing it in the first place.

Not read it yet? Now’s the time.

The disquiet, to describe it mildly, that this has caused is understandable. The report is confidential and everyone at County Hall was supposed to keep it away from the public. Can anyone tell me the last time something like this happened? Because I’m not sure?

My unsolicited advice is that anyone concerned by the publication of the report should reflect on the circumstances. A leak of this nature from County Hall is extremely unusual. And in 16 years reporting in Lancashire (I’m old), I’ve never felt the need to publish something like that.

So one of two things can now happen at County Hall.

Option one: a set of circumstances that have never happened before have happened now and it’s completely irrelevant what the topic is. The leak must be investigated at length because it can never happen again.

Option two: the contents of the report were so overwhelmingly in the public interest, the points raised against the decision so strong and poorly argued against and the decision itself so utterly devoid of positives, that it might now be time to reflect on why it happened rather than how it happened. A reminder that officers were not able to even put forward a recommendation on this - and nobody can say the last time that happened either.

Option one makes the least sense, I’m afraid. But that’s a familiar feeling now.

Back to local government reorganisation and devolution, Lancashire sits in limbo and with a worse deal than the rest of the north as result. It feels like a debate about principles to some extent.

One side, you’ve got the camp that feels that Lancashire should not need a mayor to have the top tier of funding resettlement that can have extraordinary benefits.

On the other, you’ve got the camp thinking pragmatically. Just give us the funding and if a mayor is part of that, then so be it. Anything is better than more years of debate and uncertainty that we can start again after the next local elections.

Rosette colour shouldn’t matter here - working out the best thing for Lancashire is the priority.

That is the debate we focus on in today’s edition.

Lancashire briefing

🚌 Bus passengers in Lancashire will be able to enjoy a discounted fare for longer than previously planned after the date it was due to end was pushed back until after Christmas.

The flat £1-per-journey fare in operation of an evening and all day Sunday across much of the county had, as first revealed by The Lancashire Lead, been set to come to a stop on 13 September when it was scheduled to double to £2.

The Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) devolution body concluded back in June that it could no longer afford to subsidise the scheme for passengers travelling after 7pm Monday to Saturday and anytime on Sundays and bank holidays.

However, since the LCCA took its decision, the government has announced it will lower the nationwide bus fare cap from £3 to its previous £2 level from 1st January.

The move has now prompted the Lancashire authority to extend its £1 offer through to New Year’s Eve, so that all the price changes come into force at the same time.

👞 The future of a flagship industrial unit in Darwen has been secured after Blackburn with Darwen Council found a replacement buyer following the collapse of plans for a major advanced manufacturing hub.

The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) had been expected to occupy Unit 1 at the Chapels employment development off Goose House Lane and establish a specialist additive manufacturing and 3D-printing facility.

However, the university withdrew from the scheme in July, citing financial pressures affecting the higher education sector. The decision brought an end to years of planning and left the council searching for a new occupier for the largest unit on the site.

A report presented to the council’s Executive Board said the unit had been actively marketed for six months but generated ‘little interest’, before a new opportunity emerged.

Rossendale-based LJ & R Footwear Ltd, which has traded for more than 40 years supplying products to businesses across the country, has agreed to acquire Unit 1 for £1.85 million.

🗳️ The leader of Preston City Council says he hopes the “frustrating” delay to the overhaul that will see the authority abolished will last no more than a year.

Matthew Brown was responding to the government announcement that a shake-up of Lancashire’s councils, which ministers themselves had demanded, was being paused to check that it is lawful.

Meanwhile, South Ribble Borough Council leader Matthew Tomlinson said news of what has been described as a ‘rapid review’ of the process came as “a bit of shock” – and called for clarity as soon as possible.

Under the changes – which were set in motion by the government almost two years ago before finally being confirmed in July – Preston will merge with the local authorities covering Lancaster and Ribble Valley to create a new North Lancashire Council. South Ribble is to hook up with Chorley and West Lancashire in a configuration that will be known as South Lancashire Council.

Lancashire still waiting to hear the exact benefits a mayor would bring to county

By Ed Walker

A pivotal meeting between senior politicians in Lancashire and the recently returning government minister Jim McMahon needs to happen until any certainty is given over Lancashire’s future.

The MP was restored to a cabinet post as Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Growth by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the summer and the leader of Reform-led Lancashire County Council county councillor Stephen Atkinson, who also chairs the Combined County Authority, said they were still awaiting a meeting with Mr McMahon to thrash out what economic benefits a Devolution deal - and any potential directly-elected Mayor - would have.

Cllr Atkinson has been cautious over any support for a Mayoral authority despite increasing pressure from MPs, businesses and other council leaders. Atkinson, speaking at a meeting of the Combined Authority last week, expressed frustration at the government’s current approach.

He said: “We have tried three times [since February] to get a meeting with the minister about understanding what settlement there would be, and it’s been cancelled three times.

“We’ll be trying again, but until we have the facts in front of us I don’t think it would be right for the people of Lancashire for us to agree to anything.”

Cllr Atkinson also criticised comparisons with areas that did have Mayors - citing how Lancashire’s growth rate was running at a similar rate to the Liverpool City Region which has one of the longest-established Mayoral Devolution deals.

His deputy at County Hall, county councillor Simon Evans, said more recent Devolution settlements were not as generous as the earlier settlements. Mr Isap fired back it was still more than Lancashire was getting now, despite the county having a larger economy than many of the places with recent Devolution settlements such as Cheshire and Cumbria who are set to have a Mayor in May 2027.

Cllr Atkinson was responding to questioning and pressure from Mo Isap OBE, chair of the Lancashire Business Board, who has been sabre-rattling for a Mayor in recent weeks. Mr Isap challenged Cllr Atkinson on the ‘opportunity cost’ of not having a Mayoral Devolution settlement, saying places such as South Yorkshire were outstripping Lancashire in government funding settlements.

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As I write today’s edition I do so with a severely cricked neck which makes sitting at a computer very uncomfortable. If that perseverance is what you need to be convinced to become a paid subscriber, then I’ll take it.

But if minor injuries do not move you, today’s edition reveals the risks Lancashire County Council is exposing itself to in withdrawing from involvement in the refugee resettlement schemes earlier this month.

We do so because we have been seen the report - known as Appendix C - which was withheld from public consumption. Some councillors were told to sign non-disclosure agreements if they had seen it.

But we publish because its contents are in the public interest. LCC has already spent money on legal advice to produce it - and taxpayer funded legal costs could escalate if the dangers it warns of come to fruition. The Reform UK-led cabinet has acknowledged that and pressed ahead and it’s important that you know about that.

We’ve not published it in full and have not included elements of the report that should genuinely have been kept confidential relating to individual staff who appear caught in the political crossfire.

The first part of this edition covers what happened in a fiery meeting on Friday to discuss the process around how the decision was made. The second part covers the redacted report.

Lancashire briefing

🗳️ There is one fewer Reform UK councillor at Chorley Council after Cllr Mark Hill became an independent.

Councillors at Chorley Council were informed of the move earlier in the week and it leaves the Reform UK opposition on six councillors.

Cllr Hill resigned from the party by writing to Reform UK HQ, according to the group’s local leader Cllr Mark Perks, and it happened around a fortnight ago.

The move took Reform UK by surprise and they said that they wish him well.

🗑️ A pause in the creation of a new household waste recycling centre for people in Blackburn has left the project in limbo, following a major U-turn by the UK Government.

This is because, initially, Blackburn with Darwen Council had decided to delay the £7.7m project at Goose House Lane in Darwen until the new Pennine Lancashire authority took its place as the body responsible for waste collection and disposal.

That ‘pause’ would have allowed the new authority to make its own determinations about the new recycling centre, without having its hands tied by the then-abolished Blackburn with Darwen executive.

But when Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government Angela Rayner stood up in the House of Commons on Tuesday and revealed that long-planned reforms to councils across the country were themselves ‘paused’, she also effectively put the Goose House Lane project on ice.

🩸 Hospital staff responsible for analysing blood tests across East Lancashire are set to continue strike action until at least the start of next month.

Biomedical science workers who are part of the Unite union at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals have not worked on weekdays since 15th June in a dispute over holiday pay.

A fresh round of action – the fourth month-long block to date – got under way this week and will run until 2nd October.

The union has accused Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) – the lead employer for NHS pathology staff in all parts of the county except West Lancashire – of refusing an offer to enter into a “binding arbitration” process that would see staff return to work.

However, nationwide NHS guidance on the issue at the heart of the row, which has recently been provided to the trust, suggests its approach is correct – leaving the dispute with Unite looking increasingly entrenched.

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Withheld report says Lancashire County Council open to financial, legal and reputational risks in refugee decision

By Luke Beardsworth, with additional reporting by Paul Faulkner

A document withheld from the public by Lancashire County Council told councillors there was a risk of judicial review in plans to withdraw the authority from administering refugee resettlement schemes.

The so-called Appendix C to the report presented to cabinet regarding plans to become the first authority in the UK to withdraw from the scheme was not made available to the public because it contained ‘confidential information relating to the options, context and implications of Lancashire County Council’s delivery of refugee resettlement schemes’.

Some councillors who were able to view the document were told to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent them from making it public, despite Lancashire County Council’s admission the contents were in the public interest.

But some of those same councillors questioned the need for all of the information to be withheld from the public. The Lancashire Lead can exclusively report its contents today.

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None of the contents of the report ultimately moved Reform UK before or during a special meeting of the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee on Friday (11 September).

That meeting found that Lancashire County Council will not be ordered to reconsider a decision to withdraw from a scheme that provides support for refugees.

Opposition groups failed, as expected, in an attempt to force the Reform UK-run authority to think again over the move, which will see it stop co-ordinating the delivery of services to help 745 refugees in the county who are currently receiving government-funded support.

It comes after the cabinet member who led the process admitted to having “a view” on the matter before formally recommending the proposal to his colleagues. However, Joshua Roberts - the portfolio-holder for communities, environment and rural affairs - denied his mind was ‘closed’ despite announcing his ‘intentions’ on Facebook in a pre-election move months earlier.

County Hall’s cabinet voted earlier this month to stop administering a total of five refugee resettlement schemes. Four of the initiatives are for Afghans who assisted British military operations in their home country, while the fifth covers other vulnerable people - excluding Ukrainians and some other nationalities.

All of the individuals arrived legally and have been given the right to remain in the country.

Cllr Roberts made the case on the basis of what he said were issues of fairness, practicality and “value for money”. However, 19 county councillors - drawn from all five opposition groupings - ‘called in’ the decision, prompting the special meeting.

Members of that cross-party - but Reform-majority - committee were tasked with considering whether the cabinet had adhered to the county council’s “principles of decision making” when opting to end its involvement in the refugee schemes from next spring. They voted by a six-to-four majority that it had, meaning the decision stands.

During a heated 90-minute sitting, which featured the leader of the authority Stephen Atkinson arriving unexpectedly into the room to join the debate, Cllr Roberts was probed on the rationale for his recommendation to fellow cabinet members - and accused of having made up his mind before the meeting at which the decision was taken had begun.

Presenting the case for the call-in, Our West Lancashire group leader Adrian Owens said a video posted on social media in May in which Cllr Roberts declared “he had the intention of withdrawing from the scheme[s]” pointed towards “evidence of predetermination”.

“These comments were made four months before any report came [to cabinet], before officers laid out the options and the implications of those options [and] before any equalities impact assessment was produced,” Cllr Owens said.

Cllr Roberts said that under government legislation it was permissible for him to be “predisposed” to a particular policy choice provided he was not “predetermined”.

He told the committee that he had never said in advance - either on social media or in a Guardian article on the subject - what “would” or “will” happen in relation to the issue.

“I have a view, but on the day of cabinet, I looked at all three options, I listened to the debate - and then I made my judgment after hearing everyone’s say,” Cllr Roberts said.

In addition to the chosen option of withdrawing from the schemes by 31 March 2027, the other two possibilities on the table were a more phased withdrawal or continuing with the current arrangements of the county council co-ordinating refugee support. The cabinet report did not recommend which of the options be pursued - and instead invited members to consider them all. That in itself was remarked upon as unusual during the meeting.

Cllr Roberts said he had been given legal advice that said he “was not [of] a predetermined opinion” and he therefore believed that “the public would also agree” that he had an open mind at the start of the cabinet meeting.

But Gina Dowding - deputy leader of the Progressive Lancashire official opposition group and another scrutiny committee member who had requested the call-in - rubbished the suggestion that there had been any meaningful debate during the cabinet gathering for Cllr Roberts to consider.

Noting that only one other cabinet member even spoke on the matter, she said: “I would go as far as to say it’s disingenuous of you to say that you came open-minded and you listened to the debate - ... it was absolutely clear that you’d made your mind up beforehand, because there was nothing that was said that anyone [could consider to have] influenced you,” Cllr Dowding said.

Telling the committee that the cabinet had been presented with a comprehensive set of reports, produced after 15 months of work on the issue, Cllr Roberts claimed that the call-in attempt was not “a complaint that something was left out - this was a complaint about the weight we gave to things that were in front of us”.

He added: “Members are entitled to disagree with that balance, but disagreeing with a judgement isn’t the same as saying the judgement was made wrongly.”

The cabinet decision does not mean the end of the support to which the refugees who have made Lancashire their home are entitled - nor even that more more of them will not be placed in the county in future. It determines only that the county council will not be responsible for overseeing that support network.

The call-in signatories had put forward a total of five ways in which they said the cabinet had breached the county council’s constitution in making the decision in the manner that it did - two of which revolved around financial considerations and a number of which appeared to draw directly from the contents of Appendix C.

As one of the proponents of the call-in, Progressive Lancashire group leader Azhar Ali claimed in his presentation to the committee that withdrawing the county council from the refugee schemes was “gesture politics” that would “cost the taxpayers of Lancashire over £1m a year” on an ongoing basis.

He and Cllr Owens noted that the Home Office funding for the refugee initiatives was used to finance services that also supported the wider population, suggesting that the county council was a net beneficiary of the cash coming from the government. These include a welfare rights team that Cllr Ali said had helped “some of the most vulnerable” claim £35.6m in benefits over a four-year period.

He added that the cabinet had been provided with “insufficient information into what services would be cut” as a result of the county council no longer administering the refugee programmes.

Liberal Democrat committee member - and call-in signatory - Mark Jewell asked whether the Reform administration was going to require council taxpayers to plug “the gap” in funding that he said would result from the decision or was instead prepared “to allow services to diminish”.

However, Cllr Roberts said there was “no reason” why the county council will not be able to claim the costs of delivering its continuing support for refugees from the authorities that will receive the government funding for the schemes once they assume overarching responsibility for delivering them.

Cllr Roberts highlighted that distinction as one of the main reasons for ending the authority’s co-ordinating role.

“We are not a housing authority - and yet housing sits right at the heart of these schemes, while the actual duty sits with the districts and the unitaries [Lancashire’s 14 other main councils].” Cllr Roberts said.

But he had no answer when it was pointed out that the majority of refugees - and the wider public - are in housing managed by private landlords, arguably undermining the credibility of his point about housing and a 40,000+ council house waiting list.

That is particularly pertinent because Cllr Roberts claims the reason they are not touching refugee schemes for people from Ukraine or Hong Kong is because they have no housing responsibilities in those areas.

Cllr Roberts said he considered it unfair that refugees received a “serious package of support” in their everyday lives - for between three and five years - that was not open to “any other vulnerable group in Lancashire”.

However, during the scrutiny committee hearing, Cllr Owens said it was not unusual for the authority to “tailor access to…services to people’s particular needs” - and ration them accordingly.

Cllr Roberts said it had arisen from the county council’s broader “efficiency review” and because a “procurement” decision was due on contracts related to the refugee schemes which were due for renewal.

However, that prompted Cllr Aidy Riggott to question whether the authority would be reassessing all of its non-statutory services when they came up for re-procurement.

“There is no say on whether we will look at [other] schemes or whether we won’t look at [other] schemes,” Cllr Roberts said.

Cllr Dowding asked Cllr Roberts whether he had ever “met any of the Afghan refugees who were fighting alongside our veterans”.

In response, he said that that had nothing to do with “the process” the committee was supposed to be judging, before claiming that there were “no registered [Afghan] veterans on this scheme currently”.

Clare Coupe, the county council’s director of communities and engagement, clarified the situation: “We do know that some people on the scheme are veterans, but we don’t know who,” she said.

But it is the row over whether the decision was pre-determined - and whether it was made for any reason other than to specifically target some minorities and be seen to be doing so - that could make the council particularly open to legal challenge.

That is something set out in Appendix C - withheld from the public but obtained by The Lancashire Lead - which shows the authority could be vulnerable to legal, financial and reputational risks by withdrawing from the schemes.

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Labour figures in Lancashire will have been buzzing at the start of Monday when they were able to confirm - via the BBC - that they had secured the first defection from Reform UK to Labour.

By the afternoon, that was kicked squarely into the long grass with the announcement that local government reorganisation would be paused and reviewed. Life, truly, comes at you fast in local politics.

In delaying, the government has taken legal advice which - given the outcome - you would presume tells you that the process would be vulnerable to the legal challenges that were coming.

It means that local elections will go ahead as planned in 2027 - and that the elections to “shadow authorities” planned for the same time will not go ahead.

It’s not clear what the government hopes will happen next. What we know with absolute certainty though is that Andy Burnham will want Lancashire to have an elected mayor - and that was considered the natural endpoint of local government reorganisation for many.

And what it absolutely means is that, as long as the government review is ongoing, Lancashire remains in stasis over its future.

Lancashire briefing

🌹 A county councillor has become the first politician in the country to defect from Reform UK to the Labour Party.

Nigel Swales was one of the 53 councillors elected to for Reform UK at Lancashire County Council in May 2025. He represents Skelmersdale East.

The Lancashire Lead understands that conversations regarding the defection had been taking place for at least several weeks and that Cllr Swales had been in discussions with the regional office of the Labour Party.

He cites his decision as being in response to the ‘scandal’ that the party has been embroiled into during his time in office.

The Lancashire Lead has been told, on a number of occasions over the summer, that potential defections could be on the cards. At least three have spoken to the Conservatives about a potential switch, while Restore Britain could be tempting for those on the right of the party.

Cllr Swales becomes the second councillor to leave Reform UK at Lancashire County Council after Cllr Leon Graham left to join the Conservatives in July. That means Reform UK has 51 councillors and their majority remains a comfortable one.

Cllr Mark Clifford, who leads Labour at Lancashire County Council, stressed that they would only welcome ‘moderates’ over from Reform UK.

Cllr Simon Evans, Reform UK’s deputy leader at the authority’ said the defection is a “massive jump” and needs a by-election.

It’s worth noting that Cllr Stephen Atkinson, Reform UK’s leader at Lancashire who also holds his seat at Ribble Valley Borough Council, has not defended his borough seat since defecting from the Conservatives to Reform UK.

🤐 Plans that would see Lancashire County Council become the first UK authority to pull out of refugee settlement schemes will be revisited at a special scrutiny meeting on Friday (11 September).

The move - agreed by the Reform UK-led authority at a cabinet meeting last week - was criticised as xenophobic by two opposition party leaders and condemned by others, along with campaign groups.

The Lancashire Lead now understands that at least three opposition leaders have signed NDAs regarding the contents of “Appendix C” from the report prepared in advance of the cabinet meeting.

That is because Appendix C contains “confidential information relating to the options, context and implications of Lancashire County Council’s delivery of refugee resettlement schemes.”

We asked a number of questions to the authority, all of which were unanswered by the time of publication.

🤝🏻 Hyndburn and Haslingden MP Sarah Smith has been appointed to a Government role at the Department for Education, giving the East Lancashire MP a position close to the heart of ministerial decision-making.

The first-term MP has previously carried out research and campaigned on issues relating to youth unemployment for years, with a particular focus on those termed as Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEETs).

With this background, Ms Smith has now been named as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Education Secretary Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP who took charge of the department after Prime Minister Andy Burnham seized power earlier this summer.

Parliamentary Private Secretaries are unpaid ministerial aides who act as a link between ministers and backbench MPs, helping departments stay connected to parliamentary opinion while gaining valuable experience within government.

The appointment marks a significant step for the Hyndburn MP, who was first elected as Labour MP for Hyndburn at the 2024 general election, when she unseated Conservative incumbent Sara Britcliffe.

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Local government reorganisation in Lancashire in disarray after government pauses process

By Paul Faulkner and Luke Beardsworth

The future of local government reorganisation - and with it devolution - has been set back at least 18 months after the government announced the process has been paused while checks are carried out to ensure it is lawful.

All 15 main local authorities in the county are due to be scrapped in April 2028 as part of a government-ordered restructure designed to streamline the council landscape in almost two dozen areas nationwide.

News of the hold-up prompted Reform UK’s Lancashire County Council leader Stephen Atkinson to renew his previously rejected push for a local referendum on the subject.

Meanwhile, Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent said the process should now be abandoned completely – and the leader of Lancaster City Council, Caroline Jackson, insisted the government should go “back to the drawing board”.

Reaction from local authority Labour figures was slow to emerge - although Burnley MP Oliver Ryan showed his support for the move having long opposed any plans to merge his area with Blackburn. Similarly, Sarah Smith - the MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden - said it was important that the government got the details right.

It is less than two months since Lancashire was told the size and shape of the councils that would replace those whose days were believed to be numbered – when four sprawling, all-purpose new authorities were unveiled to serve North Lancashire (or any alternative name proposed), South Lancashire, Pennine Lancashire and the Fylde coast (or any alternative name proposed).

They were set to take over in little more than 18 months’ time from Lancashire County Council and the authorities covering Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Burnley Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre.

However, Angela Rayner announced in the Commons on Monday afternoon (7 September) that the revamp planned for the county – the biggest for more than 50 years – was being put on hold, along with most of the others under way across England.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government said that “in light of legal advice” she wanted to satisfy herself that “the right process is in place [which] is robust and, of course, complies with the law”.

But she also pointed towards a broader reassessment of the principle underpinning the changes – which she herself set in train back in December 2024 under Sir Keir Starmer – by launching a “rapid review” of the entire reorganisation programme.

“I want to fully test whether our proposals for local government reorganisation meet the priorities of the new administration and the new Prime Minister,” Ms. Rayner added.

The shock announcement leaves Lancashire’s existing authorities in local government limbo, with no certainty as to whether their demise has simply been delayed – or indefinitely dodged.

Asked by South Ribble MP Paul Foster to confirm that reorganisation was “still a commitment of this government” – and that the county would “hopefully” move to the agreed four-council model in Lancashire, Angela Rayner said she was “absolutely committed to making sure areas like…Lancashire do get local government reform”.

“This is a pause and I haven’t taken that decision lightly,” she added – without making any promises regarding the specifics of the four-way split announced nearly two months ago.

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One thing the government has confirmed is that elections to establish so-called ‘shadow’ versions of the replacement authorities – which were due to take place in May 2027, giving the new organisations 11 months to operate alongside the councils being axed – are now off.

Instead, polls will be held for those current local authorities that would have been due to stage them on the usual electoral timetable. That means 13 of the 15 existing Lancashire councils will see votes take place next year, with the exceptions being Rossendale and the county council, for which elections were not due until 2028 and 2029, respectively.

The move suggests that the planned timetable for the new councils – if they are still ultimately formed – has been pushed back by at least a year.

County Cllr Atkinson, the ruling Reform UK leader at County Hall – and a longstanding and vehement opponent of the proposed council changes – said the delay was a chance to ensure the voices of Lancashire residents were heard on the issue.

Despite reports in other local media, Reform-led Lancashire County Council did not mount a High Court challenge against local government reorganisation. Such a move would need to approved by cabinet.

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Reform UK has made national headlines with its vow to pull out of refugee resettlement schemes.

They are the first local authority in Lancashire to do so - and they say it is evidence that they are putting the people of Lancashire first.

But critics argue strongly that the only tangible difference the move will make is to take Home Office funding away from Lancashire County Council. It will have no impact on refugee numbers, housing and certainly no impact on asylum seekers which is a separate matter.

In short: their argument is Reform UK is putting headlines first.

We unpick the latest on the topic. The debate will continue next week because the decision to pull out of the scheme has been “called in”. That means Reform UK will be asked to reconsider their stance on Afghan refugees on * checks calendar * September 11.

Lancashire briefing

🤝🏻 Blackburn with Darwen’s council leader has called for East Lancashire politicians to unite ahead of local government reorganisation, amid continuing tensions with Burnley over the creation of the new Pennine Lancashire authority.

While the new unitary authority will not take power until April 2028, the council’s chief executive Denise Park and leader Cllr Phil Riley told a scrutiny committee this week that a ‘mountain’ of work was already underway to prepare for the biggest shake-up of county politics in a generation.

That includes standardising the myriad of services provided by Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley and Pendle councils before May 2027, when elections will be held to select the councillors who will run the ‘shadow’ authority that oversees the transition into the new mega-council.

But it is not just issues regarding bin collections and the forecasted £43m budget shortfall that need agreement from local leaders, as in recent months Burnley Council’s leader Cllr Afrasiab Anwar has voiced concerns about the ever-increasing ‘centralisation’ of services 11 miles away in Blackburn.

Last month, Cllr Anwar’s challenge to the presumed dominance of Blackburn with Darwen in the new authority led to some concessions over the joint committee that will oversee part of the transition.

This committee was set to be dominated by Blackburn politicians, but has since been modified to provide a better balance between East Lancashire’s largest town and only existing unitary authority, and the other smaller second-tier councils.

🛥️ Lancashire County Council has indicated it could be willing to pay more to keep the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry in operation – but first wants convincing that an increased subsidy for the service makes sense for the public purse.

The authority’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Warren Goldsworthy, floated the possibility that “progress” could be made on the subject during a meeting at County Hall on Thursday morning.

His comments were the first indication that there could be a way through an ongoing dispute with Wyre Council over funding for the cross-river connection which would enable it to continue.

Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent says he will set up a meeting between the two authorities – and the current operator of the ferry – “immediately” to try to thrash out a solution.

However, there remains plenty of clear blue water between the councils over the issue and time is not on their side – nor that of the passengers who want to travel between the two communities while avoiding a 24-mile round trip by road.

🌳 One of East Lancashire’s most recognisable landmarks could be set for a major overhaul after Burnley Council submitted plans to improve access to the Singing Ringing Tree ahead of the borough’s Year of Culture celebrations in 2027.

The council has lodged an application to itself seeking permission for a package of improvements around the award-winning sculpture, which stands on Crown Point above Burnley and attracts visitors from across the UK and overseas.

According to planning documents, almost 20 years of exposure to harsh Pennine weather has left footpaths, fencing and other infrastructure in need of significant refurbishment.

Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu and completed in 2006, the Singing Ringing Tree is a three-metre-high wind-powered sculpture made from galvanised steel pipes that harness the wind sweeping across the moorland to produce haunting musical notes.

The sculpture was created as part of a wider East Lancashire arts and regeneration initiative. A year after it was erected atop Crown Point, it won a prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) National Award for architectural excellence.

It has since become one of Lancashire’s best-known visitor attractions, featuring regularly in lists of Britain’s most remarkable landmarks and offering panoramic views across Burnley, Pendle Hill and the wider Pennines.

However, council documents say the environment surrounding the attraction has deteriorated over the years due to weathering, water erosion and the decay of fencing and gates.

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Reform UK ‘abandons pretence of delivery for Lancashire’ in refugee funding decision

By Luke Beardsworth

The first Afghan refugees arrived in Lancashire in August 2021.

In Afghanistan itself, the Taliban had stepped up attacks in response to US and NATO withdrawals. The speed at which peoples’ lives became at serious risk was eye-watering, and prompted Ben Wallace, then-Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston North but also Secretary of State for Defence, to call it ‘rotten’ and a ‘mistake’.

So began Operation Pitting - the biggest evacuation carried out by the British since the Second World War. 5,000 British nationals were evacuated, along with 8,000 Afghans who were deemed to be vulnerable to attack due to their role in assisting British forces. 2,200 of them were children, the youngest one day old.

A number of legal routes were established. People in danger of death, women, girls, human rights defenders and people who were deemed to be compatible with British values were brought to the UK. They did not arrive illegally, there were no boats, they have indefinite leave to remain.

Views on migration to the UK are complex. YouGov data from August 2026 says that 45% per cent of people want more or the same volume of arrivals to the UK when the people are fleeing persecution or war in other countries compared to 42% who want fewer or no migration for those reasons. People in the 18-24 age group are, as you would anticipate, more open to it.

Back to Lancashire in 2021, and the first refugees began to arrive in the Haslingden area of East Lancashire. Cllr Samara Barnes, county and borough councillor in the area for Labour, said she immediately started to receive messages to see if she was arranging collections for them.

Books, bikes, clothes, shoes, food and toiletries were all arranged by the local community to help those who had arrived.

In 2024, Lancashire County Council itself shared the story of the dozen or so Afghan women who gathered once a week in Weeton to sew incubator covers to help premature babies born at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria.

Fast-forward to 2026 and, ahead of the May local elections, Reform UK county councillor Joshua Roberts made his promise to withdraw Lancashire County Council from facilitating the refugee schemes specifically relating to Afghan and Syrian refugees. Cllr Roberts was not successful in being elected to Fylde Council.

It landed national coverage for Reform UK and was not an inherently unpopular policy announcement. It is a fact that there are people that do not want people to come to the UK at all and believe immigration - even for good reasons - to be the main issue facing the UK.

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Cllr Barnes told The Lancashire Lead: “Reform UK think they are speaking for the silent majority. They’re really not, definitely not in my community and not around Lancashire.

“We are better people than this and they have got it wrong on this occasion.”

The detail was called into question. Lancashire County Council withdrawing from its role in managing the schemes was unlikely to mean fewer refugees in Lancashire. It was definitely not going to impact on a matter that people care about on a much broader scale - people seeking asylum and living in communities while waiting for a decision.

Cllr Roberts claimed in one of his Facebook posts that the schemes were costing £7m per year of ‘your money’. That is likely drawing on the £6.4m Lancashire County Council received from the Home Office in the 24/25 financial year, and it has not been that high before or since.

The details became clear ahead of Thursday’s (3 September) cabinet meeting where Lancashire County Council vowed to end its role coordinating some refugee resettlement schemes from March 2027. It is the first council in the UK to make that decision.

But the council’s own report into the decision, along with the debate, made a number of matters clear. The decision will have zero impact on the number of refugees in Lancashire and is not in any way related to asylum seekers.

Lancashire County Council has no legal duty to fulfil a co-ordinating role for the schemes. However, it is expected that it will need to find a further £1m in funding to replace what the Home Office will no longer provide. In short: withdrawing from the schemes will not affect the volume of refugees but will incur a cost.

So what’s the point?

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We’ve covered local government reorganisation in some depth on these pages and continue that trend today.

The move will, ultimately, mean 14 chief executives become four. While it can be expected that more senior roles will exist - a direct result of having four big councils rather than a large volume of smaller ones - this will ultimately mean competition for the chief executive roles.

Pay at senior level in local authorities has long been debated - particularly when top bosses wind up bagging a bigger salary than the Prime Minister. But the defence has long been that this is necessary to ensure the best candidates can be found.

There are now calls for those salaries to be capped in comparison to the lowest paid members of staff.

We also, ahead of Thursday’s cabinet meeting, update on reaction to plans by Reform UK to withdraw Lancashire from the refugee resettlement scheme. This topic, particularly the fact that it will not save a penny, has only been picked up by The Lancashire Lead.

Lancashire briefing

🛏️ A Lancashire MP has hit out at plans to withdraw Lancashire from refugee resettlement schemes which Lancashire County Council’s own reports set out would likely come at a cost rather than a saving.

The decision will be made at a cabinet meeting tomorrow (3 September) and comes after Joshua Roberts, Reform UK’s cabinet member for rural affairs, environment and communities, announced the plan on the eve of the May local elections.

Paul Foster, Labour’s MP for South Ribble, described the presentation of this as something that could be saved and reinvested in Lancashire as ‘particularly misleading’.

He told The Lancashire Lead: “The suggestion that Lancashire is spending £7 million a year of local taxpayers’ money on refugee resettlement is particularly misleading. Lancashire County Council’s own information makes clear that its Refugee Integration Team is fully funded by central government and that the resettlement schemes themselves are supported through government grant funding.

“Presenting that £7 million as though it is simply Lancashire taxpayers’ money that can now be saved and spent elsewhere gives people a very different impression of how the system actually works.

“I’m also uncomfortable with the wider tone of this. Lancashire has always been a welcoming place and I’m proud of that. Of course people expect their council to look after local residents and spend public money responsibly, I completely agree with them. But supporting people in Lancashire and showing compassion to people who have fled war and persecution are not mutually exclusive.

“Politics works best when we bring people together and are straight with them about the facts. I find it really disappointing to see Reform increasingly trying to divide people into ‘us and them’, particularly when the financial argument being used to justify it doesn’t tell the full story.

“If Reform want to withdraw Lancashire from these schemes, that is a political choice they are entitled to make. But they should be honest with Lancashire residents about what that decision does and does not save.”

Reform UK told The Lancashire Lead they would not comment until after Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

🚄 An East Lancashire town that has been left without a passenger rail service for half a century could have its commuter line restored, following backlash after the proposals were left out of county transport plans.

Campaigners have been calling for Rawtenstall’s passenger service to be brought back for years, with plans to create the ‘City Valley Rail Link’ on the same line that has been maintained by the heritage East Lancashire Railway in the decades after the town’s station closed in 1972.

But when the new Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) unveiled its first ever Local Transport Plan earlier this year, this City Valley Rail Link was conspicuously missing from the scheme to re-invest in the county’s railway services.

Rossendale and Darwen’s MP Andy MacNae called this omission ‘incomprehensible’ at the time, but has recently revealed that plans to restore the commuter service on the heritage railway line are back on track.

But on Friday, August 28, Andy MacNae MP revealed that pleas from residents and district leaders had not fallen on deaf ears, with the City Valley Rail Link now being included in the latest draft of the LCCA’s Implementation Plan for local transport.

🏠 Two Lancashire councils have failed to deliver the number of new homes their areas need, according to new figures.

Just 48 percent of the properties required in the Lancaster City Council patch were actually built over a three-year period, while Chorley Council witnessed 63 percent of its tally come to fruition.

Across Lancashire, a total of 18,291 dwellings sprung up between 2022/23 and 2024/25 – with 11 out 14 local authority areas exceeding their minimum new housing needs, as calculated by a government formula.

Burnley, Preston, Ribble Valley and Hyndburn all saw more than five times as many homes built as were demanded by that calculation – with Preston delivering the most by volume at 3,695 units.

However, in Lancaster, only 612 dwellings were completed in the timeframe out of the city’s 1,271 target. Meanwhile, Chorley achieved 986 new properties – but the borough had been aiming for 1,553.

Cllr Alex Hilton, Chorley’s cabinet member for planning and development, said: “We are aware of the figures released and were expecting this outcome as the development of the Central Lancashire Local Plan (2023-2041) is still ongoing which will identify our five-year supply for housing in the area.

“The findings provide no change to how we as a council currently make our planning decisions.”

Meanwhile, Lancaster City Council’s cabinet member for planning, Sue Tyldsley noted that this year was the first time her authority had fallen below a perfect 100 percent score in the housing delivery test since it was introduced in 2019.

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Calls for pay of chief executives to be capped compared to lowest-paid staff

By Paul Faulkner

The chief executives that will run Lancashire’s four new super councils should not be paid more than the Prime Minister, a current county councillor has said.

Michael Lavalette – an independent member of the Progressive Lancashire opposition group at County Hall – is also calling for the wages of the most senior office-holder at each of the authorities to be capped at a fixed number of times above those of the lowest-paid member of staff.

Lancashire’s 15 main councils are being axed as part of a government-ordered shake-up. Their successors – when they take over in April 2028 – will deliver all local authority services in their sprawling new areas, meaning they will have more responsibilities than most of the councils they replace.

County Cllr Lavalette fears that will cause what he believes are already overly-inflated pay packets to balloon yet further – beyond even the £182,000 salary to which the PM is entitled. That is a wage already topped by two existing council chiefs in the county.

“[This isn’t] personal, but I’m sure most people cannot understand why the chief executive of a local authority gets paid more than the Prime Minister – how can that be justified?” he asked.

“Plus, if somebody’s earning that much money, they have no experience of what ordinary people in Lancashire are going through in terms of things like the cost-of- living crisis.

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In May, on the eve of the local elections, Reform-led Lancashire County Council vowed to withdraw the county from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme. It would be the first local authority to do so.

Those plans will be brought before cabinet on Thursday of this week - which means the potential impacts and savings of those plans have been laid bare in reports published by officers at Lancashire County Council.

And even thinking pragmatically, with purely financial head on your shoulders, it is hard to see any possible advantages to doing so. Refugees would remain in Lancashire, it would not affect asylum seekers whatsoever, but Lancashire County Council would cut off an avenue of its own funding.

It appears to be a level of waste that even Reform UK’s fabled DOGE unit couldn’t fail to see.

All of which was put to Reform UK this week - who said they would comment after a decision had been taken. These plans are not a done deal, and it might be that they choose to continue the scheme until Lancashire County Council is abolished in 2028.

Lancashire briefing

🚗 United Utilities has paused controversial plans to introduce parking charges at a series of beauty spots in rural Chorley – and promised further “dialogue” with the community.

The water firm operates seven free car parks in the vicinity of the Rivington and Anglezarke reservoirs and Lever Park, close to the borough’s border with Bolton.

It emerged back in March that the company was considering charging vehicles to park at the sites – while promising to pour the proceeds back into the area by upgrading the broader facilities on offer at the popular location.

However, the prospect caused uproar amongst locals and visitors – and two petitions against the charges have so far attracted more than 5,500 signatures between them.

Now, the firm has rowed back on its proposal – withdrawing the planning applications it had lodged seeking permission to introduce the necessary charging and monitoring infrastructure. It said it will take the opportunity to carry out further consultation with the local community.

🏠 One of Lancashire’s largest social housing providers has been awarded more than £326 million in government funding to build thousands of affordable homes, but has not yet revealed how much of the investment will be spent in the county.

Together Housing Group has secured £326.6m through Homes England’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with the housing association expected to deliver 3,200 homes before 2031. The allocation is the second-largest awarded to any provider in the first wave of funding announced this week.

The government has described the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme as the largest investment in social and affordable housing for a generation, with 33 strategic partners selected to help deliver tens of thousands of new homes across England.

But while Together Housing owns and manages thousands of homes across East Lancashire, including in Blackburn, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale, neither the government announcement nor the housing association has provided a breakdown showing how many of the 3,200 homes are planned for Lancashire.

In its announcement welcoming the funding, Together Housing said the homes would form part of a wider programme expected to deliver 4,000 homes across West Yorkshire, 2,200 across South Yorkshire and 4,400 across Greater Manchester. Lancashire was not specifically mentioned.

🌳 Hyndburn’s MP Sarah Smith has welcomed a move to upgrade parks across the borough, admitting that she was ‘shocked’ by the state some had been left in by 14 years of austerity.

The UK Government has awarded £1.5 million in funding to Hyndburn Council to help restore public spaces, with two recreation grounds set to receive a facelift in the coming weeks.

Windsor Road Recreation Ground, close to Great Harwood’s town centre, is set to be the first to benefit from this grant, with its old and tired play area being overhauled with new swings, slides, and modern equipment.

Families and little ones will also be able to enjoy brand new interactive features that reference the nearby fire station, with work due to begin in September. But it is not the only park in Hyndburn getting overhauled this Autumn.

Rishton’s Harwood Road Recreation Ground will be receiving similar upgrade, with ‘inclusive’ play equipment for children of all ages, but also a large block-climbing feature in case all the swinging and sliding is not enough to tire the kids out.

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Withdrawing Lancashire from refugee resettlement schemes would not save a single penny

By Luke Beardsworth

Plans that could see Lancashire County Council withdraw from its involvement in refugee resettlement schemes would not save local taxpayers a single penny.

A report prepared for Thursday’s (4 September) cabinet meeting sets out three options for Lancashire County Council as it reviews its role in a number of refugee resettlement schemes.

These options include stopping responsibility for all settled refugees, stopping responsibility for new arrivals through the schemes and continuation of support of existing families or continuing the current arrangements.

If cabinet - made up largely of the ruling Reform UK party - opts to quit the schemes, it would make good on a promise by Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for rural affairs, environment and communities, who announced the plan on the eve of the May local elections.

It was, at that time, described as a political stunt but Reform UK said that money spent on resettling refugees would be diverted to help support vulnerable residents and veterans in Lancashire.

But The Lancashire Lead understands opposition councillors were invited to a briefing at Lancashire County Council this week where they were told by officers that withdrawing from the scheme would not save any money whatsoever - because the funding is provided by the Home Office.

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Instead, Lancashire County Council has estimated that it would need to find £800,000-£1,000,000 to plug a funding gap in its services that are provided for all residents in Lancashire - refugees and non-refugees alike. Lancashire County Council, if it were to pull out of the scheme, would seek to recoup this money from whichever authority or body carried it out in future.

Cllr Roberts stated earlier this year that the refugee resettlement scheme is costing £7m per year ‘of your money’.

Reform UK said they would not comment publicly on the report until after the meeting when approached by The Lancashire Lead but this could be a reference to the £6.4m given to Lancashire County Council by the Home Office in 2024/25 as a result of being a part of the scheme. That number fell to around £4m in 2025/26.

Of the total £18m of funding provided to Lancashire County Council to the Home Office since 2020, £6.5m of it remains unspent.

But there is no prospect that Lancashire County Council would be able to redivert funding to veterans and vulnerable residents. They could find extra money in their budget to do this in some areas - but they could do irrespective.

Cllr Aidy Riggott, leader of the Conservatives at County Hall, told The Lancashire Lead: “Despite all the rhetoric and bold Facebook claims, according to the Reform administrations own report, it appears that any decision to opt out of the coordinating role that the council currently undertakes for these schemes will potentially leave up to a £1m black-hole in the Councils finances.

“As Reform know, the central government funding that came with these schemes was also being used to provide statutory services for residents here in Lancashire, which LCC will still have to deliver when they have withdrawn from these schemes for legally arrived refugees, but now without the cash that previously came from central government.

“What Reform now need to do is to confirm what further cuts they will make to services here in Lancashire, what budgets will be further reducing to cover for the potential lost £1m, to ensure delivery of a legally balanced budget – a budget which is already showing a £15m+ overspend on their watch after only the first quarter of this year.

“To govern is to choose and that is what the Reform administration now must do.”

The Lancashire Lead understands that withdrawal from the scheme would not end refugees resettling in Lancashire as families could still be dispersed into the county by other local authorities and organisations. It does, however, mean that Lancashire County Council would no longer receive funding - even where it has a statutory duty to deliver services to refugees.

The schemes that would be affected are the UK Resettlement Scheme - which is the UK’s response to the global refugee crisis - and the Afghan Resettlement Programme. In both instances, all of the individuals involved are not asylum seekers, arrived legally and have indefinite leave to remain.

In the latter case, it relates to Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK government in Afghanistan, stood up for UK values such as a women’s rights or freedom speech during that time, are considered vulnerable to Taliban threats or were assessed as being at the greatest risk by staying in Afghanistan.

It would have no bearing whatsoever on individuals who arrived - by boat for example - to the UK seeking asylum.

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It’s back to local government reorganisation for today’s issue, as we unpick exactly what the changes will mean for the electoral cycle in Lancashire.

It is expected that county councillors elected in 2025 will face the electorate once again in 2027 (if they wish to stand) and see their terms come to an early end in 2028 otherwise.

Those elected in 2027 will serve a longer term than the four years that is normal.

If that seems straightforward, it is less so for town and parish councils. And there could be even more of them formed in the coming years as areas look to retain local identities.

All of that is looked at today, along with the latest in the rows over what the authorities will actually be called. Truly, I am blessed to live in South Lancashire where they appear to have agreed already.

Lancashire briefing

🏠 Councillors have thrown out plans to turn a residential property into a care home for just one child and two employees, despite the recommendations of planning officers.

Hyndburn Council’s planning committee had been advised to approve the change of use of a three-bedroom terraced house on Bamford Crescent in Accrington, despite neighbouring properties registering 18 objections to the plans.

Residents raised concerns about how the conversion of the Victorian-era home could impact local parking capacity, with the inevitable staff shift changes and visits from service providers increasing traffic around the location.

They also cited a previous ‘history of police attendance’ at the home, with many objectors raising fears that changing its use to that of a children’s home could ‘result in further disturbances’.

With staff shift changes at the site, the numerous objections stated that this conversion into a children’s home would ‘disrupt the peace and tranquillity of this residential area’.

The objectors also questioned whether Lancashire County Council’s highways department visit to the road at 7.20am on a weekday truly reflected its heavy use, with patrons of the nearby Victoria pub also parking around the area.

This is not the first time that the Bamford Crescent property has faced an application to turn it into a children’s home, with a previous attempt to gain a certificate of lawful use for a two-child home with two carers being rejected in 2024 as it was considered a different use to an ordinary residence.

⚽ A sports pitch in Blackburn that has been plagued by anti-social behaviour and fire-setting for years is set to be resurfaced again, but this time with extra security measures.

The multi-purpose playing area at the top of Troy Street in Bastwell has been damaged by several incidents in recent years, with it being branded the town’s ‘worst pitch’ in 2022 due to its numerous worn-down or destroyed patches of astroturf.

Thousands of pounds from a UK Levelling Up fund grant were then secured to resurface and improve the pitch in 2024, but less than a year later and before work began, the pitch was further ruined by a fire that appeared to have been started using school books.

But repairs are finally about to begin, with Blackburn with Darwen Council signing off on up to £125,000 of further improvements and better security for the pitch, citing the ‘danger that the facility presents in its current state’.

In a decision from the council’s executive on Friday, the authority stated that it intends to turn the Brookhouse Primary School-owned pitch into a ‘robust’ and safe new sports facility for the local community.

🦉 Residents of a Chorley village are warning that plans for dozens of new homes will wipe out the habitats of the wildlife that helps make the area what it is.

A campaign has been set up to oppose the 78-dwelling development on a greenbelt plot off Hurst Green in Mawdesley.

Applethwaite Homes, the housebuilder behind the proposal, said in its planning application to Chorley Council that the ecology of the site had been assessed and that it was possible to develop the estate “without significant adverse effects on biodiversity”. The firm suggested there were even “opportunities to deliver measurable ecological improvements”.

However, members of the ‘Mawdesley Says No’ group fear that the nature-friendly future being promised is a fallacy – and one at odds with reality of building on three open fields currently teeming with life.

The coincidentally-named campaign founder Kerry Mawdsley said she has spent hours documenting the wildlife that is flourishing on the unspoiled site and has submitted her findings to council planners in the hope of influencing their decision. She believes she has found evidence of water vole tracks and burrows, which has not so far been considered.

“So they need to do a survey on that now,” Kerry said.

“I’ve also used a bird identification app and there was a tawny owl in the fields, barn owls have been seen hunting and there [are] deer in there. Then I’ve got pictures of a redwing and song thrushes on Millennium Green.”

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Sweeping changes to electoral cycle planned ahead of local government reorganisation

By Luke Beardsworth

Councillors elected to the new Lancashire authorities in 2027 will serve five year terms, The Lancashire Lead can reveal.

Local government reorganisation (LGR) is the process which will see all 15 local authorities in Lancashire abolished by 2028 with shadow elections for the authorities that will replace them set to take place in 2027.

The new councils, provisionally named as North Lancashire, Pennines Lancashire, South Lancashire and Fylde Coast, will be officially formed on 1 April 2028 on what will be known as a ‘vesting day’.

And a letter sent by Mark Wynn, chief executive of Lancashire County Council but also the man responsible for ensuring the process runs smoothly, to councils sets out that councillors elected in 2027 will serve a five-year term.

That letter, seen by The Lancashire Lead, reads: “The first elections to the new authorities will be in May 2027 when the new unitary councils will be established in ‘shadow’ form. The new councils will officially be formed on 1 April 2028, known as ‘vesting day’.

“As such the councillors elected in 2027 will serve a five-year term, with the first year as a ‘shadow’ unitary councillor followed by a four-year term in the new authority.

“The next elections would then be in 2032.”

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It will also mean that the county councillors elected to Lancashire County Council - 53 of whom were elected to Reform UK - will sit for just short of a three-year term before they face the electorate again (if they wish to do so).

Unsurprisingly, Reform UK’s leader at County Hall - Cllr Stephen Atkinson - repeated his opposition to local government reorganisation when asked for his view on the altered term lengths.

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Today we welcome back Jamie Lopez for an edition, who was at Preston Crown Court to see a judge conclude that the actions of the so-called Barclays Five did not meet the requirements to be treated as terrorism-related offences.

The hearing was the reason over 100 people gathered outside Preston Crown Court with placards to show their support for the five individuals. That protest passed largely without incident.

But seven people, including two women in their 70s, were arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation - Palestine Action - after placards referencing the group were spotted by Lancashire Constabulary.

What follows is a full report from the hearing and the protest.

We also have some good news for Lancashire County Council, more local government reorganisation notes and more.

Lancashire briefing

🔎 Services for vulnerable children in Lancashire have had praise heaped on them following an inspection.

The regulator Ofsted judged Lancashire County Council to be ‘outstanding’ in two out of four assessment categories and ‘good’ in the others . That was an improvement from the ‘good’ standard that was achieved across the board the last time children’s services were inspected in 2022.

The authority – whose patch excludes the standalone Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen council areas – was lauded for helping more children “to remain safely at home or within their wider family networks” rather than going into care.

That achievement was attributed to a “child-centred, family focused approach” where interventions are made and the appropriate type of support provided “at the right time and…the earliest opportunity for children and their families”.

The report was not flawless – it highlighted a need to better recognise the requirements of young carers and also found that the “consistency and quality of [protection]plans… focused on addressing the immediate risk of harm” could be better. Inspectors acknowledged a service awareness that there was “still more to do“ to embed a consistent approach to “safety planning”.

🗳️ The government has been formally asked not to call the new local authority for Preston, Lancaster and Ribble Valley ‘North Lancashire Council’.

It emerged on Thursday that the leaders of the three existing district authorities for those areas want them each to be namechecked in the title of the council that will replace their own in April 2028.

Their preference is for the new standalone – or unitary – authority to be called ‘Lancaster, Preston and Ribble Valley Council’.

However, ministers have insisted there must be unanimous agreement between the current councils covering the patch before they will consider changing the provisional North Lancashire moniker. Crucially, that includes Lancashire County Council, which has effectively vetoed the wishes of the district leaders by insisting ‘Lancashire’ should feature in the title of the new authority.

A formal submission made to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on Monday on behalf of Lancashire‘s 15 main councils – all of which are being abolished as part of a government-ordered shake-up – noted the desire of the three districts for a different name, but acknowledged that it could not be proposed as part of the official suggestion process because of the lack of unanimity.

🏠 Work to knock down an education hub that served children with additional needs in Blackburn for more than 15 years is set to start ‘as soon as possible’.

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning committee approved the demolition plans for the former Kaleidoscope Youth Centre at a meeting on Thursday night.

The site on Lindisfarne Avenue, Higher Croft, was closed down in December 2025 following a review of council-owned assets, with its assortment of term-time and holiday activities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) transferred to newer facilities in the area, like Newfield in Shadsworth.

In applying for prior approval to flatten its own site, tear up the foundations, and prepare it for potential future development, the council stated that the two single-storey structures have become ‘dilapidated’ and ‘redundant’.

Women in their 70s among those arrested as ‘Barclays Five’ appear to hear terror verdict

By Jamie Lopez

After a tense two hours at Preston Crown Court, a delighted and relieved Hmeera Atignisar was carried triumphantly through the doors of Court 10. Moments later, as around two dozen others celebrated on the upper floor landing, Mohammed Malik leant onto a barrier, tears in his eyes and his face in his hands, seemingly collapsed in exhaustion and either unaware or unable to respond to those around him.

In the distance, the loud chants, cheers and drums of more than 100 pro-Palestine supporters could be heard through the walls. At 10am, the large crowd had protested the potential designation of the actions of the so-called ‘Barclays Five’ as terrorism-related - now they were jubilant.

Atigniisar, a slight and unimposing 31-year-old, and Malik, a much larger 26-year-old, were two of those five, alongside Brendon O’Hagan, 28, Amanda Kelly, 31, and Alma Yaniv, 70, who feared they could face significant punishments.

Two years earlier, on August 5 2024, the group had vandalised the Barclays branch on Burnley’s St James’ Street, using hammers to damage the windows and covering the shopfront in red paint. Wearing masks and striking in the early hours of the morning, it was part of wider action seen at other branches as activists sought to lobby the banking giant to disinvest in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. The damage cost more than £200,000 to repair.

They did not know then, or at any point until after the completion of their trial, that they could end up being subject of anti-terrorism legislation. After they were found guilty of criminal damage, the trial requested submission on whether section 69 of the Sentencing Act 2020 applied - effectively asking whether there was a terrorist connection to the offence.

Had this been found to be the case, the group faced significantly longer jail sentences, losing the right to automatic release, and subject to an extended period on licence and under police monitoring.

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It’s a chunky briefing section today, as we continue to unpick the reaction to local government reorganisation plans and how some local authorities are feeling particularly scandalised by the names the government put on the table. There’s more than that besides, too.

But our main story looks at how BAE Systems, and Warton in particular, have found themselves in the national news thanks to some sabre-rattling by the Russian embassy in London.

A particularly fierce response to that from one Lancashire MP we spoke to.

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Lancashire briefing

📍 Friction over exactly what four new councils are to be called in the new Lancashire from 2028 is continuing, as chief executives (who are set to be greatly reduced in number) puff their feathers and chests over future names for unitary authorities. The Lancashire Lead understands a deadline of Monday 17 August to respond to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has been extended to Friday 21 August.

Councils want more time to put forward alternatives, particularly on the Fylde Coast and in North Lancashire. The Lancashire Lead approached MHCLG for clarification over whether an extension had been granted around feedback on alternative council names but received no response by time of publication.

It’s understood, as previously reported by The Lancashire Lead, a title of Lancaster, Preston and Ribble Valley (alphabetically) is preferred by the three district councils who will become the North Lancashire grouping.

While Blackpool is understood to be pushing hard for ‘Blackpool and the Fylde Coast’ rather than a ‘Fylde Coast Council’ name. Their neighbouring authorities, less so.

The other two authorities are due to be South Lancashire (Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire) and Pennine Lancashire (Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale). A statement from Mark Wynn, the current senior responsible officer for local government reorganisation in Lancashire, and current chief exec of the county council, said the working titles of the four new councils (North Lancashire, South Lancashire, Fylde Coast and Pennine Lancashire) were continuing to be used but confirmed: “Since receiving the government’s decision on Local Government Reorganisation in Lancashire, and further details in the letter from MHCLG, there has been a lot of discussion between the councils, and we are making good progress on our LGR programme.

“There are some details that we haven’t been able to agree unanimously, including the names of the new councils.”

The statement issued on the Lancashire Local Government Reorganisation website on Monday, from Mr Wynn, seemed to imply any debate about names would need to follow a legal process stating: “The names of the new councils will be included in a legal document called the Structural Changes Order. If the new councils wish to review these in the future, there is a legal process that they would need to follow.”

The Lancashire Lead understands there’s some chest-thumping from County Hall about all the authorities needing to have Lancashire somewhere in the title. Despite the Lancashire Combined County Authority continuing to exist in the new 2028 set up and the Fylde Coast proposed name also not including the word Lancashire.

There’s also plenty of mentions of ‘business as usual’ for all councils, which we assume means continuing to have a good old fashioned row with each other.

🚔 A Reform UK county councillor who was under investigation by Lancashire Constabulary will not face any action, The Lancashire Lead has learned.

In May, we reported that an individual was being investigated under the Operation Ford banner which is designed to protect elected officials from intimidation, harassment and violence. We did not name the councillor in question.

That news came as a broadly positive Local Government Association assessment of Lancashire County Council was marred somewhat by the fact complaints against councillors had more than tripled in 2025.

But the police investigation into the councillor has been dropped, and The Lancashire Lead understands that it will now be handled by the Lancashire County Council standards committee.

👨🏼‍⚖️ Mystery surrounds the identity of two of the three Lancashire courts that could move to a temporary facility in Preston.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has applied for planning permission to convert part of the Marshall House office block on Ringway to accommodate four hearing rooms, which will be used only for “lower-risk” cases from relocated family or magistrates’ courts.

The government department says the additional judicial space is being sought because of “essential roof repairs” required at a trio of the county’s court buildings.

However, when asked which existing courts might be decamping to the Preston site, the MoJ identified one – but was silent about the other two.

The Leyland Family Hearing Centre, on Lancastergate in the town, was named as one of the facilities that would be on the move, should Preston City Council give the go-ahead to the Marshall House conversion across three of its nine storeys.

But, after repeated requests, the MoJ refused to reveal the other courts that would also be rehoused – and then declined to explain publicly why it would not say.

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Lancashire village finds itself at centre of Russian threats

By Michael Holmes

A small Lancashire village has found itself at the centre of the latest Russian sabre-rattling, with the country’s London embassy threatening “consequences” after British-made drones were used within its borders by Ukraine.

Speaking after it emerged that Nyan suicide drones have been used by Ukrainian forces in their defence against Kremlin aggression, the embassy said: “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer.”

It warned that the greater Britain’s support for Kyiv, “the higher the price it will pay”.

Drones produced by two British firms have reportedly been used by Ukraine during deep-strike operations in recent months, including against oil refineries and other targets inside Russia.

One manufacturer is Callen-Lenz, which is owned by BAE Systems’ advanced research, evaluation and technology hub FalconWorks and produces the Nyan “one-way effector”.

FalconWorks is headquartered in Warton, with the aerospace hub understood to have strategic oversight of the Nyan programme, though BAE has remained tight-lipped about the specific role the facility plays.

The drone, built in Wiltshire and tested by the British Army and Royal Navy, was first shown off in Warton earlier this year.

A black carbon-fibre attack drone launched via a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult, the Nyan is part of BAE’s “expanding portfolio of uncrewed air systems being produced through its FalconWorks advanced research and technology hub”, the company boasted recently.

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It has a range of more than 150 miles and is capable of hitting targets near the frontline and in Russian territory close to Ukraine, The Sunday Times wrote, adding that it has been used in an attack on Belgorod, close to the Russian/Ukraine border.

Speaking at Warton in June, Callen-Lenz boss Matt Foster said “thousands” of the drones, which have a 2.9m wingspan, had been delivered to the Royal Regiment of Artillery and an undisclosed customer - believed at the time to be Ukraine.

In response to The Lancashire Lead’s questions, a BAE spokesperson said: “We deliver a range of capabilities into the UK MOD (Ministry of Defence) as part of the UK’s support to the defence of Ukraine.

“The Nyan uncrewed air system provides a rapidly developed platform proven in meeting emerging threats within highly contested environments.”

Fylde Conservative MP Andrew Snowden told The Lancashire Lead: “Britain is right to stand firmly with Ukraine as it defends itself against (Vladimir) Putin’s illegal invasion.

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We held off reporting on happenings in Coppull this week - wanting to speak to everyone we possibly could in an effort to approach the incident responsibly.

For those who haven’t seen - a pub posted to social media about a ‘scary incident’ involving three men allegedly following two women and a young boy on Sunday. Police investigated and concluded no crime had been committed and that they were not following.

But the clear suggestion is that these three men were immigrants - and the pub described them as ‘black - and so the response from some (Reform UK included) was one of disbelief.

This is a challenging issue to cover from my perspective.

On one hand - and most importantly - we have an instance of three people feeling genuinely unsafe in a public space when the sun is up. Their concerns have to be taken seriously.

On the other, we have seen a loud refusal to accept that no crime has been committed (by lots of people that are not the women in question) despite those assertions from police. As Reform UK themselves pointed out in publicly criticising the police response, this leads to the danger of vigilante response against three people police are convinced have done nothing wrong.

We’ve done our best to unpack what’s happened in Coppull this week as police have gone back and forth with local Reform UK councillors and the public.

Lancashire briefing

🌳 Preston’s main shopping street will once again see its trees lit up after final funding was approved to replace a display that went dark after developing a series of faults.

The £234k project, which has been given the go-ahead by Preston City Council’s cabinet, will see new lighting installed in the 56 trees that line Fishergate and the southern section of Corporation Street.

They were planted as part of the ‘shared space’ scheme that transformed the main thoroughfare – by widening its pavements and and restricting vehicular access to buses and taxis – back in 2014/15. Prior to that, Fishergate and Corporation Street were a tree-free zone. The lights were introduced shortly after the revamp was completed.

According to a report presented to cabinet members, the lighting arrangement acts as an additional public protection measure during the evening and overnight.

The document states that the lights had to be disconnected due to “several faults”, while the infrastructure supporting it had “deteriorated due to lack of maintenance”.

During a feasibility study undertaken last year, it was discovered that the existing electrics from the previous installation was “faulty, not up to current regulation and needed several upgrades, before the lights could be replaced”. Following a subsequent testing survey, plans were drawn up to create “a fully maintainable system”.

🔎 An investigation has uncovered links between a community volunteer organisation in East Lancashire and a proscribed neo-Nazi group.

In recent months, social media pages for Great Harwood have been awash with discussions about a new “crime-prevention group” in the town that promises to patrol problem areas and organise self defence classes.

Called the Guardians of Great Harwood, the group was founded at the start of June by Mickii Edwards, a former Rugby League player who is a well-known face in the town for his charitable work.

But while this group has rushed to get its patrollers DBS-checked, concerning past links between the Guardians’ self-defence coach, simply named Jimmy, and a banned racist group have been detailed in an investigation released today.

On the volunteer group’s website, the Guardians’ describe these classes as: “Free self-defence sessions taught by Jimmy, a local coach who has trained world-class MMA fighters for the UFC.

“We are starting with women and children, with more sessions to follow.”

However, the anti-extremist organisation Hope Not Hate’s investigation into the group found that this man is actually Jimmy Hey, whose previous self defence experience was training the militant members of National Action at the same gym in Great Harwood.

The Guardians of Great Harwood have said in a statement that they are not affiliated with Hey, with leader Mickii Edwards saying that he is personally ‘not political’ and had never heard of National Action before.

🗳️ The government is being urged to speed up the process that will officially cancel a set of abandoned local elections in Lancashire – so councils can focus on organising the polls that will be held in their place.

On the current electoral calendar, 13 of the county’s local authorities are scheduled to stage votes in May 2027.

However, a government-ordered shake-up means that all 15 Lancashire councils – Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale ,South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre and Lancashire County Council – are to be scrapped less than 12 months later and replaced with just four new authorities covering the whole of the county between them.

As part of the overhaul, elections to so-called ‘shadow’ versions of the successor councils are to be held next May instead of votes for the authorities whose days are numbered.

However, that change to the voting arrangements will be officially confirmed only once legislation enacting the transition arrangements – known as a structural changes order (SCO) – completes its passage through Parliament.

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Police repeatedly stress no crime was committed in Coppull incident

By Luke Beardsworth

Police were forced to repeatedly insist that no crime had been committed after an incident in Coppull this week.

Three people, understood to be a grandmother, mother and son, entered The Wheatsheaf pub on Sunday evening (9 August) after being left feeling frightened by the presence and alleged behaviour of three men outside the pub.

The pub posted a warning to social media - now deleted on police advice but seen by The Lancashire Lead - that spoke of a “scary incident” where women had been followed by “three black men” and finished with a warning of “be careful!”.

This sparked a significant volume of concern in the local community that would not be tempered by Lancashire Constabulary investigating and insisting that no crime had been committed.

Police say that they spoke with the men who said that they were in the area looking for a friend’s address. They said they also spoke with that friend who verified that version of events.

Supt Martyn Holt, of Lancashire Constabulary, said: “We spoke to the men identified, who told us they were on that street looking for a friend’s address, who they were intending on meeting up with that evening.

“We have also spoken to the friend who the men were looking for, who confirmed that this was the case. The CCTV shows the men stopping on the street, looking for that address, and doesn’t show them interacting with anyone else on the street. They do not enter the pub at any point.”

Not present in the Lancashire Constabulary statement is the detail from the CCTV that the men in question never crossed to the same side of the road as the two women who entered the pub.

The mother who entered the pub told The Lancashire Lead that she did feel uncomfortable and intimidated by the incident but that the response has been ridiculous and she would like people to move on from it.

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In 2026 there have technically been fewer wildfires in Europe - or periods of burning - than in 2025. It’s a piece of information that reads as good news until you see that both years are dramatically up on the rolling average.

But that doesn’t mean the information isn’t being leapt on by climate-sceptics as evidence that talk of climate change is just fear-mongering.

They are having that conversation as most of the UK sits in a drought, the countryside is at regular risk of fire and the fifth heatwave of the summer bears down on us.

One reader recently told me: “It’s just summer” over on that reliable barometer of public opinion Facebook.

The purpose of coverage of climate change - beyond pointing out that it’s going to be sunny where the majority of analysis is focused - is not to alarm people. It is instead to raise the point that this is something that it is impacting us now - and it’s going to become more severe as the years progress and the younger population of Lancashire grow old.

Lancashire briefing

🏠 A major housing estate will be built in rural Preston after a government-appointed inspector reversed a local decision to refuse permission for the project.

Developer Wain Homes last year lodged plans for a 167-dwelling development on land off James Towers Way in Broughton.

However, members of Preston City Council’s planning committee rejected the proposal in December – on the advice of the authority’s planning officers – after hearing it would eat into a buffer zone designed to prevent the village from merging with the northern part of urban Preston.

The 10.3-hectare site – west of the Broughton bypass and south of Whittingham Lane – also lies in an area designated as open countryside, where local policy dictates any developments should usually be small-scale.

But the housebuilder appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, which has now overturned the refusal after concluding the scheme would do more good than harm.

During the meeting at which they debated the application, councillors on the committee were confronted with an uncommon quandary. While they were told by town hall planners that they should reject the development, they learned local opinion was largely in favour of the blueprint – a rare reversal of the usual situation faced by planning committee members.

Broughton Parish Council strongly supported the scheme, because of the new infrastructure that Wain Homes had promised would accompany its housing. That included a community centre, care home, allotments and more car parking space for an expanding local primary school.

⚽ Supporters of Burnley FC may soon be able to use a new ‘vomitory’ when they are watching a home game, after the Clarets’ plans were signed off by the council.

This planning approval is just the latest improvement planned for Turf Moor, with recent months also seeing the club also reveal its intention to put up new LED signage around the outside of their stadium on Harry Potts Way.

That is in addition to the controversial traffic scheme that would allow Burnley FC to shut down a number of roads around the stadium at-will to better manage the flow of fans, which left groups from the clergy to the cricket club concerned about access.

This new vomitory will also be a radical alteration to how fans use the stadium. Though, despite what the name might suggest, this new addition is not for stomach-churning moments, like the Clarets recent 4-3 win against Notts County on penalties.

Vomitories are large staircases that help fans to enter or exit the stadium, in this case allowing better access to the Barnfield stand. This comes from the Latin for ‘to spew forth’.

In addition to providing a quicker access route for fans heading to the top of the 4500-capacity stand, this new stairway will also improve fan safety as it doubles as a fire escape.

🫣 Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf has been caught in a war of words on the former-Twitter with former Conservative defence secretary Ben Wallace.

Wallace, once MP for Lancaster and Wyre and Wyre and Preston North, criticised Reform UK’s pledge to deport foreign nationals from jails to countries such as El Salvador. In response, Yusuf called him a moron and a traitor.

It was beyond the pale for even Nigel Farage, who promised to give him a ‘ticking off’.

Andrew Snowden, Conservative MP for Fylde, told The Lancashire Lead: “Zia Yusuf, a former banker, calling Ben Wallace, a former Army officer who was mentioned in despatches for gallantry, a ‘moron, says far more about Reform’s leadership than it does about anything else.

“Reform tells people what they want to hear, without any credible plans to actually deliver. When challenged, its leaders resort to lashing out and trading insults rather than answering serious questions.”

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‘Take climate change seriously’ warning as Lancashire braces for fifth heatwave

By Luke Beardsworth

Climate change needs to be taken more seriously as Lancashire braces for further impact on hospitals, farming and other services this week.

An amber heat-health alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) which says that significant impacts are likely across health and social care settings due to high temperatures.

Lancashire is expected to see temperatures reach as high as 31C on both Wednesday (12 August) and Thursday (13 August) during the fifth heatwave of the summer. The spell of weather will not be as prolonged or intense as previous ones, but there will be an impact.

Almost three-quarters of England is now experiencing drought conditions that are expected to worsen until significant rainfall comes - and it is not expected to in the near future.

And for one senior Green Party councillor, it is disappointing to see how little attention the matter is getting.

Cllr Gabie Lowe, who leads the Greens at Preston City Council, said: “We really need to start taking climate change more seriously. The weather is only going to get more extreme.

“People are dying and, rather than seeing climate change as the public health crisis that it is, people are seeing it as a means of political point scoring. It is a priority for everyone. If we carry on the way we are, food insecurity is only going to get worse, and that will increase the cost of living.

“It feels as though our future is being sold to the highest bidder. The best thing for the government to do is to invest in our renewable energy infrastructure which, not only is predicted to bring over 100,000 jobs to the North West, but will increase our fuel security, and be a major step in slowing climate change.”

But renewable energy projects in Lancashire continue to see strong opposition from sceptics along with Reform UK and some Conservative politicians.

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Earlier this week, we reported on the leader of the opposition at Lancashire County Council saying that the county’s reluctance to embrace the mayoral path was leaving us ‘stuck on the harder shoulder’.

The subject of today’s interview rather doubles down on that idea.

Those resistant to the idea of a mayor are also the same politicians who repeatedly bemoan the lack of real-world experience in politics. Mo Isap OBE has plenty of real-life business experience but is struggling to get his head around the idea of further delays while Lancashire pays the price.

Unless, as he suggests, it is all about political capital.

Lancashire briefing

🩺 Hyndburn Borough Council has approved plans to knock down a derelict historic hospital in Accrington, making way for a new health and care hub.

Victoria Community Hospital was closed down in late 2024 after serving the health needs of the community for 126 years, due to multiple issues with the site that included a collapsing ceiling, broken boilers, and asbestos.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust moved its services out of the Haywood Road hospital over these problems, before working with a variety of organisations from the council to patient groups and MP Sarah Smith to come up with a new future for the site.

Those plans were finally revealed in March of this year, with the former hospital being demolished to make way for a new holistic approach to healthcare in Accrington.

🗳️ A delayed attempt to oust the only elected Restore Britain official in Lancashire from the chair of a key committee at Burnley Council was withdrawn on Thursday evening.

The issue of Cllr Don Whitaker’s chairmanship of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee came to a head at the last full council meeting, which was held on July 15 but was cut short just shy of a vote on the Restore politician’s future, just in time for the England v Argentina World Cup match.

The matter was the first item on the agenda when Burnley councillors reconvened the meeting on Thursday (August 6), with chief executive Lukman Patel reminding members of the motion brought forward by Labour group leader Cllr Mark Townsend and seconded by Cllr Gordon Birtwistle (Lib Dem).

That motion argued that Cllr Whitaker, who had represented the Whittlefield with Ightenhill ward as a Conservative since 2021 before turning to Restore after the May local elections, had won the chairmanship during a ‘chaotic’ appointments meeting that same month.

It argued that members had been unaware of the councillor’s new affiliation and the standard appointments process, with the meeting also appointing a vice chair to the planning committee who was not even a member.

🎒 The revival of Blackburn’s town centre has taken a major step forward, with the selection of a constructor to deliver the £45 million first phase of the wider £250 million regeneration plan.

Kier Group, the largest infrastructure and property firm of its kind in the UK, has been appointed to oversee the huge Star Square development project, which will see work start as soon as next year on a new building and pocket park on Brown Street.

Announcing that Kier would be overseeing the latest scheme to revive the heart of the town, Blackburn with Darwen Council praised the regeneration project as one of the most ‘significant’ of its kind in the county that will attract visitors and strengthen the local economy.

The anchor for this plan is Star Academies, a multi-academy education trust that became the namesake for the project when it agreed to pay £10.3 million for the freehold of the 93,000 sq ft building at the centre of this first phase.

Called 1 Star Square, when plans for this large new building on Brown Street were first submitted in 2024, the University of Lancashire had been the intended occupant.

However, as with the advanced manufacturing project in Darwen that was scrapped by the University of Sheffield in recent months, the higher education institution pulled out over concerning financial headwinds facing the sector.

But with Star Academies planning to move their headquarters into the building once it has been built, its future as a national education hub in the centre of Blackburn has been secured. The trust has previously stated that it will be used for leadership training, research, and as a focal point for innovation.

Senior Lancashire business leader Mo Isap delivers withering assessment of Lancashire’s devolution dithering

By Ed Walker

One of the county’s most senior business figures has delivered a withering assessment of its devolution journey so far - and warned the window is slipping away for any chance of Lancashire having a Mayor in place by 2028.

Chair of the Lancashire Business Board, which is part of the Lancashire Combined County Authority, Mo Isap OBE, has indicated if there are not significant steps taken towards securing a Mayoral authority then he will stand down from the role he has held since July 2024.

Speaking exclusively to The Lancashire Lead this week, the self-made multi-millionaire, who heads up IN4 and STAR Academies and is Blackburn born-and-bred, gave his verdict as councils shake-ups play out and the Prime Minister delivered a clear direction for more powers and significant funding to be pumped down into strategic authorities which have a Mayor.

While Lancashire has a strategic authority, something Isap says the county was strong at getting established relatively quickly compared to other places, without the figurehead of a Mayor it will struggle to compete as the likes of Cheshire, Cumbria, Kent and others power ahead with their new Mayoral set ups now in some cases months away from becoming a reality.

Isap said of Burnham’s recent announcement, a man he knows well having worked with the new PM while on the Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP): “It’s very consistent to what Andy said from day dot. You know, let’s be honest, he’s led the mayoral charge for devolution. He’s been very clear about increased devolution, but the point is that that can only happen., where there’s a Mayor.

“In every local subregion or every combined authority region, there are leaders of their respective councils. It’s a very democratic process, but you need a Mayor to bat for the region. It does not work any other way, because otherwise, what you’re saying to the government is we’re going to pose you a higher risk.

“What the government’s not going to do, and it doesn’t need to do, is take unnecessary risks. What Andy wants is success, and he can mitigate the risks by having a mayor that has a mandate that then has a team of local authority leadership and the governance across that to execute, but you need somebody backing for you.

“We’re in competition with every other combined authority. We’re not in some luxurious economic climate, there’s only so much money to go round and, while of course Lancashire should collaborate, it also has to compete.

“There’s a deep pecking order. Also, there’s a limited amount to be devolved. So what would you do if you were sitting there as Burnham? So what’s the safer bet? A safer bet is Steve Rotheram, my mate, who’s got everything in place. He’s got his own inside under the bonnet all sorted out. There’s no wrangles. There’s no infighting. He’s the guy I’m doing a deal with. It makes life a lot easier.

“Now, if I’m coming up to a consortia that is patchwork at best, politically completely diverse in every sense, and I’m doing deals in the hundreds of millions and billions. I’m expecting a return in three years’ time. I mean, you don’t need a business brain to understand where you would go because ultimately results are results. So if I put it into now Cheshire, Warrington or Cumbria, I’ll get a return. For me, as a leader of the country, I want a return. If something goes pear-shaped, I know who to blame too.”

The man who would be King?

Isap’s had a ringside seat to Greater Manchester’s devolution journey and economic regeneration and says it acts as a ‘blueprint’ for other places - although the task is far from finished because while the university growth corridor there may command significant wages there’s also areas just a stones throw away with extreme poverty.

Who does he think could be Mayor to kick start Lancashire’s growth? And would he stand himself?

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Devolution is always something that Lancashire has been reluctant to embrace, as our regular readers will be all too aware of.

The full powers and funding that go with any devolution deal have always been dependent on having a mayor - so Lancashire does not have the top level of devolution deal available.

That does mean fewer powers and less funding, ultimately, though there are some who believe it protects the power of more local decision making.

But the temperature on that debate got turned up significantly last week when new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who became essentially the only well-liked high profile politician left on the back of his mayorality in Greater Manchester, announced even greater powers through devolution.

But only if you have a mayor - which Lancashire does not, and is still not confirmed to eventually get.

On current forecast, Lancashire will soon be the only place in a north of England without a mayor. And now that’s worrying people to an even greater degree than before.

Lancashire briefing

🍔 McDonald’s plans to open its main Preston city centre branch around the clock, it has emerged.

The fast food chain has asked Preston City Council to confirm that there are no existing planning conditions in place that would prevent the outlet on Friargate from operating around-the-clock.

At the moment, the eatery is open between 5am and 11pm seven days a week.

The city centre’s other McDonald’s branch – which is located in the Fishergate Shopping Centre – trades from 7.45am until 6pm, Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.

The Friargate outlet was granted planning permission more than 40 years ago, back in March 1985.

💅🏻 Plans have gone in to rescue a historic pub building in Darwen that has lain empty and boarded up for years, becoming an eyesore on a busy street in the town.

The Engineers Arms on Duckworth was first turned into a public house around the start of the 20^th century and was named after the union of highly skilled tradesmen who worked on the machines and mills, who would often meet in the establishment.

But after a century of serving pints to the local community, in 2020 the pub’s doors closed and have remained shut ever since, with the exception of a serious loft fire in 2021 that saw four fire crews respond.

However, the building may soon have a new purpose that could breathe new life into its spot on the corner of Dove Lane, with a plan being submitted to Blackburn with Darwen Council to convert into shops and flats.

If approved, the ground floor of the Engineers Arms will be converted into three shopfronts, with applicant Suleman Tahir stating that the main business unit will be a nail salon.

🗳️ A Reform councillor is calling for people in Skelmersdale and Ormskirk to have their own dedicated town councils, as the whole of Lancashire faces a major shake-up.

Aaron Body, elected to West Lancashire Council in May, says people in Skelmersdale are ‘under-represented’ and want change.

In an emotional speech to borough councillors, he said he has campaigned for a Skelmersdale council for years. And now he has won support in calling on the borough to explore options for new town and parish councils including for Ormskirk.

However, some councillors say honesty will be needed with residents about the likelihood of extra local taxes needed for new councils.

It comes as West Lancashire faces a merger with Chorley and South Ribble in 2028, in a Lancashire-wide restructure of councils.

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Lancashire ‘stuck on hard shoulder’ while other regions speed past in fast lane in devolution race

By Luke Beardsworth

Lancashire’s grapple with the very concept of a mayor shows no sign of abating despite promises of greater financial power by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

As part of an introductory flurry of new policies, the detail of which will become apparent later in the year, Burnham promised areas with a mayor would be allowed to retain a portion of income tax to spend locally.

But it is not entirely clear whether such powers will be exclusively available to areas with a mayor - something of particular importance to Lancashire. Regional mayors have been hailed for their impact in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region but Lancashire continues to be without a concrete plan to elect one.

There is a pencilled-in plan for a mayoral contest to be held in 2028 but it is far from confirmed. Now, Cllr Stephen Atkinson, who leads Reform UK at Lancashire County Council, says he has assurances that a mayor is not mandatory.

With that in mind, he has repeated his calls for greater clarity over exactly what the benefits will be, given a mayor would likely mean a small percentage increase in council tax.

He also hinted that Lancashire County Council could then launch a consultation asking for views on a mayor - although it is unlikely the outcome of any such consultation would be binding.

In contrast, the Progressive Lancashire leader of the opposition has called for egos to be put to one side for the betterment of people and investment in Lancashire.

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Cllr Atkinson told The Lancashire Lead: “The new government have made it clear that it is up to local areas if they want a mayor.

“Reform at Lancashire County Council are committed to listening to our residents and will widely consult with them when we have the details on the following:

“In the Manchester mayoral election, the turnout was only 25% - is there a mandate for a mayor? Greater Manchester Residents pay an extra £62 per year (band D property) to fund the Mayoralty – do Lancashire residents want to pay a mayoral precept?

“Is there additional funding for Lancashire and if so how much? A Labour MP said there was no additional funding in this spending round.

“With regards to keeping a percentage of income tax, Lancashire residents need to understand if this is additional funding to the grant paid to Lancashire or will it replace some or all the grant? And will this be an additional income tax?

“Lancashire Combined County Authority have tried to meet with the government to discuss this and have had a number of meetings cancelled, we are still waiting for a date for the next one.

“We need this information so that we can then consult with our residents to make an informed decision.”

Although the new government did not state exactly how much areas would receive from income tax, it could be a significant fundraising mechanism in Lancashire which contributes roughly £4 billion to the Exchequer through income tax each year.

Cllr Azhar Ali, who is the leader of the Progressive Lancashire opposition at Lancashire County Council, has already written to Andy Burnham to ask for the mayoral election to be brought forward.

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Last month, it was confirmed very quietly that the £1 bus fare used for nine million journeys in Lancashire would be scrapped in September.

We say quietly because no announcement was made - it was only reporting by The Lancashire Lead that made the public aware of it.

But additional transport funding for local authorities provided by Andy Burnham’s £2 bus fare cap announcement means that the £1 cap could be revisited, something that but be a very welcome boost in a cost-of-living crisis.

You can read all about that down below once you read through the 59 new routes which will see additional resurfacing work over the next 12 months.

Lancashire briefing

🚗 Dozens more roads have been added to the number that will be resurfaced by Lancashire County Council this year.

The authority decided in May that it would add £5m to the highways budget to boost the tally of pre-planned surface upgrades and “preventative” treatments carried out by next spring.

The full list of projects shows that it incorporates 59 routes across 41 individual schemes in the county council’s patch – an area that excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.

That takes the total number of roads to be upgraded during the 2026/27 financial year to more than 160 and the overall projects to 121.

Reform UK cabinet member for highways and transport Warren Goldsworthy reiterated at a recent full council meeting a previous message that the additional projects would be determined solely by the “data” showing which routes were in need of attention – and not by councillors clamouring on behalf of their own areas.

🚖 Those roads in full are:

Burnley

• Pendle Way – extent to be determined – surface dressing

Chorley

• Lower Burgh Way – from Dale View to Burgh Hill Road roundabout and from Burgh Hill Road roundabout to Booth Avenue – resurfacing

• Peel Street/Belmont Road/Mayfield Avenue/Rivington Drive, Adlington – resurfacing

Fylde

• A584, Preston New Road – Lily Cottage to Lower Lane – resurfacing

• Lytham Road – extension of already approved scheme – resurfacing

Hyndburn

• B6237, Queens Road and Penny House Lane – from Whalley Road to Burnley Road – surface dressing

• Charter Street, Accrington – from Willows Lane to Pickup Street – surface dressing

• Lancaster Avenue and Gloucester Avenue, Accrington – from Whalley Road to Queens Road West – resurfacing

• Plantation Street/Plantation Road, Accrington – from Abbey Street to Arden Park – surface dressing

• Southwood Drive, Accrington – from Manchester Road to the end – surface dressing

Lancaster

• A6, Scotland Road – from Burton Road roundabout to Market Street traffic light junction – surface dressing

• B5273, Oxcliffe Road, Heysham – from Southgate to Westcliffe Drive – surface dressing

• B6254, Kirkby Lonsdale Road, Over Kellet – from end of C-class section to Craggs Hill – surface dressing

• Cinderbarrow Lane – from the reservoir to the bridge over the motorway – surface dressing

• Earl Street and surrounding routes, Skerton – Albert Road, Earl Street, Derby Road, Lord Street, Lune Street, Lune Terrace – resurfacing

• Hutton Roof Road, Whittington – from Cumbria boundary Saddler Nook Lane – surface dressing

• Marshaw Wyre – from the cattle grid outside Marshaw Farm to the cattle grid at the summit – resurfacing

• Mewith Lane – from Eskew Beck Bridge to Lowgill Lane – drainage issues

• Rakehouse Brow – from 100m after the cattle grid beyond Jubilee Tower to outside Emmetts Methodist Church – resurfacing

• Rose Acre Lane, – from Milnthorpe Road to Flat Lane – surface dressing

• Westgate Avenue, Morecambe – extent to be confirmed – surface dressing

Pendle

• Brogden Lane, Barnoldswick – from Bower Close to Stocks Lane – surface dressing

• Carr Hall Road, Barrowford – from Wheatley Lane Road to Carr Road – surface dressing

• Gisburn Old Road – from Barnoldswick Road to the end – surface dressing

• Knotts Lane, Colne – from the old brickworks to Shelfield Lane – surface dressing

Preston

• A6, Garstang Road – sections from Blackpool Road to Broughton roundabout – resurfacing

• Greaves Town Lane/Larches Lane/Larches Avenue, Ashton – resurfacing

• Plungington Road – from Aqueduct Street to Blackpool Rd – surface dressing

• Silk Mill Lane, Inglewhite – from Inglewhite Road to Langley Rd – resurfacing

Ribble Valley

• Bolton by Bowland Road, Bolton by Bowland – extent to be determined – surface dressing

• Clitheroe Road – from Whins Lane to A59, Clitheroe Bypass – resurfacing

• Clitheroe Road, Whalley – from Whiteacre Lane to Wisewell Lane – surface dressing

• Newton Road – from Wood End Farm to newly-laid stretch at Newton By Bowland Village – resurfacing

• Trough Road – from the cattle grid at the summit to No.1 Lancaster Cottages – resurfacing

• Trough Road – from No.1 Lancaster Cottages to Newton Road – resurfacing

Rossendale

• Rawstron Street and surrounding roads – Lloyd Street/Rawstron Street/Tong Lane/William Street – resurfacing

• Booth Road, Stacksteads – from Fearns Moss to Newchurch Road – surface dressing

• Regent Street/Bury Road, Haslingden – from A680, Blackburn Road to A680, Manchester Road – surface dressing

• Eastgate, Whitworth – from Wallbank Drive to Wallbank Drive – surface dressing

• Maden Road, Bacup – from Bankside Lane to the end – surface dressing

South Ribble

• None

West Lancashire

• None

Wyre

• Ascot Road and Aintree Road Loop and surrounding roads, Thornton-Cleveleys – Ascot Road/Aintree Road/Sandown Road stretch of Cherl Drive to house no. 39 – resurfacing

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£1 bus fare used by millions could be viable after Andy Burnham’s cap announcement

By Paul Faulkner and Luke Beardsworth

Lancashire transport bosses are assessing whether the return of the national £2 bus fare cap will enable them to reverse a price hike planned for evening and Sunday services across the county.

Since January 2023, bus passengers in Lancashire have been able to travel for a flat £1 charge after 7pm from Monday to Saturday – an offer that was extended to all day Sundays and bank holidays around 18 months later.

However, as first revealed by The Lancashire Lead last month, the Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) voted to increase the discounted fare to £2 from mid-September. The devolution body heard that the £5m annual cost of delivering the scheme – under which 3.5 million £1 journeys were made between April 2025 and March 2026 – had become “unaffordable”.

No announcement of the fare being increased was made and the increase was made public only because of our reporter.

A report setting out a funding shortfall of at least £1m noted that the sustainability of the local evening and Sunday rate was dependent on the majority of bus operators in Lancashire also taking part in the voluntary, England-wide £3 fare cap. That is because the difference between the two rates largely determines how much the LCCA has to reimburse bus firms for their involvement in the county initiative.

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Since then, however, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced that the nationwide cap will reduce from £3 to £2 – its original level – from next January.

That would mean the Lancashire evening and Sunday cap would be equal to the national round-the-clock limit for a single adult fare – essentially ending the latter scheme by default and offering no additional local benefit for passengers in the county.

However, should the £1 evening and Sunday rate remain in Lancashire, the difference to the national cap would be only £1, instead of the current £2 – thereby reducing the reimbursement costs for the LCCA, because a greater proportion would be covered by the government.

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Zack Polanski is in the news - and rightly so. The Instagram image he “collaborated” with on Instagram - projecting it to his significant following - that could be deemed to be calling for violence against Nigel Farage was deeply ill-advised at best.

But calls from Reform UK that Polanski be arrested have been criticised as a touch rich. When the deputy leader of Reform UK here in Lancashire behaved in the same manner - they took no action against him.

There is quite clearly a reluctance - from multiple parties - to draw a line under this sort of message and behaviour with appropriate action and that needs to change. But Reform UK are on shaky ground if they want to call foul on this topic.

Lancashire briefing

🏠 A ‘deeply unpopular’ plan for new homes on farmland near a Lancashire village, which raised over 200 objections, has been refused.

The application for 85 homes – including 25 affordable ones – at Balderstone in the Ribble Valley has been rejected by councillors, despite developers asking for extra time to look at late information sent to the council.

Ribble Valley Borough Council received 240 objections to the outline housing plan for land south of Causeway Farm at Longsight Road, Balderstone. Three parish councils also objected.

People’s fears included the impact on green space, extra traffic and the loss of individual village identities. Balderstone Parish Council said the number of houses would have a ‘profound effect’ on the area’s character. The estate would be ‘incongruous, insular and lack any integrated relationship with the villages of Mellor Brook, Osbaldeston or Mellor’.

🩺 Lancashire NHS bosses are staying tight-lipped about the likelihood of Chorley and South Ribble Hospital’s A&E department reopening 24 hours a day – after the government revealed local leaders were considering “evidence” for the move.

It emerged earlier this month that a feasibility study had been conducted into restoring a round-the-clock service at the facility, which has been operating part-time for almost a decade.

A question-and-answer session in the Commons heard that the findings were being assessed by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Board (ICB).

However, when asked about that process, the organisation – which is responsible for commissioning health services in the region – pointed instead towards its implementation of long-term national plans to reduce the number of people requiring emergency care in the first place.

Meanwhile, campaigners who have spent the last 10 years calling for the reinstatement of a 24-hour emergency department at the Euxton Lane site have warned that it would have to be fully staffed and properly funded before it would win their backing.

🗳️ One of the top-rated GP surgeries in Burnley is set for a major overhaul that will effectively double it in size and allow it to see more patients, after receiving approval from the town’s planning committee.

Burnley Wood Medical Centre on Parliament Street can now go-ahead with building a large single storey extension on its North-facing side, allowing for four additional consultation rooms and a training area for its staff.

Alongside this, the practice’s 6900 patients will notice a revamped entrance, reception and waiting room when the work is completed, with the whole extension being built out of similar materials to the already existing structure.

But while the approved application to expand Burnley Wood Medical Centre, was approved at committee, the improvements were not uncontroversial.

Five objections from nearby residents and ward Cllr Jeff Sumner (Reform UK) were submitted in response to the application, raising concerns about a loss of privacy, the extension’s ‘overbearing impact’ on nearby homes, and its consequent increased demand for parking.

Reform UK accused of hypocrisy over Polanski controversy after failing to take action against deputy leader in Lancashire

By Luke Beardsworth

A senior Green politician in Lancashire has accused Reform UK of hypocrisy for the way it has handled the controversy surrounding Zack Polanski.

The Green Party’s leader Zack Polanski is under investigation by the Met Police after sharing an image which showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel”, alongside a photograph of a guillotine, in clear reference to Nigel Farage.

Farage was quick to respond and said: “If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”

And Zia Yusuf, Reform UK donor and spokesperson for home affairs, said it was ‘inciting murder’.

The Met Police has said that it is investigating the matter. The Green Party said the post, shared as a collaboration post on Instagram, was deleted when Polanski became aware of it.

Cllr Gabie Lowe, 24 and leader of the Green Party at Preston City Council, said that Polanski was right to delete the post but accused Reform UK of hypocrisy.

This is because when Reform UK’s deputy leader at Lancashire County Council, Cllr Simon Evans, shared a post calling for Labour MP Natalie Fleet to be shot, the party called it an ‘honest mistake’.

Cllr Lowe told The Lancashire Lead: “Accepting the tag request was very ill judged, and I believe that Zack was right to delete it and apologise. It is so important that we are all careful over what we post online, especially given recent events.

“There is, however, a blatant hypocrisy in the way the right wing are reacting to this. When they can hail Lucy Connolly as a hero of free speech, and when the Reform UK deputy leader of Lancashire County Council can face no consequences for sharing a post which called for a Labour politician to be shot, their reaction seems disproportionate.”

It is worth noting that Polanski’s comment came directly from the Green Party spokesperson rather than Polanski himself.

Reform UK took no action locally or nationally over the posts from Cllr Simon Evans, although The Lancashire Lead understands he was given formal advice by Lancashire Constabulary.

He posted an apology to his Facebook account when the incident occurred in February, but it has since been deleted.

For Reform UK local councillors, the difference between the two incidents is in the profile of the politicians involved and how recent the murder of Ann Widdecombe is.

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On Thursday, it was reported that the four new authorities that will run services in Lancashire had been named. And so they have, by the government. But local councils will be able to put forward alternatives that they agree on - if they can agree on them - by 17 August.

That point about the option for councils to suggest names they feel better suited was not part of the original reporting - and Lancashire County Council took the unusual step to publicly correct the record rather than accepting the reporter make the amendment to his story.

The decision to do that was an odd one - especially as the journalist in question was Paul Faulkner. He’s widely-regarded as a hard working, extremely conscientious and professional reporter who endears himself to almost everyone he comes across. But even the publication of that statement was a meal with many cooks - as today’s edition will show.

It will be the case that some of the councils put forward alternative names to the four the government has either bestowed or inflicted on the county depending on your viewpoint. Some of them will not. We’ve looked into the most likely outcomes based on the conversations we’ve had with senior politicians this week.

Lancashire briefing

🏠 Councillors in Hyndburn have finalised an important document that designates certain parts of the borough for development over the next 14 years – despite the fact it won’t exist.

The final 2040 Local Plan was given near unanimous approval at a full meeting of Hyndburn Council on Thursday night, with only Reform UK’s Cllr Anthony Mitchell voting against it. Though, many others had reservations about certain aspects of the blueprint.

With 3686 homes targeted to be built across the borough over that period, some councillors raised issues with certain allocations of land in their own patches, but ultimately agreed with the plan. In part because the alternative could be much worse.

This is because finding and allocating land for housing or business is one of the biggest responsibilities that local authorities have, as these plans are used to guide developers when they are looking for suitable plots to build on and shape the future appearance of Hyndburn.

Notably, failure to allocate this land and meet government-set targets for housebuilding would essentially result in the council losing its ability to refuse development in parts of the borough where the authority does not want to build.

✈️ A tech-focused development branded a “once in a generation” opportunity to transform Lancashire’s economy has been given the green light.

The £13.2m Samlesbury Innovation Hub aims to attract a cluster of businesses specialising in the aerospace, defence, advanced manufacturing, engineering, cyber and technology sectors.

Based within the Samlesbury Enterprise Zone, it has previously been estimated the hub will help secure 1,500 jobs indirectly related to the new National Cyber Force (NCF) headquarters on the wider site.

The roles are expected to have salaries “almost twice the current Lancashire average”, a meeting of Lancashire County Council’s cabinet was told last year.

The project is being showcased at this week’s Farnborough International Airshow as part of a BAE Systems stand hosting the North West Regional Defence and Security Cluster.

📮 Nine Lancashire Post Office services will close this week – and there is no indication of when, or even if, they will ever reopen.

The branch at Burscough Bridge is shutting its doors indefinitely on Wednesday afternoon (22 July) for what the Post Office has described as “operational reasons”.

However, the closure will have a knock-on effect across West Lancashire and beyond, because the Liverpool Road North outlet also delivers part-time ‘outreach services’ in places that do not have a fully-fledged Post Office facility.

It means that the shutters will also come down on satellite branches – which usually operate from community buildings for just a few hours a week – in Rufford, Banks, Moss, Bescar Lane and Haskayne, all in West Lancashire; Salesbury in Ribble Valley; Belmont, in Blackburn with Darwen; and Trawden, in Pendle. Three other outreach units outside of Lancashire will also be affected.

An alternative to the Burscough Bridge branch can be found just under a mile away on Square Lane. However, users of several of the Lancashire outreach facilities will have to travel between two and almost four miles to find a Post Office counter – some of which provide fewer services than those that are closing.

The Post Office says it will “continue to work hard to restore services in the area as soon as possible” – and has also appealed for “potential retail partners interested in running a branch locally” to come forward.

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What’s in a name? Councils set for rapid negotiations over official titles for new authorities

By Luke Beardsworth

Lancashire’s councils have three weeks to come to a rare consensus on names for the four new authorities that will cover the county from 2028.

If they cannot come to an agreement on a preferred alternative by 17 August, the names will be North Lancashire Council, South Lancashire Council, Fylde Coast Council and Pennine Lancashire Council.

The matter is set to be discussed at a strategic board meeting in Lancashire next week when alternatives could be put forward, but the government has said it would only consider any “unanimous” proposals for changes.

The names will not officially be instituted until the legislative process to establish the new authorities has been completed in Parliament next year.

Once they are operational, the replacement councils will have the same power as all local authorities to change their names via a vote of their memberships, should they wish to do so at any time.

Possible names were put forward for all of the councils that could have been created under the five proposed reconfigurations that Lancashire submitted to ministers last November – initially just by those authorities that backed each option. Later, the existing councils offered their opinions on how any new authority that might be adopted in their area should be identified.

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The new councils will be responsible for delivering all local services in their enlarged areas, ending the current two-tier split between Lancashire County Council and the 12 district authorities in the county. The four will each be all-service ‘unitary’ councils, as the existing Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen councils have been since 1998.

The county council, the dozen districts and the two current unitaries will all cease to exist on 31 March, 2028.

“This isn’t accurate.”

Lancashire County Council took the unusual step to publicly correct reporting by the very well-respected journalist Paul Faulkner this week.

The original article, which was published on the Lancashire Post and the BBC on Thursday (23 July) confirmed the new names for the four councils but did not include details of action the leaders could take to change those names.

The story was later corrected.

The statement, published after articles had been corrected, reads: “You may have seen reports in the media today that the names of the four new unitary councils for Lancashire have been confirmed.

“This isn’t accurate.

“The names that have been reported have been taken from the successful proposal for four unitary councils, which the government announced was its preferred option last week.

“Councils in Lancashire have until 17 August to respond to MHCLG on preferred names – and we’ll keep residents informed when we’ve agreed those names.”

While the statement was published by Lancashire County Council, The Lancashire Lead has learned that it came as a result of lobbying from some of the chief executives and council leaders of Lancashire’s lower tier authorities.

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