The prison release debate is missing something more important
Plus people power saves GP, Luke Beardsworth on devolution, and killer dad jailed
Hello and welcome to today’s edition of The Lancashire Lead. I’ve sent it out a little early again to avoid clashing with the small matter of the Euro 2024 final - I won’t bore you with any of my football insights here but I will say that it’s a very strange day to be half Spanish 🇪🇸/🏴.
Back in the world of Lancashire news, there’s more rumblings over the county’s development deal as local leaders feel increasingly able to speak out against the current offering and support the chance to change it. More on that later, along with an opinion piece on the issue from Luke Beardsworth who is backing calls for a mayoral model.
First though, I’ll bring your attention to a tragic case which has been heard over recent days at Preston Crown Court. I don’t tend to feature lots of crime on this newsletter but the killing of two-year-old Damion Russell by his father Daniel Hardcastle is a particularly harrowing case.
Compared to a lot of places, Lancashire is fortunate to still have a dedicated court reporter and LancsLive’s Rachel Smith covered each stage of a trial which heard details of horrific injuries inflicted over the course of three days before the toddler was murdered. Her piece on the sentencing decision is here and includes this comment from the judge, Mrs Justice Hill:
“By assaulting Damion in this way you grossly abused your position of trust. You were Damion's father and he was in your sole care. He was a helpless child. It was your duty as his father to protect him, especially given the difficult start he had in life and his inability to rely on his mother to care for him."
Hardcastle had been given sole custody following assessments from Blackpool Council and a ruling at the Family Court. Following the conviction, a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review will be completed and is expected to be completed in the autumn.
One of the things that could easily have come with a landslide election win was Labour MPs reducing pressure on the government. On that basis, it was good to see Blackpool South MP Chris Webb - who has been elected twice in two months - publicly calling for an urgent meeting with new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed to discuss flooding problems off the town’s coast.
In a letter penned on the day he was sworn into the House of Commons, he said:
“So far in 2024 there have been a combined 158 pollution alerts on Fylde Coast beaches. Environment Agency figures released in March revealed United Utilities to be the UK's worst polluter. It released raw sewage from storm overflows into open water on the Fylde Coast almost 1,500 times in 2023.
“The figure comprises 105 discharges within Blackpool’s local authority boundaries, for a total of around 260 hours, and 1,372 in Fylde – where the River Wyre feeds into our sea – for 7,711 hours.
“Alongside poor enforcement by the EA, and a lack of funding from central government, years of under-investment by United Utilities in its infrastructure are directly responsible for pollution on our coastline.”
Webb also pointed out that all of these problems, including sewage alerts sent out this week, come at a time when United Utilities has made big profits and water bills are expected to rise sharply. Pressure is on the new government to show it can act.
Over in Chorley, there’s been that rare but deeply satisfying occurrence - a win for people power. Dr Ann Williams has run Withnell Health Centre for more than a decade but looked set to lose control of the practice when the departure of her partner led to the NHS contract going up for tender and being won by an alternative bidder.
But, as Paul Faulkner writes, this sparked a furious backlash with 1,500 objections issued against the decision and the process forced to start over in response to both the strength of opposition and acknowledged flaws in the initial consultation.
Dr Williams was the only bidder this time around and after two-and-a-half years of uncertainty now knows the future of her practice is secured.
“People feel so strongly about this place – some have been patients here for 50 years and they can tell you all the GPs that have looked after them.
“The first patient I told [about the successful bid] has been a really strong supporter – and he actually started crying. He said, ‘Doctor, this is so much better than a prescription.’”
Dr Ann Williams
As ever, it’s been a busy week for various other titles published by The Lead - you can check each area out using the menu button on this page. For The Blackpool Lead, Michael Holmes has taken a look at archeological discoveries dating back to the Iron Age and Roman Britain which were found at the site of the demolished Bispham High School. There are hopes for more assessment before developers move in to build hundreds of homes.
For The Hyndburn Lead, Laura Davis has written about the cultural revolution and activities which are quietly disproving doubts about the area’s arts scene.
Each newsletter contains extra features which aren’t published on the site so sign up below to make sure you don’t miss out on anything. Having seen what’s to be included in Thursday’s Blackpool edition, I know it’s one you’ll want to read.
Subscribe to The Blackpool Lead | Subscribe to The Hyndburn Lead
A final observation before moving on to the news digest relates to the row over the potential early release of prisoners across the country. There’s a lot of debate over the rights and wrongs of this policy but there’s a related issue I want to raise - whether many should be there in the first place.
I spent a little time at Preston Crown Court this week and while waiting for an another case, I observed the sentencing of a woman who had been living in supported accommodation and threatened to kill a man working there as they both smoked a cigarette outside. She then proceeded to pull out a butter knife and continue making said threats in what was undoubtedly a terrifying experience for the care worker.
The court heard the woman had various mental health problems and that these had become much worse in the time she’d spent in custody, to the extent she was regularly attempting to self-harm and had been found on multiple occasions trying to tie items around her neck.
Despite it being abundantly that prison was neither effective punishment or rehabilitation for the woman, the court heard there was no space at any facility where she could receive adequate support and she was given an eight month sentence.
I’ll go out on a limb and say that when she’s released, she’ll be no in no fitter state to play a role in general society than beforehand, while the memories of the punishment will do little to stop future incidents. Government data shows re-offending rates are almost back to pre-pandemic levels so don’t tell me prison is an effective deterrent.
While people on all sides will politicise the argument over early release, there also needs to be a discussion around the alternatives to custodial sentences and how we can actually tackle and prevent criminal behaviour. Both to save wasting the lives of offenders who become trapped in an endless cycle and to prevent others from being victims of crime.
Imprisonment currently costs almost £50,000 per person per year. Are there really not more effective ways to spend this money and achieve better results for all involved?
⛔ The former manager of a troubled micropub could be legally banned from entering its bar – despite living above it (Blog Preston).
🦨 Bosses of a nuisance landfill site are being urged to stop the stink which has been plaguing resident's lives for months (LancsLive). ↪️ Over in Blackburn, people have spoken out against fly-tippers who are making their neighbourhood a dumping ground (Lancashire Telegraph).
🪫 The operator of Heysham 2 power station says it has saved more than 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere during its lifetime (BBC).
🪙 Blackpool Council has sold the land for a new courthouse for £1 to kickstart a major regeneration (BBC). ↪️ Meanwhile Burnley Council will buy seven more empty homes to be renovated and turned into social housing (LancsLive).
🌹The Mayor of Lancaster has announced she will be cutting back on her public duties after being diagnosed with breast cancer (Lancaster Guardian).
👟 A fundraiser and Adidas trainer designer has had a stretch of road named after him in his home town Darwen (BBC).
🛒 An assistant at Chorley’s Aldi supermarket has reached her twentieth anniversary working at the store (Lancashire Telegraph).
🪩 Chorley’s former nightclub Applejax will be converted into bedsits after falling out of use (Lancashire Post). ↪️ You can read about previous problems there in my 2021 piece here (LancsLive).
🏫 A school has raised £2000 towards a community garden in memory of a two-year-old boy who died in a gas explosion at his home in Heysham (Beyond Radio).
A new programme of community conversations for people to find out more about Eden Project Morecambe has been announced.
These regular events aim to keep the Morecambe community up to date with the project and provide the opportunity to ask questions. The six dates range from August to January and include in person and online (Microsoft Teams) options. Click here to book to attend one.
There’s also a small update from Lancaster City Council leader Cllr Phillip Black who this week tweeted: “Partners for the Eden Project Morecambe met as the Sponsor Group at Morecambe Town Hall tonight. Wide ranging discussions around the continued positive progress toward delivery. There is now cash in the Eden bank account and the procurement process is underway. Exciting stuff!”
A few months ago and it looked like Lancashire's devolution deal was on an unstoppable path, with the dissenters no longer able to stop its progression into law. That stopped when the General Election was called and again this week we’ve seen more voices call for it to be revisited.
As reported in Wednesday’s edition of The Lancashire Lead, newly elected MPs Paul Foster and Lorraine Beavers have called for a new deal to be made with the government, insisting a mayoral role should be included.
Since then, local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner has been all over the issue, first reporting that no decision has yet been taken on the existing deal by the Labour government. That piece notes that the county’s three upper tier authority leaders - including two Labour representatives - are sticking by the current deal.
Paul also reported that five district council leaders have called for the county’s devolution deal to be renegotiated with the new government – with two of them also pushing for an elected mayor in order to strengthen the agreement.
On a somewhat related note, this week also saw news that local leaders will be given more powers to take over local bus services, with the news particularly welcomed in Preston.
Luke Beardsworth, editor of The Lead (North), has written exclusively for today’s edition to offer his view on the current devolution status and what should happen next.
“What logo is on your bins?”
Thus went the mantra of local councils across Lancashire during the pandemic. Faced with locally-focused restrictions, it had never been clearer how confusing the political map in Lancashire is. The short version is: lots of people didn’t really know where they live, in local government terms.
It gets even more confusing when there’s a general election. Take Bamber Bridge, my home town, as a particularly egregious example. It’s firmly in South Ribble, a place that only really exists for local government purposes, but votes for a Ribble Valley MP.
Clitheroe, the biggest town in the Ribble Valley and where the council has its office, does not vote for a Ribble Valley MP. It’s a mess, though if you wanted that mess taking away, you’d probably be unclear whether to contact South Ribble Borough Council or Lancashire County Council.
Soon, another layer of government will be added to that - a new Lancashire Combined County Authority.
The general election caused a delay to Lancashire’s devolved powers being brought into play. It was a tier 2 deal, rather than tier 3, which ultimately meant no mayor for Lancashire.
Labour’s government, and a renewed focus on devolution - including engagement with the mayors that already exist - provides an opportunity to rethink the deal.
Lancashire’s new Labour MPs Paul Foster (South Ribble) and Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) are in agreement that the deal on the table isn’t good - and agreeing to a mayor should be the only way forward.
What a mayor gives in a public sense is pretty clear - Andy Burnham has been a loud, bellowing champion for Greater Manchester at a time when Lancashire simply doesn’t have one.
There are concerns about what level of control local councils - of which there are enough that you could field a team of council leaders in the Euros and make four subs - would retain under a mayoral system.
All of which could’ve been scrapped in a conversation in 2020 which proposed abolishing all the Lancashire councils and drawing up instead three single-tier unitary authorities for Lancashire, in line with much of the rest of the country.
I will hold my hands up and admit here that the relief of not having to ever explain again that Penwortham (it’s in South Ribble, according to the layout of our 14 districts) isn’t really in Preston would be extraordinary. Or that Preston City Council are not responsible for your roads.
Fifteen councils arguably makes any sort of consensus borderline impossible. The initial deal was likely only signed off because one camp got bored of rowing before the other.
The ultimate goal of any devolution deal should be to secure the best investment possible for Lancashire - and local decision making on spending it. If that’s a mayor and a restructure - we should welcome it - as should the individuals who might consider their influence diminished.
As usual, I’ll finish with a collection of What’s On stories from the past week. If you have any events or other recommendations you’d like to see featured here, please get in touch through the contact form or via jamie@thelead.uk.
One quick pre-recommendation (on the basis I’ve only seen the trailer) is the BBC’s new detective drama The Jetty which is set in Lancashire. Starring Jenna Coleman, it tells a story which starts with an investigation into a fire and grows into something encapsulating issues such as sexual morality, consent, grooming, identity and memory. The series will launch on BBC iPlayer and BBC One tomorrow.
Entrepreneur Yasir Patel proves a confectionery hit with “Aldi’s Next Big Thing”
New Blackpool Winter Gardens hotel will have 266 rooms with private entrance for corporate guests
Anonymous collective launches free zine exploring the good and the bad of Preston
Pole dancing and cycling will be part of returning Lancaster health festival
New space to play one of the 'world's fastest-growing sports' in Preston
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