LETTER: Boundary stone is in the wrong place

Further to a recent letter in your column regarding the apparent licence that Lancashire County Council has to ride roughshod over local issues, may I add another one - the power to deem that marker/destination stones may be located at any site deemed suitable by the highways department without reference or consideration of the local historic boundaries.

I live in Sough, within the parish of Kelbrook and Sough and adjacent to the parish of Earby. In April of last year, without prior notification or consultation, a marker stone bearing the name Earby was placed on the grass verge outside my home. To all intents and purposes, this indicates that at that point you are at Earby and appears to have moved about 20 properties into the parish of Earby. The actual boundary is, in fact, further down the A56 and outside the bounds of these properties. I raised immediate objections with both local parish councils, to be told the site was chosen as an appropriate site by - guess who? Lancashire County Council Highways Department!

Since that time, I have written letters, attended council meetings involving local parish councils, Pendle Council and various representatives, but every time it comes back to the authority of the highways department and nobody seems prepared to question their decision. My reliable source defines “appropriate” as “right or suitable”. Is it either right or suitable to place an Earby marker sign amid properties in a neighbouring parish?

So beware if you live within one of our smaller parishes in the district. Do not take it for granted. You may find one day that the highways department has, in its wisdom, deemed otherwise. Not only would it seem that local councils are becoming redundant, maybe the necessity of the Boundaries Commission is now in question.

MRS D.M. SMITH

Colne Road, Sough