Parish/town councillors are eyes and ears of an area

He has got that wrong for some of us in Colne.

We have been doing this ever since we were elected and care strongly about improving our town.

In the area of Waterside where I live, the team of town councillors and Waterside ward councillors are always reporting litter, grot spots, dog fouling, fly tipping, potholes, dangerous roads and pavements, anti-social behaviour and indeed anything that causes us concern to Pendle Council.

I may add here that the council always responds and act on the items brought to their attention.

As well as attending our monthly council meetings, we regularly attend monthly Police and Communties Together and Neighbourhood Action Group meetings and keep in touch with residents and the local police who are very helpful in Colne. Some of the town councillors also sit on sub-commitees like the Events, Finance, Allotments and other working groups we have.

In Colne, we are a busy group of town councillors and have a very good clerk who administers very well for the council and works extremely hard for us.

Since our inception in 2008 we have brought a Christmas Lights event to Colne.

We have also helped to revive the Whitsunday walk, put on Easter events, the GreenRock event in August/September and have been involved in many town centre events to benefit residents and visitors to town.

The town councils are now being asked to take on more responsibilities from the borough council now their government funding has been cut.

One of the responsibilities currently being administered is getting a Community Toilet Scheme up and running in Colne.

There are many more items such as this on our town council agenda.

May I add that, again, we are all volunteers and unpaid and I for one enjoy doing this for my town.

Janet Whincup

Waterside Town Councillor