Pendle News Room

At the Council meeting on October 20th councillors unanimously agreed that they would reject the proposals and would put forward an alternative.

In doing so it acknowledged that under the new legal rules on size of constituencies the existing Pendle constituency is too small.

Philip Mousdale, Pendle Council’s Corporate Director, explained that Pendle is a close and cohesive community of towns and villages which has been forged since local government reorganisation in 1974.

He said: “The Council believes that the best interests of people in Pendle would be met by keeping the whole of the present parliamentary constituency (and the local authority area) within one new enlarged parliamentary constituency.

“In particular, we’ve rejected the proposed Clitheroe and Colne constituency because of its long and narrow geographical shape and the lack of common interests of the communities at the opposite ends of the proposed area.

“We believe that this proposal will receive widespread opposition, not just from within Pendle.”

The Council has looked at options which would bring in wards from the neighbouring areas of Ribble Valley and Burnley and identified three proposals.

These have now been submitted to the Boundary Commission for consideration. All three proposals carry the same weight and the Council doesn’t prefer one over the others.

Option One

The existing 20 Pendle wards, together with the following Ribble Valley wards:

• Gisburn, Rimington
• Chatburn
• Wiswell and Pendleton
• St. Mary’s
• Salthill
• Littlemoor
• Primrose
• Edisford and Low Moor

Such a constituency would combine the town of Clitheroe with Pendle and retain the mix of urban and rural communities with Pendle Hill as its dominant central feature. The Council suggests Pendle and Clitheroe for the name of the constituency.

Option Two

The existing 20 Pendle wards, together with the following Burnley wards:

• Briercliffe
• Lanehead
• Queensgate

All three wards adjoin the southern end of the present Pendle constituency. They form a contiguous urban area with Nelson, Brierfield and Reedle. Part of Briercliffe also makes a contiguous rural area with the eastern parts of the Southfield and Marsden wards. The Council suggests Pendle for the name of the constituency.

Option Three

The existing 20 Pendle wards, together with the following Burnley wards:

• Lanehead
• Queensgate
• Daneshouse with Stoneyholme

All three wards adjoin the southern end of the present Pendle constituency. They form a contiguous urban area with Nelson, Brierfield and Reedley. The Councils suggests Pendle for the name of the constituency.

You can view and comment on the Boundary Commission’s proposal for Pendle on its website https://www.bce2018.org.uk/

The deadline for comments is Monday 5 December.​