Approved funding updates: Littleborough Food & Drink Festival 2020; Pennines TRY, Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation; The Star Tree Studio @ The Gig House; Holy Trinity Church Project 2020; additional salt bin for Barnes Meadow; two new litter bins for Arm Road.

Clean and Green Schemes: Clear weeds/overgrowth from the playing field at Hare Hill Park; Milnrow Road/Wildhouse Lane litter pick; tidy up land and steps at Barnes Meadow; clear overgrowth from the path near Littleborough Fire Station; sweep the tennis courts off Wardle Road (removal of small stones) and litter pick area.

Other Councillor updates: Hare Hill Play Area equipment has been replaced; meeting with Councillor Neil Emmott and Environmental Management Team about Hollingworth Lake car park refurbishment and new ticket machines; working with Littleborough Civic Trust and Council Officers to produce a Pennines Township Local Plan; a number of gullies and pipe work replaced on Todmorden Road to help prevent homes from flooding; large pothole on Calderbrook Road has been made safe with a full repair arranged; the damaged wall at the bottom of Temple Lane that was hit by a car has now been repaired; TfGM have installed a bench inside the Church Street bus shelter; the large overgrown and in poor condition trees near Central Avenue have been felled; meetings with local residents and Russell Homes; fencing provided at Lea Way to protect local people from the river; upgrade footpath from Union Road to Arm Road; meeting at Wardle Academy and St Andrew’s School about traffic issues; ballot box and polling station to St Andrew’s for elections to Student Council; Hollingworth Lake path remains closed for ongoing work; liaising with Olive Standring Court regarding their flood defence gates.

Wardle Volunteers
Councillor Dearnley thanked the volunteers present for their dedication to making Wardle Village a shining example of the communities’ commitment to loving where you live.  The work of the volunteers is truly appreciated by the Council and the wider community.

Wardle Tennis Courts
The project identified for the courts proved to be prohibitive; the maintenance costs were as high as the capital costs for which there wasn’t a budget available.

Hare Hill Road
A utility contractor plans to undertake highway maintenance on Hare Hill Road in April 2020.  This work will not affect the Littleborough Food and Drink Festival.

Hollingworth Lake
Hollingworth Lake car park has been subject to criminal damage on a number of occasions.  Until the machine is replaced, parking will be free.  The Council are considering card only payment machines.

The lake levels were originally dropped to allow maintenance work on the overflow.  Due to the amount of recent rainfall, the levels have risen meaning that they will again need to be lowered to allow the work to be carried out.  A resident asked whether the positive effect, this has had on flooding, has been calculated.  It was clarified that the lake overflows into the River Roch.
Action 1: Councillor Emsley will ask United Utilities to respond

Littleborough and Wardle New ECO Business Scheme
50 businesses have signed up to this new scheme and given their commitment to being more environmentally aware.

Pennines Local Plan
Councillors attending Littleborough Civic Trust meetings have discussed a number of local concerns.  Officers have been asked to compile a local plan that will collate all the pieces of work that are ongoing to tackle and reduce the pressure on the local infrastructure.  The plan will also identify any gaps.

Additional Highways funding
Calderbrook Road resurfacing will take place this year using some of the additional Highways funding allocated to the Pennines Township.  Residents were advised that the “trench” on Hare Hill Road will be repaired by the developer in April 2020.

Calderbrook Road
The barrier which prevents traffic entering the closed section of Calderbrook Road has been damaged.  There are reports of the theft of stone flags/boulders and off road bikers.  Councillor Hartley advised that he has reported this situation to Rochdale Borough Council and Calderdale Council to request a more robust obstacle to prevent access.