November 2023. Councillor Wilson attended the County Council’s annual Parish and Town Council Conference, held in Preston, via online video link. There were several presentations on aspects of County Council work relevant to parish councils, including:
1. Devolution may be coming to Lancashire soon, and if it does it will bring the county more powers, and hopefully government cash to support delivery of the ambitious Lancashire 2050 strategic plan. The existing local authorities would continue, but instead of an elected Mayor, a new combined county authority (CCA) would discharge the powers handed over under devolution. Only top-tier local authorities – in this case Lancashire County Council and the unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool – are normally permitted to sit on a CCA. However, it is understood that a total of two seats will be allocated to representatives of the twelve second-tier councils such as Lancaster. Expect a government announcement this month, followed by a 6-8 week public consultation.
2. Highway maintenance priorities and technology were described, and – of less relevance to Tatham – pilot projects in Lancashire to improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure for owners without off-street parking.
3. Public Rights of Way Manager David Goode said that parishes can be involved in looking after Public Rights of Way in many ways, such as checking paths for defects, monitoring planning applications that might affect paths, liaising with landowners, and arranging maintenance by contractors, lengthsmen or volunteers. Lancashire supports path maintenance by parishes with its opt-in Local Delivery Scheme, which Tatham joined in 2020, and which provides £500 a year plus some materials.
4. Flood risk management was covered by Lancashire’s Principal Flood Risk Officer, who heads a large team working to implement six priority themes and 41 key objectives contained in the Lancashire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2021 – 2027
5. The final presentations were by Chief Inspector Jill Halliwell on policing anti-social behaviour, and – of greater relevance to Tatham – by Rural Crime Co-ordinator Lorraine Ellwood, who identified her unit’s priorities, including theft of farm machinery, plant, vehicles and livestock, fuel theft, equine crime, fly-tipping, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) crime, and raptor, badger and bat persecution. Lancashire’s annual rural crime toll is estimated to be nearly 2 million pounds. The county has 20 rural task force officers in five teams, one based in Morecambe.