Dukes Ward covers Lancaster City Centre. From the Pointer roundabout down to the bus station and from the canal over to the Portland St / Regent St area.
Lancaster City Council’s Homeless Shelter failed to open in time for Christmas leaving vulnerable young people sleeping rough over the holiday period. The shelter, a joint project between the Council & the YMCA was due to open back in September, But delays in building works mean it is still closed.
The City Council has finally acted against car drivers who have been using the corner of St. George’s Quay and Damside Street as a makeshift car park. After months of complaints from passers by and local businesses, John Foster of Lancashire County Engineers has confirmed to local councillor Jon Barry, who acted on the complaints, that bollards are to be placed on the corner to prevent vehicles parking. City Councillors have long wanted to prevent parking on the corner but according to County staff, identifying who owned the land was one reason for a delay to something being done.
A fantastic new children’s play area has now been completed at Greaves Park, between the Greaves Park hotel and the A6. Funding for the play area, which replaces the worn-out swings and seesaw at Parkfield, was raised by Friends of Greaves Park Community group FoGP was set up by local residents including Abi Mills and Green councillor for Scotforth West, Emily Heath. Abi Mills said: “I am delighted the play area is now in place. The new facility has been warmly welcomed by local families who I am sure will make good use of it.”
Lancaster City Council Cabinet member Maia Whitelegg enjoyed a welcome mug of steaming chocolate after completing a charity swim in lake Windermere for the ‘Don’t Duck The Issue’ campaign. Along with 64 other swimmers Maia, who holds the Cabinet post with responsibility for Young People, raised over £8,500 on the day towards funding for an emergency shelter for homeless young people in Lancaster. (more…)
Apple Day is a celebration of all things Apple - started by Commonground. Lancaster was once well served with Orchards, even close to the current city centre. It had its own local apple varietys many of which now appear to be lost.
Various events will be happening on Saturday 20th Oct From 10am-4pm there will be a stall in Market square with apple pressing and apple trees for sale.
From 3-7pm there will be further events of an apple nature in Fairfield Community Orchard, a guided walk, apple games…
The events are being organised by; Lancaster Seedsavers , LESS and The Fairfield Orchard.
Lancaster City Council’s October cabinet meeting has voted to ignore public opinion and proceed with the sale of green fields at Lawson’s Bridge to the south of the City on the A6 for a possible supermarket. (Rumoured to be Tesco’s)The meeting was attended by angry local residents, and cabinet members had received an avalanche of emails protesting about the proposal. A 24hr protest camp occupation of the fields in question had taken place prior to the meeting. Despite the protests a proposal put forward by Green Councillor Maia Whitelegg to defer the decision to allow public consultation to occur was voted down by members of all other parties. (more…)
120 ducks representing the 120 young people currently known to be dealing with homelessness in the Lancaster area will be ‘rescued’ from Lake Windermere by a team of swimmers aiming to raising awareness of Homelessness as a burning community issue and raise cash for an accommodation project in the City. Green Cllr Maia Whitelegg will be joining other swimmers on Oct 20th who will complete 750m circuits of Lakesides South Bay against the stunning backdrop of Lakeland in its full Autumn glory, The Swim is organise by the YMCA as part of its Don’t Duck The Issue campaign.
A new climate change and energy advice project called ‘LESS’ launched itself in Lancaster at the end of September.LESS is a new project set up to help people in Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas live more sustainably, and save energy and money. The project will give free energy-saving advice to the public at markets and community events around the district. Advice is also available online via the group’s website (www.lessuk.org) and phoneline.
Members of the Council Tenants Forum recently took a tour of the services on offer from the succesful furniture recycling enterprise Furntiture Matters. The event was part of the regular training events organised by Council housing . Green group leader Cllr Chris Coates, who accompanied the group said ” I am really impressed by the way Furniture Matters has grown over the years and the range of services it now offers.”
The controversial plans for the canal corridor have been hit by a series of set backs over the past few weeks. On top of objections to Centros Millers plans from Argos, the Dukes Theatre & the local Chamber of Commerce, English Heritage have weighed in saying that the scheme will destroy the historic fabric of that part of the city.
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