Central Park - official announcement

We are thrilled at today's official announcement by South Ribble Borough Council that the fabulous expanse of fields and woodlands and floodplains running alongside the River Ribble from Penwortham to Lostock Hall and Bamber Bridge is now OFFICIALLY the new Central Park. 

Cllr Cliff Hughes has announced that this area will now be preserved as a massive "green spine" across the borough, protecting and enhancing this fantastic green ecosystem for future generations. It will also link to the new Ribble Coast and Wetlands Regional Park along the Ribble Way, and connect across the River Ribble to Avenham and Miller Parks in Preston.

This is a real shout for people-power, and a fantastic cherry-on-the-top of the successful community campaign to save the River Ribble and its remaining green corridor from damaging barrages and inappropriate floodplain and green field development. 

A huge THANK YOU to Cllr Hughes and South Ribble Borough Council for listening!
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Lancashire's First Community Campaigning Blog

Our ‘Save The Ribble’ blog has met with remarkable success since the first post, only 16 Days ago.

We are the first community group in Lancashire, and possibly the whole North West to publicise our campaign in this way - and it is working brilliantly!

We decided to use a blog to put forward our ideas, because of a wall of secrecy and evasiveness from local politicians and officials – by putting our ideas and arguments online, we are making sure that these people cannot pretend that they do not know about the growing local opposition to their plans to seriously disrupt our river and it’s environment, and the additional flood threat the developments will mean to our homes.

Our blog has met with both local and international acclaim. People all over Preston, Penwortham, Longton, Broadgate, Frenchwood, Walton Le Dale, Bamber Bridge, Hesketh Bank, Ribchester and the villages around the Ribble Estuary are talking about our blog. Already over 20 other blogs have posted links to ‘Save The Ribble’, our campaign is attracting anglers, bird watchers, allotment keepers, walkers, nature lovers and amateur league footballers.

We expect this number to rise even further as news gets round about the misconceived and grandiose plans of councillors and officials. These planners and developers are so out of touch with local people that they are proposing to build over local allotments, football pitches, fields, trees and quiet riverside walks enjoyed by hundreds of us, to replace them with a water sports park for jet-skiers and power boat fanatics, along with over 4000 new houses in the river's flood plain. Their plans will mean a permanently higher water level, a rise in 'run off' and an accumulation of silts that will pose an additional flood risk to homes right back up the Ribble Valley.

If you oppose these moves, then tell everyone you know about what is happening! If you run a website, post a link to our blog! Most of all, join our campaign and help us build an organised opposition to the millionaire developers and their friends in the council!

The 'Save The Ribble Campaign' are the first community campaigning group in Lancashire to use a blog to promote our message - but we will definitely not be the last!