Social change

The changing pattern of shopping habits is evident here on Whalley New Road as anywhere. There are probably in the region of some sixty small shops along my route. Somewhere in the region of twenty of those outlets are either vacant, closed or up for sale as seen in the shops at Roe Lee.

This is clear evidence we’re not buying enough locally to sustain these businesses. Out-of-town retail parks, shopping on the Internet and the fact that we’ve become a throw-away society are all contributing to this change. Of the retail outlets remaining, the majority are, cooked food take-aways, hairdressers, nail bars or tanning salons. Chuck in a couple of newspaper shops and some second-hand shops and that’s your lot. Gone are the little hardware shops, motor factors, shoe shops, insurance brokers, cobblers, stationers etc. Even the off-licenses seem to be struggling.

The story isn't much better in Blackburn town centre. Retailers there complain about falling trade. The abolition of free parking is certainly a bone of contention with consumers and shopkeepers alike. Protest web sites have sprung up to campaign against the parking charges in Blackburn. It was reported in March that a website was running a protest this May. The council have now announced the re-introduction of limited free parking as reported in the Lancashire Telegraph a couple of weeks ago.

Even the Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council recommendations for a cycling strategy published in conjunction with Cycling England in November 2006 recognised a weakness in the parking facilities for cyclists: ‘Despite plans to remedy the situation, the current lack of secure long-term cycle parking facilities at many public and private destinations within the Borough prevails. This undoubtedly discourages people from cycling for utility trips which would involve leaving their bike for any length of time at a destination, e.g. for work, education, or shopping trips.’

None of this is news – the trend probably started back in the 1970’s. Recently though, it seems change is happening faster than at any time before. These pictures reaffirm it’s not happening for the better of local retailing. Time will tell if the well-intentioned changes help reverse these trends for the town centre but for these shops, there doesn’t appear to be much hope.

Making light work of it

Today it's out with the old, and in with the new.

Fill that hole

If like me, you find your journey consists of concentrating on traffic and avoiding holes in the road, you might like to know about a free service from the Cycle Touring Club (CTC) called 'Fill That Hole' (http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/). It takes care of notifying a local authority of any holey problem you come across. You just need to report the problem via their web site and they do the rest.

Of the 5964 holes on their hazard list, there are 4 in Blackburn. I had been cycling past this one for some time now and wondering what qualified this hole to be marked with white paint when the rest of the journey has many similar hazards and bumps to avoid. It is probably whether the hazard has been notified to the local authority so they have knowledge of the hole and it can go on a repairs list.

Blackburn with Darwen council website states:

"Safety inspections will be carried out in accordance with the relevant section of the Council’s network management policy and the Council's highway safety inspection procedure. "

"Our primary concern is the safety of those using the road network. For that reason, the findings of the safety inspections will be the principal driver for undertaking the appropriate methods of maintenance. More information about this is in the highway safety inspection procedure".

This hole was obviously in this phase. I took the picture on Monday and today it has been patched up. I also took this picture of what looked like a worse hazard at the bottom of Philips Road. That was alsoMonday. By Tuesday it had white paint round it. The inspector is more active than I anticipated. Hats off to Blackburn with Darwen there.

I look forward to seeing less white paint and smoother roads to cycle on. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime lets see if Blackburn with Darwen can keep the list of hazards on 'FillThatHole' below 0.135% of the total.

Bike Week 16th-24th June

Of course, you all new that, didn't you?
Blackburn with Darwen are have a few events, the last one being tomorrow morning.

High drama en-route

Cue the sound of spurs chinking and the western music. Luckily no one was hurt in this incident but I was quite surprised when I discovered what had happened.
I saw a police car yesterday morning. I half thought it might be on the lookout for moving traffic violations or perhaps investigating the illegal felling of protected trees. The car was parked a couple of doors up from the house shown in this post. I thought no more of it. On the way home either it, or another one, was there. Obviously something happened, but what was not obvious, was what?
It turns out there was a shooting on Whalley New Road near Bastwell earlier on Monday morning. The BBC have details of the incident, which happened about four hours before I passed by.
Apparently six men have now been detained and it is thought the incident may have been gang related. The Lancashire Telegraph also covers the incident. I hope this is an isolated occurrence. I also hope the private ambulance and police car I saw nearby tonight were unconnected.