The News Archive

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• Interviews
• Local Issues: Development - Environment - Transport
• Politics • Society

INTERVIEWS
• Meet Mark Steele
May 2006: Comedian and author Mark Steel muses on stand-up, comedy and the French Revolution with James Rampton...

LOCAL ISSUES
Lancaster Development
• The Canal Corridor
Ongoing Updates: A guide to this development project being developed by the Council and preferred parter Centros Miller, and concerns about it

• Lancaster Market
Last updated: 6/5/03, John Freeman outlines some of the problems facing Lancaster Market

• The Storey so far
Last updated 2/6/04: Concern about plans to turn one of Lancaster's prized buildings, the Storey Institute, into what some have called an "arts factory"

Past Lancaster Development Issues
• Aerial and Phone Masts
Last updated May 2002: An article on aerials and phone masts

• The Crypt
Last Updated 02/05: Report on the closure of Lancaster's last independent night club

• Lancaster University
Last updated: 29/9/02: Steve Booth outlines some of the issues resulting from the Univeristy's continued spread

• The Musician's Co-op
Now declared safe by current developers Centros Miller and the Council (although currently the outline plans mean it will be moved to a new building beside a busy road, which might play havoc with recording studios), this article outlines why it's such a valauable community resource. We also ran an article on changes in music licesing laws.

• Skate Parks
Posted 2003: Lancaster and Carnforth now have skate parks. Here, skateboarder Matt Canty outlines why they're needed

• Whinney Carr
Local action put paid to this monstrous housing proposal

Morecambe Development
• The West End
Last updated 5/1/05: West End resident Chas Ambler has condemned the projected 'regeneration' plan for the West End of Morecambe, which he says will will turn the area into a dormitory for Lancaster and points South, with no economic life of its own.

• Comments on Local Development
An archive of some comments: if you want to comment on any local issue or VL news story, please use the forum

ENVIRONMENT
• Explore the Eco House
Could an eco house be built in Lancaster? By Ken Walton

• Heysham Power Station

• Jet Skis on the Lune
Last updated Updated 15 March 2006: Local bird watchers are up in arms over the environmental damage they say jet skis are causing

• Litter
Ongoing updates: We all hate it. What's the Council doing about it? Plus: your Grot Spots identified

TRANSPORT
Plans for a bypass of Lancaster were first mooted before the war. Civil Servants dust down the same tired old ideas once in a while and despite a resounding "NO" they just don't seem to listen. Traffic problems are bad in Lancaster, but there are cheaper ways to deal with them than a £100 milliion pound road through some of the area's most beautiful country side.
Clearly convinced their current Northern Route plans will be easiest to push through the County Council has been flabbergasted to find they reckoned without the angry residents of Torrisholme...

• The Northern Bypass
Why only big business and short-sighted local policiticans (many of whom said this road was a bad idea in the past) want this "link road" which will blight Torrisholme, Skerton and lay waste to a swathe of local countryside.

• M6 Congestion

Past Transport Issues
• Car Sharing
• Critical Mass
• Queen Street Bus Stop
• The Western Bypass
It's as dead as a dodo. For now.
• Rail Travel: 2001 Snapshot
The 2001 Winter Rail Timetable introduced a timetable which meant you couldn't leave Lancaster by rail until 3.00pm, breaking rail guidelines.

POLITICS
• Arms and the Man
Lancaster MP Ben Wallace's connections with the arms trade
• General Election 2005
• 2003 Local Election Results
• 2001 Local Election Results

SOCIETY
• Keeping the peace
Information on local peace groups. See also LDWA page and the Peace and Civil Rights Campaign page

• Nursing Care
Life in a Lancaster Area Nursing Home for the Elderly

Past Reports
• AIDS Day 2003
A comment on the woeful lack of support for World AIDS Day in the local area
• Holocaust Day 2005
• The Warehouse Raid
First posted 12/6/01 by Paul Wilkinson: The story behind the infamous raid on a small local night club. A seedy tale that to this day still leaves many questions unanswered about police conduct.
We never received a reply from former Hilton Dawson MP to our requests for a comment about police refusal to let a woman having an asthma attack have her inhaler. Meanwhile, Dr Ruth Henig, Labour County Councillor and Chairman of the Association of Police Authorities apparently thinks it's ok for the police to behave abusively to the general public because other people take drugs...
Jonathon Sear, Green County Councillor for Lancaster City appears to be the one local politician who doesn't think that the electorate are expendable fodder for the police to act out their frustrations on. In a reply to this site and a letter to the Citizen newspaper, he voiced his concerns about the Warehouse debacle and promised to arrange a meeting with the Divisional Commander to discuss the issues it has raised.
If there are matters you would like raised that haven't yet been covered in the local media you can cpwrenw@care4free.net.about.them

NEWS ARCHIVE
This section includes all our earlier news stories, written by a large number of people with the help of many more. Thanks to all our contributors!

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NEWS RESOURCES

• Lancaster News Media
• National News Media