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CATON PARISH PLAN GOES ONLINE
7/3/05: The Parish of Caton which includes, Caton, Littledale and Brookhouses are to embark on a Parish Plan. A consultation process will try to involve the community by getting their opinions first about the future development of these areas. There will be a public meeting for parish residents at the Victoria Institute on Saturday 19 March at 2pm with free refreshments and a bouncy castle.
You can read about the plan and enter your feedback at www.catonpp.co.uk

SPRING TREE PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION
7/3/05: To celebrate International Biodiversity Day on 22 May, Cllr Catriona Stamp has organised a photographic competition with a theme of 'Native British Trees'. Winners and runners-up will be exhibited in the Sultan Gallery for three weeks in May and June.
"I hope that this competition will inspire people to look out for good views of trees in March and April," said Catriona, "and to appreciate trees more.
"Of course, people who already have photos of trees, could use them as well. Please support me in this attempt to get a better press image for trees in our district.'
Entry is free, digital images will be welcomed, and there are separate sections for young people, adults and professional photographers. The closing date is 29th April.

HEALTH TRUSTS FACE £10 MILLION PAY CLAIM
6/3/05: 250 Furness General Hospital workers plan to sue the NHS for almost £10m in a sex discrimination case that affects Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust.
The North West Evening Mail reports that cleaners and ward managers, traditionally female roles, are thought to be earning between £3,000 and £10,000 less than men in equivalent roles.
They have all spoken to employment lawyer Stefan Cross, who is representing th workers on a "no-win, no-fee" basis, and are set to claim on average about £7,500 a year for the past five years - that means £37,500 each in back pay -- a total bill of £9.375m from 250 claimants.
Jon Lenney, human resources director of Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust told the Evening Mail: "The number of claims we've got in the system is 448. "I'm not going to speculate on the outcome. We have a significant job on our hands trying to deal with these claims."

GAS MAIN WORK TO CLOSE QUAY
4/3/05: Transco will be carrying out emergency work to a gas main this Sunday, 6 March. Lancaster City Council is therefore informing the public that St Georges Quay will be closed to traffic from a point 5m west of the westerly abutment of Carlisle Bridge to a point 5m east of the easterly abutment. A diversion will be in operation whilst the work is taking place.

COUNCIL TAX RATE RISE IS 4.8%
4/3/05: Local Council Tax is set to rise by 4.8% after being agreed at Wednesday's Council Meeting. Council tax bills for a typical Band D property in the Lancaster District are set to rise by 3% overall -- a weekly increase of 77 pence per household.
Lancaster City Councillors confirmed their earlier decision to set the City Council's net revenue budget at £19.459 million for the next financial year at Wednesday's Council meeting resulting in the 4.8% or £7.38 increase in the City's proportion of the overall council tax for the area.
This rise is equivalent to an extra 14p per week for most Band D properties. Only 13% of the overall council tax bill that the City Council collects relates to services provided by the City Council, but it enables it to fund a range of statutory services including refuse collection, housing, planning and environmental health, as well as a number of discretionary services such as tourism, arts and events, leisure and museum services.
Last year, the Council set itself a target of ensuring rises stayed below five per cent for at least the next three years and we are on track to meet these targets.
The Council says that hitting this year's target has involved stringent housekeeping and the cabinet has undertaken a full review of how the City Council's services are provided to deliver more efficient local services. Despite making cuts in some areas, the rise will mean the Council will be able invest significant funding into priority areas such as recycling, arrangements for taking on new licensing responsibilities, and developing new "customer contact centres" to improve our service to local people. (The customer care services will be funded through central government funds earmarked for Information Technology development by the Council).
As a result of the rise, £186,000 in 2005/6 and £270,000 thereafter will be spent on a further expansion of the house-to-house recycling scheme, enlarging it to cover 30,000 households. The expansion means the Lancaster and Morecambe area will be well on its way to exceeding a government imposed recycling target of 18 per cent for 2005-6 -- (almost a fifth) of all district waste.
"'This is a good budget," feels Cabinet Leader Coun Ian Barker, "as it keeps increases in council tax down and yet provides for improvements in priority services and an ambitious regeneration programme. At the same time, we are improving the Council's finances, as the Audit Commission recently recognised, so we can sustain these improvements into the future. In a years time our customer service centres will be delivering improved services to all residents and we will be beginning to see changes on the ground in Lancaster and Morecambe as a result of the huge investment in Luneside and the West End."
Leaflets offering further information about the new council tax rates for 2005/06 and how to claim council tax benefit will be sent to all households in the Lancaster district shortly.

INVESTMENT IN THE AREA ON THE INCREASE?
4/3/05: The City Council has successfully attracted millions of pounds of external funding to help it deliver projects to benefit the local area in the past year, including in principle commitments of £15 million towards the regeneration of the West End of Morecambe; and £60 million of public and private investment for the creation of an urban village at the far end of St George's Quay in Lancaster. The Council is still working to secure a £10 million investment in the development of sea defences for Morecambe and many other projects, including the regeneration of Lancaster's Storey Institute.

TOP MARKS FOR SURE START
4/3/05: Britain's Paymaster General had high praise for Lancaster's Sure Start programme when she visited Lancaster yesterday (Thursday).
Based in Skerton, the Sure Start programme offers a wide range of services that support parents and children before and from birth in North Lancaster.
"The North Lancaster Sure Start programme provides a range of support services to parents and a number of innovative children's groups," Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo commented, "which aim to improve their social and educational development as well as their health.
"By working with parents from before the child is born the staff are able to build excellent ties with the community and form a foundation for future success."
Lancaster's programme is one of 524 such local programmes now operational nationwide, helping up to 400,000 children living in disadvantaged areas. A new Children's Centre is currently being built in Ryelands Park as part of the programme.
"The new Centre should provide an excellent environment for children and contribute to the ongoing success of the programme," felt Dawn, who, in addition to being the Treasury Minister with strategic oversight of taxation as a whole has responsibility for Treasury interest in childcare issues.

MOVIE MANIA AT LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL 2005
4/3/05: Lancaster City Council's Leisure Services is once again organising the Lancaster and Morecambe Children's Festival 2005 -- and the silver screen is the theme to this year's event.
Children aged four and above will have the opportunity to participate experience some 'Movie Mania' in a wide variety of workshops during the Festival which runs from 21 march to 1 April, at various venues across the district. These include a Movie star Makeover, or the chance to change your look with the Special FX. Become an Arch Villain or a Super Hero, or try your hand at the Puppet Premier. Learn to make your own soundtrack, or what about some Vj-ing?
The Festival also offers the chance to make your own film, meet the Giant Movie Monsters or be silent at the Theatre of silent Movies. So whatever interests you, it will be great fun with all the Lights, Image, Reaction.
Brochures giving full details and cost of the festival programme, including booking forms, are available now from Leisure Services, Town Hall, Morecambe, LA4 5AF, Tel. 01524 582834/ 582806 or leisureservices@lancaster.gov.uk.
Places are strictly limited so you're advised book early to avoid disappointment.

BOWERHAM RESIDENTS REJECT PARKING SCHEME
4/3/05: The Council has dropped proposals for a residents' parking scheme to be introduced in the area around St Martin's College after Bowerham residents who responded to a Council questionnaire survey have said they did not want it.
Some 471 of the 1500 residents sent the survey responded, of which 336 voted against the scheme and 135 for it.
"The aim of residents' parking schemes is to provide residents of streets affected by commuter parking with more opportunity to park close to their homes," said Coun Janice Hanson, "But the City Council will only introduce residents parking schemes where they are supported by residents.
"The responses to the consultation suggest that residents in the Bowerham area do not think that a parking scheme of this kind is the way forward, so the proposal will not progress any further.
"We are investigating other ways of relieving parking problems within the Bowerham area, and these studies will be ongoing."
The Bowerham project is part of a rolling programme of consultation on parking schemes across the District. Eight areas have been identified from residents' requests and have been prioritised by Cabinet. Consultation is ongoing in Lune Street area (where commuters park and then walk into town across the Millennium Bridge), the Poulton area and Moorlands area. Consultation has yet to commence in Dallas Road area, Fairfield area, South Road/ Meadowside area and Morecambe West End.

CHEMICAL LORRY CRASH ON M6
1/3/05: Five people, including two police officers, were taken to hospital following a crash on the M6 motorway which meant the M6 north was shut between junctions 33 and 34, creating five mile tailbacks and bringing Lancaster traffic to a virtual standstill.
BBC News reported two drivers were hurt after a lorry carrying chemicals hit the central barrier at junction 33 near Lancaster causing a second lorry to crash.
A fire officer and two police officers were treated at hospital after cleaning up formaldehyde and methanol on the road after the crash.
The chemical spillage was the second on the M6 in a matter of days. Last week the motorway was closed for 15 hours between junctions 15 and 16 in Staffordshire after a fatal crash involving a chemical container lorry.

LANCASTER PARTNERS WITH INDIA
1/3/05: The Times of India reports that Paul Wellings, the vice chancellor of Lancaster University was recently in the India on a brief visit. During his visit a memorandum-of-understanding was signed between the Lancaster University and Jawaharlal Nehru University for conducting joint research in social sciences.
Lancaster University has recently entered into partnerships to offer joint-degree programmes with Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and collaborative degrees and joint research agreement in life sciences with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).

LANCASTER SAYS 'GIVE UP' ON 'NO SMOKING DAY'
1/3/05: Lancaster City Council and Smoke Free Morecambe Bay are running a display in Marketgate on Wednesday 9th March -- 'No Smoking Day' -- to make the public more aware of the dangers of Smoking.
The display is also being held in the Arndale Centre, Morecambe on Friday 11th March.
In an attempt to encourage even more people to give up smoking, there's a chance to win a £200 voucher by entering a simple multiple choice competition, valid at a leading high street travel agents to pay for or put towards a choice of holiday
Smoke analysing equipment will be on the stand to determine how much carbon monoxide (an ingredient of tobacco smoke) you have in your blood, and there will be advice from health professionals on smoking cessation, how to make premises smoke free, the new Smoke Free Morecambe Bay Award etc.
• For those who cannot attend one of the two events, the competition is available on the City Council web site: www.lancaster.gov.uk/Content.asp?id=SXEOE3-A7803AC7

FOLLY'S BEST ON SHOW
1/3/05: An eclectic mix of art styles and subject matter can be seen in the new members exhibition at Folly, which opens this Friday 4 March.
The works include photography, video and interactive new media works and has given members the chance to have their work displayed as part of the main programme and includes work by artists from around the North and North West including Lancaster and Morecambe.
"One of Folly's key aims is to celebrate and to raise the profile of media arts practitioners and to enhance the region's cultural experiences", explains Folly Director Taylor Nuttall.
"The Folly Members exhibition is a real opportunity for any one of our 60 members to have their work seen, to meet other media arts practitioners from within and out of the region and to contribute to Folly's growing profile. Building on last years successful exhibition, we are delighted that 75 per cent of those selected to be shown at this years exhibition are artists that represent Lancashire and Cumbria".
Photographic and image based work will be shown by Emily Campbell, Nigel Grimmer, Stuart Royse, Carolyn Walker, Doris Rohr, Keith Beven, David Dennison, Corinne Silva and Paul Floyd Blake. Anthony Padgett, Tom Lloyd, Chris Nelson, Di Clay, Debby Akam and Kit Abramson will provide video, Film and New Media work.
Image: Peggy Howley photographed by Corinne Silva

ELECTION DATE SET
1/3/05: Lancashire County Council elections will be held in two months time, on 5 May 2005.
These will be the first elections to be held on the new County Council divisions. There are now 10 Divisions within the Lancaster City Council area, with one councillor to be elected for each division.
Residents of the District should contact the Elections Office at Lancaster Town Hall if they are not yet on the electoral register. To be able to vote at the elections on 5 May 2005 applications must be received by 11 March.
If residents wish to vote by post at these elections new applications must be made by 5.00pm on 26 April, and alterations to existing postal vote applications can be made up to 5pm on 19 April.
Contact the Elections Office for any queries on registering or voting, on 01524 582905.
People wishing to stand as candidates in the Lancaster City Council area of the County may obtain nomination papers from Lancaster Town Hall from 4 March. Nomination papers may be returned to Lancaster Town Hall between 31 March and 12 Noon on 7 April.
The point of contact within the City Council for election queries will be Claire Wardle - telephone 01524 582058 or email cwardle@lancaster.gov.uk

NORTH WEST MARINE LIFE UNDER THREAT
1/3/05: A new government report indicates climate change and global warming are having an adverse effect on marine life -- including life in Morecambe Bay.
Although there is some good news from the "Charting Progress" report -- much of the open sea is not affected by pollution and levels of monitored contaminants are starting to decrease -- in some areas fishing, industrial activities, diffuse pollution and the invasion of non native species seem to be having an effect.
In Morecambe Bay, levels of mercury found in fish were found to be lower in 2002 than previous years -- but still above the natural background levels.
The report, which provides the first integrated assessment across the entire UK Continental Shelf of the various impact of human activities in the marine environment and how the ecosystem elements respond also indicates that rising sea temperatures and increased acidification caused by climate change are also contributing.
In the North West, the Irish Sea is the most enclosed of all the marine regions and has the major conurbations of Merseyside and Greater Manchester on its shores. The region contains a wide variety of habitats worthy of protection.
The report reveals that between 1960 and 1990, wave heights and sea temperatures have risen, and salinity decreased. Commercial landings of fish are substantially below the levels achieved in the past though herring have shown signs of recovery. The quality of bathing waters has improved substantially since 1990 -- but is still below satisfactory levels.
The extent to which this mixed evidence is having an effect is not fully clear. Existing monitoring programmes are inadequate to assess the status of some elements of our marine ecosystem.
The writers of the report say monitoring should be improved, developing a series of indicators to measure the health of our marine ecosystem, co-ordinate monitoring data and increase research in areas where there are gaps in our knowledge. It also proposes the establishment of a Marine Data & Information Partnership that will establish a national data framework, to help develop a better understanding of how climate change affects the marine environment and finally establish a more holistic management approach to the marine ecosystem.
" Today's report suggests that asking new questions of our marine environment requires a new approach," says Environment Minister Elliot Morley. "This new approach will hopefully give us the answers we are looking for and help us plan for the long term. But what I can say with some certainty is that we are having an adverse effect on our marine life and climate change is clearly evident in our seas."
Charting Progress: An Integrated Assessment of the State of UK Seas - is available from Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX, telephone 08459 556000, Email: defra@iforce.group.com (reference PB9911). It can also be accessed through the website: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/marine/index.htm

Protestors against 02's phone mast 'greet' the planning appeals inspector last Wednesday. Picture: www.notoo2.com

02 PHONE MASTS -- MORE TO COME?
1/3/05: Far from taking down the existing phone mast erected on Slyne Road without planning permission, mobile phone giant 02 has revealed it plans to put up even more!
02 erected a phone mast without planning permission beside Kitchen Design with the agreement of company owners Pentland earlier this year, even though the council refused them permission to erect two flagpoles on the building. (02 did not mention the flagpoles would be disgusied phone masts in their original application).
Now 02 has told campaigners that rather than replace the mast moved away from both and replacing it with the previously proposed two flagpole masts, it now appears that mmO2 will leave the existing 900MHz two aerial mast in place -- and wish to add two G3 2.1GHz masts as well.
"This will, if allowed, leave Ellwood Hall looking like a sailing ship of old," says local resident Tim Churchill, "as we already have the Hutchison G3 mast on the front of the building."
The campaign now has a a web site -- www.notoo2.com -- "Consider," says Tim, "If they build the Northern ByPass, that will be lined by masts as well."

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