A question of identity

IT'S a question people field every year when they go on holiday, be it abroad or in Britain. "So what part of Lancashire do you come from then?"

Do people from Nelson say they are from Pendle? Do folk from Bacup say Rossendale? And do residents in Rishton say Hyndburn?

People have had 25 years to get used to their new identities since a massive local government shake-up brought the six districts of East Lancashire into being on April 1, 1974. Before then, each town, and many villages, had their own small councils providing services for the people of their areas.

Some people fondly look back on the days of urban districts such as Trawden, Longridge, Padiham and Church and municipal boroughs such as Nelson, Clitheroe, Bacup and Haslingden. But has local identity suffered since each of those places were incorporated into the larger districts we now pay our council taxes too?

MARGARET ARNOLD MBE served on the former Brierfield Urban District Council between 1964 and 1974 before becoming a Pendle councillor for two years. She said: "In the end I resigned, because I was not interested in what was going on in places like Barnoldswick. I am from Brierfield and I joined the council to serve Brierfield. These new boroughs are too big and cannot keep in touch with the people the same as the smaller councils did."

COUN JOHN GREENWOOD was the last chairman of Padiham Urban District Council before it was absorbed into Burnley Borough Council in 1974, and he retires from the Burnley authority in May after 25 years service. He said: "There were a lot of arguments at the time about Padiham coming under Burnley.

"I still get people coming to me on the street and saying it was better when Padiham had its own council and it has taken a long time for people to accept the present situation."

JOHN B TAYLOR, a historian, believes the name of Rossendale was well chosen for his area. He said: "Rossendale has been an area since mediaeval times and people always associated with the valley. Of course the people who drew the lines on the maps in 1974 did not keep strictly to local identity and geography and Whitworth was never thought of as part of Rossendale. "And people from Ramsbottom were always thought of as being from the Valley, but it was decided by the authorities in 1974 that Ramsbottom should come under Bury. But deep down, most people in Rawtenstall, Bacup and Haslingden have a liking for the Valley and I am pleased that the name Rossendale, taken up on April 1, 1974, has, by and large, stuck."

Controversy raged for many years about Darwen's incorporation into Blackburn in the 1974 changeover, with some Darreners resenting the move. When the council achieved unitary status in 1998, the council was renamed to include Darwen. But there are other parts of the borough where local identity does not quite fit in with the lines drawn on the maps.

GEOFF HUGHES, the parish clerk of North Turton Parish Council, remembers the public meetings that were held in Belmont and Edgworth when the decisions were being taken in the lead-up to 1974. He said: "There was a strong feeling that people wanted to remain in Lancashire and not be in Greater Manchester. But I would estimate that 65 per cent of the people who live in the North Turton Parish have more of an affinity with Bolton than with Blackburn.

"The old Turton Urban District Council was the largest UDC in Britain and it incorporated Harwood, Egerton, Bradshaw and Bromley Cross, which now come under Bolton. The North Turton Parish still covers a large area and the people who live here do have a strong affinity with the area."

COUNCILLOR HARRY TOOTLE, who lives in Accrington and is also a local historian, says he would never dream of putting the word Hyndburn on a letter or telling somebody where he hailed from that he lived in Hyndburn. He said: "People would not necessarily know where Hyndburn is, whereas they would be more likely to know where Accrington is. "The towns in Hyndburn still have their own boundaries and their own identities and I can't ever see anybody saying they are from Hyndburn, although of course you can never tell what time will bring."

In some areas, though, there has been a limited shift back to power being devolved to smaller areas. Blackburn with Darwen Council was one of several authorities in the country to gain independence from a county council and many commentators see unitary councils as the future.

Meanwhile, in Pendle, an innovative method of local governance has seen a system whereby each area in the borough, Brierfield, Nelson, Colne, Barrowford and Barnoldswick, has been given its own council committee to make local decisions on issues in each patch.

COUN ALAN DAVIES, the leader of Pendle Council, says that the model used in Pendle fits in with the current government's drive for greater links between council's and people. "I am sure some of those links were lost in 1974 and our decision was a deliberate strategy to bring decisions as close to the people as it is possible to do," he said."

What do you think. Has the post 1974 system promised all it has delivered or did you prefer the smaller councils that had existed for years before? What memories do you have of urban and rural district council's and county boroughs? Write to: The Editor, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn, BB1 1HT.

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