Local News

Parish Council Election 2024

 

Please use this link to view the results of the 2024 Parish Council Elections

 

New Defibrillator at Shore Road Pavilion

Residents of Shore Road and the surrounding streets will be pleased to learn that a new defibrillator has been installed in their area. The defibrillator has been kindly donated by the Douglas Cardiac Trust and has been installed on an outside wall of the changing pavilion located within the Parish Council Car Park beside All Saints CE Primary School at the bottom of Shore Road Recreation Ground.

The Douglas Cardiac Trust have been providing defibrillators at or near public buildings such as schools, church halls and community centres within Hesketh Bank, Tarleton and Banks for over twenty years and have now even started providing them at most large local employers. This latest installation on Shore Road brings the total provision in our area to almost fifty potentially life saving machines. A full list of these installations is available on the Parish Council website. You can view this here.

 

So what if you happen to be around someone who you think may be having a heart attack? Your first action should be to contact the ambulance service. They can access a national database of all registered defibrillators and will direct you to the nearest one to where you are calling from. Every defibrillator is equipped with clear easy to follow instructions on how to use it on a casualty. However, recognising that many people would worry about dealing with a casualty in what could be a life or death situation, the Parish Council is organising training In how to use a defibrillator in order to encourage people to approach this crucial situation with greater confidence.

 

If sufficient people are interested in attending this free training, it will be held on Thursday 25th January 2024 at Hesketh Bank Community Centre 

from 9.00 until 12.00. Please contact the Parish Clerk to register your interest by emailing Clerk@HeskethCouncil.uk

 

Consumer Alerts – Dec 2023

 

FLOODING IN HESKETH BANK

 

 

📢 Can you help? We are trying to keep a record of all the flooding in the Northern Parishes with a view to reporting this as collective data. If you spot or experience flooding in the area, please use this link to fill in the form. It only takes a minute and could help bring attention to the issues faced in Tarleton, Hesketh with Becconsall and North Meols. https://forms.gle/Hpc9vNgFpnRwAqBF8 (Please note, this is not an emergency service and no one will attend to the flooding as a result of completing this form. Any actionable flooding will need to be reported to the relevant bodies)

 

The risk of flooding has always been a problem for Hesketh Bank along with its neighbouring parishes of Tarleton, North Meols (more commonly known as Banks) and Rufford in the low lying area of West Lancashire known as The Northern Parishes.
In 2020, in response to several incidents of severe flooding, Rufford and Holmeswood Parish Councils agreed to participate in funding a Hydrological Survey of the local area in an effort to determine what could be done about the problem.
The latest major flooding event in our area in 2020 led to losses of many million pounds, when over 2500 acres of prime arable land were flooded, with destruction of horticultural and arable crops incurring losses in excess of £2.5m. In addition, many households located within these hotspots, suffered and continue to suffer during periods of excessive rainfall.
Against the backdrop of Climate Change challenges and increasing concern over the increasing frequency of flooding incidents locally, Hesketh Bank Parish Council, in conjunction with Tarleton, North Meols Parish Councils and members of our local farming community who led the initiative, commissioned and funded a further Hydrological Report using H Fraser Hydrology Consultants. The Parish Council established a Flooding Group who contributed to the briefing of the consultants.
The Northern Parishes Watercourse Management Review has now been published and can be accessed by following this link.
What Does The Report Mean For You – the report contains many recommendations, but key amongst them is that in order to maintain the free flow of drains, ditches, culverts and any form of water course, all property owners must ensure that nothing they may do might lead to the blocking of watercourses. This includes:- 
  • The dumping of rubbish or garden waste.
  • The deliberate filling in of any such drains
  • Ensuring that access to these waterways is always available in order to de-weed, clear and otherwise maintain them.
This isn’t only the right thing to do for the wider community – it is also a legal requirement for any Riparian (owner of land that is situated on the banks of a river or watercourse through which it flows). Please do your best to ensure these basic requirements are observed.
Since publishing the report, on the 2nd November 2023, The Rt Hon Mark Spencer MP (Minister Of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) along with local MPs Damien Moore and Katherine Fletcher, local Borough councillors and representatives from local Parish Councils, the Environment Agency, NFU and the local farming community, met at Guide Road in Hesketh Bank, to discuss the issues we are experiencing. The Northern Parishes Watercourse Review was presented to them and a copy was taken away by the Minister for consideration who committed to working with us to achieve an effective resolution.

NEW COUNCILLORs (Oct 2024)
Mrs Carol Andress of Sidney Avenue was voted onto the Council to fill an existing vacancy at the September meeting of the Parish Council and joins Ian Eccles of Boundary Lane who was elected in May 202
 

WEST LANCASHIRE LOCAL PLAN (January 2019)
At their meeting in December, the Parish Council, along with ten other West Lancashire Parish Councils, resolved to support the “CPRE“s objections to the proposed “Preferred Options” currently out to consultation. The deposition can be downloaded HERE.

 

BEST KEPT COMPETITION WINNERS ( 2024)
This year’s winners have been announced by Cllr Steve Kirby.

Best Kept Large Garden –
 – Richard & Irene Hodson – Marsh Road

Best Kept Small Garden –
Robin Johnson – 9a Becconsall Lane

Best Dressed Cottage

Cynthia & Dave Collister – May Cottage, 7 Meadow Lane

Best Kept Street 

The Nurseries

Community Space of the Year 

Hesketh Bank Christian Centre

 

CONTRACTS AWARDED (April 2021)
The Council has awarded Contracts for the three year period commencing April 2024 as follows :-
Grounds Maintenance                         Brian Parkinson Maintenance
Lengthsman Functions                        Brian Parkinson Maintenance
Quarterly Play Area Inspections          Yates Playgrounds Ltd
Annual Play Area Inspections              The Play Inspection Company
Newsletter Printing                              Banks Printers
Tree Safety Inspections                       Viking Tree Services
Wireless Internet  Provision                Black Box Ltd
CCTV Maintenance                             Black Box Ltd


In the Council’s quest to source local historical information, Chairman Paul Sergeant has been pleased to receive an original copy of the “Great Sale” of 1915 when the Hesketh Estate offered for sale some 2,590 acres of the village on the northerly side of the former West Lancashire Railway. Click on the “Library” link above to view a copy of the document. The photographs contained in the prospectus will be published on this site in due course; the complete original will be deposited with the Lancashire Records Office in due course.

 

….. Go to Top of the Page