Another pleasing sign is the number of children back at the school. Whilst perhaps not fully back to normal things are looking good. Discussions have been held to offer the school use of the Village Centre for meetings and other school related activities and this has been well received. The Centre has been cleaned and offers plenty of space to respect social distancing. One interview meeting has been held and two other events are planned.

This use by the school is bringing life back into the Village Centre and the Parish Council are now looking at returning our monthly meetings to the Centre. Our next meeting is on 3rd August and my personal hope is that we can be back in the Centre. Details will be given when the agenda is published.

Many people have noticed the shocking state of both Pasture Lane and Ridge Lane. The road surfaces were torn up by convoys of heavy agricultural vehicles transporting hay during the very hot weather in May and June. Something similar happened a few years ago and required substantial work. We have alerted the Highway Authority but quick action is unlikely!

You may have noticed that Whitehough Camp School is now being offered as a more general holiday site albeit on a limited basis. We have been discussing this with Barley Parish Council and neither Parish has been consulted. It is likely that this extension of the use requires planning permission which should allow for some control to be exercised but any significant increase in traffic on the access road would not be good.

The Parish Council have recently been consulted on a planning application to convert a barn on Blacko Bar Road to a house. The barn is on the left beyond North Farm towards the Blacko boundary. The reference number is 20/0398/ FUL and can be viewed on the Pendle Council website. The Parish Council will consider the application at the 3rd August meeting. If you have comments please contact Mary Reed.

Himalayan balsam is back with us although last year clearance efforts seem to have reduced the number of plants this year. In limited numbers the plants are attractive and of value to pollinators but we need to keep up our efforts of control to prevent indiginous plants being overwhelmed.

In spite of the restrictions which have limited organised efforts many local people have been collecting litter and attending to planting throughout the village. As a result Roughlee is looking good! Let’s keep it that way and hope that things continue to improve.

— Andrew Walker – Chair, Roughlee Parish Council