Liberal Democrats in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Rossendale

Blackburn Council announced £1m extra for road repairs in July last year. They have now admitted they can only spend half this money. When questioned by Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr David Foster Labour Cllr Dave Harling said that though they announced it in July they did not get round to formally approving it until months later. Cllr Foster said, " This shows that despite the poor state of the roads the Labour Council failed to get their act together quick enough to actually do the job. It highlights the incompetence of this Labour Council."

Public opinion may be converging around a fusion of economic competence and social justice - in Lib Dem eyes, their natural territory. The current Lib Dem positioning of themselves as more economically competent than Labour but more socially just than the Tories is classic centre-ground politics.

The Lib Dem experience of government is undoubtedly traumatic. But it is a widely underestimated achievement, especially in such tough times. The result is that the Lib Dems are not just battle scarred but battle hardened. They have been through the fire - and survived. Now they are beginning to think about how to give themselves a chance to govern again. It would be rash indeed to assume they will not do so

The Agenda can be downloaded here

The Agenda is available here.

Individual reports can be accessed here

This is the concert postponed from 4 Feb details here.

Book at the Box Office (01254) 706006

Free insulation for homes in Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn with Darwen Council is offering its residents free home insulation.

A deal has been struck with HIS Energy Ltd and a major energy provider to install FREE cavity wall and loft insulation in most homes across the borough. However, this offer is time limited and we would recommend you take advantage of it now.

The National Spring Conference.

For details of how to register are here.

The Conference Agenda is here

Labour run Blackburn with Darwen Council have been condemned for failing to spend £500,000 on much needed road repairs. Lib Dem Leader Cllr. David Foster said, "The Labour Leader announced in a blaze of publicity last July that they were going to spend an extra £1 million on repaiting potholes. Now we find that they have not been able to spend all of this money. In fact they have only spent half of it. There are roads in every part of our borough that are in desparate need of repair but this council has not been able to do them. They complain of budget cuts but when they have the money they are not competent enough to spend it."

The biggest drive to encourage firms to take on apprentices is due to begin, with more than 500 events across the UK and pledges of hundreds of new training places.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said the Government was prioritising investment in apprenticeships, leading to record numbers of places combined with tough new standards to drive up quality.

Today (6 Feb) sees the opening of Blackburn with Darwen's Youth Zone. It will be opened this afternoon by Prince Edward. It is a state of the art Youth Centre The centre should be fully open in April and will be holding a series of "soft openings" to test the facilities during March. Check out what is on here. The Youth Zone was the brainchild of the previous administration when the Liberal Democrats shared control with the Conservatives.