Covid scheme fraudster's 10-year-ban
Covid scheme fraudster's 10-year-ban
Plus: PC's secret caddying job and calls to remove two-child-cap
Hello and welcome to the 64th edition of The Lancashire Lead. We start by looking at work done by colleagues at The Lead’s national site as it published a special edition on the impact of the two child benefit cap - and called for it to be scrapped.
One mum-of-four affected by the cap, Sascha Walkden, explained how her family’s lives could be changed by the removal of the limit. The 29-year-old said she is regularly having to cut back on everyday items to cope with the cost of living. She explained:
"It's a struggle because everyday items are so expensive these days, especially the electricity bills.
"My youngest is on dairy free milk and the doctor won't prescribe this until he sees a dietician so we are having to pay for each tub - which is about £25 to £30 and they only last a week. We aren't entitled to any help for it.
"We have all had to make changes to help us get by, the children are asking to go to clubs and we can't afford them.
"Lifting the two-child benefit cap would mean a lot and means children can do the extra activity they want to do. And that we won't need to make the changes just so we can afford baby's milk."
Calls to scrap the limit have been backed by both of the town’s MPs, with Chris Webb explaining how his time volunteering at a food bank allowed him to see the “crisis” which is being experienced.
Giving her support, new Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Lorraine Beavers said:
“A significant number of children in my constituency are living in poverty, and I am determined that we must do more to support them.
"After 14 years of Tory under-investment, there are now over 4 million children in poverty across the country. Tackling this is an urgent issue and it is one that ministers in this Labour Government understand and are committed to addressing.
"The government has established a Child Poverty Taskforce to begin this work immediately. This unit will bring together experts from across government and external organisations to explore the most effective ways of addressing child poverty.
"I remain of the view that scrapping the two-child benefit limit is an essential part of this effort. I want residents to know that I will be monitoring the progress of this unit closely and will doing my part in Westminster to speak up for voters in Blackpool North and Fleetwood on this issue.”
In Tuesday’s edition, I reported on the impending misconduct hearing of former PC Cameron Lee Hanson who had already been jailed after videoing a dying man and sharing the recording with his wife. As expected, the panel ruled his actions amounted to gross misconduct and concluded he would have been sacked had he not already left the force. More importantly, he was banned for life from ever working for the police again.
This week will see another former officer go before the panel accused of gross misconduct. Ex-PC White, whose badge number was 3680, is accused of working as a van driver while off sick from his policing role and without having declared the role as a business interest.
When this occurred, he was also ordered to stop working as a golf caddy but is alleged to have continue to do so “in breach of the lawful order”. As a result, he accused of breaching standards relating to honesty and integrity, orders and instructions, duties and responsibilities, and discreditable conduct.
There’ll be more on that case in next weekend’s edition.
Another issue which I’ve covered in recent editions are proposals to close down the council-owned swimming pools in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale. After a heated full council meeting and the narrowest of votes, a consultation on the plans has now begun and can be seen here.
Justifying the apparent need for the closures, it states:
“The existing facilities at Nye Bevan and Park Pool centres are around 50 years old and at the end of their operational lives. The Council has been exploring options for the delivery of new Wellbeing and Leisure Hubs as part of the Council's commitment to foster inclusive and healthy communities whilst continuing to manage a resilient, financially strong Council.
“Historically both Nye Bevan and Park Pool have operated at a loss and been subsidised by the Council out of public funds. The operating costs continue to increase and are now at a level that the Council are unable to sustain long term without it adversely impacting on the delivery of other services.
“The buildings are in a poor condition and will need a large investment to keep them in use over the next few years. Due to the poor state of some of the infrastructure and equipment there is risk of failure in the near future should this investment not take place. Given the conditions of the buildings and the scale of investment required it would not be financially prudent to refurbish the buildings.
Staying in West Lancashire, an Ormskirk man has landed himself a 10 year ban from running any firm after being caught out abusing a scheme set up to help businesses survive the pandemic.
As businesses battled the devastating effects of trading lost during lockdown, the Government quickly launched the Bounce Back Loan (BBL) scheme to provide financial assistance. The idea was that companies could borrow up to £50k - with the available amount dependent on their impact.
The loans were backed by the government and came with no interest for a year, followed by a set rate of 2.5%. While the intentions were good, the system was not and the scheme faced rampant abuse as directors submitted false information to gain access to cash they were never eligible to.
In some cases, the money was immediately transferred to other firms or even personal accounts and in many, many cases the businesses collapsed with little to none of the money repaid.
Thomas Cross, 58, is the latest Lancashire man to be found cheating the scheme. According to the Insolvency Service, he submitted an application which fraudulently claimed Whitecross Associates Limited had turned over £225,000 in the financial year ending 2019. That meant it could receive the maximum £50k loan.
But one month before submitting that, Cross, of Rowan Close, had filed accounts for the same company which stated it was a dormant business and therefore not trading at all. In fact, the bank account used to receive the money had only been opened three days before the application was submitted.
The firm entered liquidation in 2022 with more than £30k of the ill-gotten money having not been repaid.
Over in East Lancashire, calamity struck as work to knock down a building in Blackburn town centre came to a crashing halt when a digger toppled over.
Bill Jacobs reports that the vehicle was among those working to remove the former Thwaites visitor centre on Penny Street. It became stuck in rubble before eventually falling onto its side. Thankfully no injuries or damage occurred.
One shopper said: “Looks like it got into a bit of trouble in the rubble. Hope whoever was in that is okay. I remember this building but if it was not being put to any use it may as well be knocked down.
“Hopefully it will be the start of some new buildings taking over here.”
Blackburn caught the attention of The Guardian this week as the national visited the town to see what residents thought of their new independent MP.
Adnan Hussain was elected in July in a surprise vote which saw Labour’s Kate Hollern lose her seat as the crisis in Gaza became a key issue. As Geneva Abdul and Robyn Vinter point out, the victory came by a margin of just 132 votes and was first time since the creation of the single member constituency in 1955 that Blackburn has not voted Labour.
Three months on, those who spoke with The Guardian appeared to have a cautious optimism about what the 34-year-old solicitor can do for the town. Ashfaq Hussain, a business owner and long-time Labour supporter, said:
“We are not expecting too many things from him, because he is an independent MP, but we’ll see. He’s a new person in politics so it’s going to take time, but I’m hoping for the best in the future.”
You can read the full article here.
For a while, wood burning stoves appeared to become the latest must have for anyone redecorating their homes. The log burners provide warmth and cosiness and theoretically seemed a sensible way to keep energy bills down.
But more and more research has since identified the damage caused by the burners, with serious impacts on the environment and the health of the people living with them.
Now, villagers in affluent Cliviger, on the outskirts of Burnley, could effectively be banned from using them to halt the impact caused by their fumes. Councillors want to extend the borough’s Smoke Control Order - which bans people and businesses from emit smoke from a chimney - to cover the village,
A report prepared for councillors explained:
“Currently most of the borough is covered by Smoke Control Orders, however there are some areas of new development outside the Smoke Control Area.
“These areas were not included when the orders were made in the 1960s and 1970s as at the time they were less densely populated.
“As residential developments have increased in these areas wood burning stoves have become more prevalent.
“Smoke Control Areas were first introduced under the Clean Air Acts 1956 and 1968 when smog from industrial and domestic burning of coal were thought to be causing hundreds of premature deaths.”
Councillors also agreed to join with Chorley Council and South Ribble Council to appoint a specialist consultant to review all three boroughs’ Smoke Control Orders together using a £11,710 environmental grant from the government.
There was yet another by-election this week and it was another loss for Labour as the Conservatives won in South Ribble’s Middleforth ward. The seat had been held entirely by Labour representatives since 2015 but Joan Witters - who also sits on Lancashire County Council - claimed it with 517 votes and a 46 percent share of the vote.
As is so often the case in these by-elections, the vote was decided with a very small turnout (around 20%) but the victory was greeted with no less joy by the Tories. Cllr Witter the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that pensioners were “just so angry” about the Labour government’s decision to remove the winter fuel allowance from all but the poorest amongst them.
“There are people who said they had applied for pension credit [which would entitle them to continue receiving the annual fuel payment] and they were just £5 or so over the threshold – they are frightened and feel let down.
“But also, as part of Middleforth ward is in my county division, I’d like to think people [know] that when they have emailed me, I have answered and even come and knocked on their door – and that those [outside my division] have read my leaflet and thought, ‘It looks like she will work hard’.”
🚨 More than 20 homeless people have died in Preston in the past 16 months (Blog Preston).
🚧 A former village pub and restaurant is set to be converted into homes (Burnley Express).
₿ A mourning teenager from Chorley was scammed out of thousands of pounds by a sick fraudster on social media (LancsLive).
🍕 Kind-hearted staff sent up pizza and colouring books to workmen who got stuck on a supermarket roof for hours (Beyond Radio).
🧑⚖️ A Polish native living in East Lancs has lost a lengthy extradition battle with a court in his home country over a £165,000 fraud conviction (Lancashire Telegraph).
🏰 Two people were arrested after around 200 people gathered for an illegal rave at a Liverpool Castle in Rivington (Lancashire Telegraph).
We finish today’s edition with a selection of What’s On stories which have caught my eye over the past week:
Boulevard Hotel in Blackpool wins three times at the World Luxury Hotel Awards
Preston’s Stanley Arms refurbishment planned with another new set of bosses lined up
Pub boss celebrates 20 years at the helm of popular Lancaster canalside venue
Riva Preston to close permanently after New Year’s Eve party
Biggest ever series of Christmas family events announced for Lancaster city centre
Thanks for reading the 64th edition of The Lancashire Lead. Your support is vital to enabling independent and investigative journalism across the county so if you haven’t already, please consider taking a paid subscription and in return you’ll get access to exclusive editions and features as well as the full archive. Please also share the newsletter so others can find it too.
