Lancashire County Council plans to tidy up the surroundings of the area’s war memorials to ensure the commemorative locations are looking their best in time for this year’s remembrance season.
The authority’s cabinet has approved the work in the vicinity of up to 80 sites across Lancashire.
The county council does not have a duty to undertake the clean-up operations it will be carrying out, but leader Stephen Atkinson told the cabinet meeting at which the £75,000 project was given the green light that it was it was a way of helping to “foster civic pride and improve the quality of our shared spaces”.
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A report to cabinet members noted that responsibility for the cleanliness of the public realm lay with district councils – and both they and the parish councils that may also play a part in the upkeep of war memorials will be consulted over any works to be carried out by the Reform UK-run county authority in order to co-ordinate efforts and avoid duplication.
Two-person teams of county council staff will be deployed to visit each site for up to half a day to tidy and clear the setting of the memorials. The structures themselves will not be cleaned in order to “respect ownership boundaries”, the report explained.
County Cllr Atkinson said: “Clean, safe and dignified environments not only honour our heritage, but also strengthen community cohesion and wellbeing.
“These sites are significant locations where wreaths will be laid during remembrance ceremonies…[and] our teams will ensure the surrounding areas are respectful and dignified.
“The initiative is about getting the little things right, making small but meaningful improvements that help residents feel proud of where they live.”
The authority will have to obtain permission to work on any land not within the highway boundary or not otherwise owned by the county council.
Green Party group leader Gina Dowding – who is also deputy leader of the Progressive Lancashire official opposition group – welcomed the war memorial project, but said the biggest issue residents raised with her about Lancashire’s public spaces was litter.
She said that the county council was responsible for dealing with the rubbish that is “strewn along” some of the main routes in the county – and called for that problem to be tackled in conjunction with an ongoing programme of roadsign cleaning that is being undertaken
County Cllr Atkinson said agreements with the district councils over verge cleaning “haven’t always been as successful as they could [be]” – and would be looked into.
He added that the sign cleaning work – which has so far seen almost 4,200 roadsigns cleaned up – had made “a visible difference” along more than 90 miles of the Lancashire highway network.
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