Ribble Valley

For the parliamentary constituency, see Ribble Valley (UK Parliament constituency).
Borough of Ribble Valley
Borough

Ribble Valley shown within Lancashire and England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
Region North West England
Ceremonial county Lancashire
Admin. HQ Clitheroe
Government
 • Type Ribble Valley Borough Council
 • Leadership: Alternative - Sec.31
 • Executive: Conservative
 • MPs: Nigel Evans
Area
 • Total 225.2 sq mi (583.2 km2)
Area rank 75th
Population (mid-2014 est.)
 • Total 58,091
 • Rank Ranked 313th
 • Density 260/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zone Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) British Summer Time (UTC+1)
ONS code 30UL (ONS)
E07000124 (GSS)
Ethnicity 95.8% White
2.5% S. Asian[1]
Website ribblevalley.gov.uk

Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132.[2] Its council is based in Clitheroe. Other places include Whalley, Longridge and Ribchester. The area is so called due to the River Ribble which flows in its final stages towards its estuary near Preston. The area is popular with tourists who enjoy the area's natural unspoilt beauty, much of which lies within the Forest of Bowland.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Clitheroe, Longridge urban district, Clitheroe Rural District, part of Blackburn Rural District, part of Burnley Rural District, and part of Preston Rural District, as well as the Bowland Rural District from the West Riding of Yorkshire, hence the addition of the Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York on the council's coat of arms.

Politics

Elections to the borough council are held every four years, with all of the 40 seats on the council being filled at each election. After being under no overall control for a number of years, the Conservative party gained a majority at the 2003 election, when boundary changes saw the number of councillors increase by one.

Following the United Kingdom local elections, 2011 and subsequent by-elections,[3][4] the political composition of Ribble Valley Borough Council is as follows:

Year Conservative Liberal Democrat Independent
2013 33 6 1

Education

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Independent schools

Sport

Local radio

Community radio

Ribble Valley Radio was a community radio station based in Clitheroe, part of the new, third sector of local radio licensed by OFCOM.[5] The project was launched in September 2004. The radio station helped 6 local residents into paid work within the radio sector in just 3 years and trained over 100 volunteers to present and produce their own radio shows. The project was not supported by the Borough Council, which caused controversy in the area and local newspaper the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times' held a poll which returned the result that 94% agreed that the Ribble Valley Borough Council were wrong not to fund the project and assist its long term success. Many letters[6] appeared in support of the project and damning the "short sighted" decision of the council. The whole episode brought excellent publicity and boosted the radio station's listening figures by 400%.

MP Nigel Evans was a staunch supporter and tabled an Early Day Motion at Parliament EDM 979[7] calling for "better resources and funding" for Ribble Valley Radio and the new and emerging sector.

However Ribble Valley Radio closed down on 14 October 2007. The radio station closed as it was unable to gain sufficient funding to apply for a licence.[8]

A new group, known as Ribble FM, was formed in 2011 with the aim of applying for a community radio licence in the third round of licensing by Ofcom. Ribble FM was set up by The Bee founder Roy Martin and includes local directors and trustees.

Neighbouring districts

 City of Lancaster Craven Craven
Wyre

City of Preston		 Pendle
   Ribble Valley  
South Ribble Blackburn                      
with Darwen       Hyndburn		 Burnley

Settlements

Civil parishes

Ribble Valley parishes

Economy

Although Ribble Valley is the largest area of Lancashire, it also has the smallest population. The economy of Ribble Valley is mainly rural in nature, with a high proportion of jobs being in the private sector, due to BAE there is a bigger sway towards manufacturing jobs and less of a service economy when compared to the rest of Lancashire presumably due to the size of the authority and the dispersed nature of settlements. The authority also has the highest proportion of people in Lancashire that work from home. [9]

Notable Businesses

References

  1. ↑ Neighbourhood Statistics: Ribble Valley
  2. ↑ "Non-Metropolitan district population 2011". Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/downloads/file/7794/result_of_poll_salthill_ward_of_ribble_valley_borough_council
  4. ↑ http://www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/info/200221/elections/1457/littlemoor_ward_byelection
  5. ↑ http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ ofcom.org.uk
  6. ↑ http://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/clitheroe-letters?articleid=2863507 clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk
  7. ↑ http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=32699&SESSION=885 edmi.parliament.uk
  8. ↑ Radio station closes due to funding problems
  9. ↑ "District Profile - Ribble Valley". Lancashire County Council.
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