Concerns about the house building in the Ribble Valley caused Clitheroe  Councillor Sue Hind to seek a  the Planning Minister Mr Kit Malthouse MP in the House of Commons to lobby for changes in policy. 

Sue Hind pictured with the Minister and Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans commented:- 

''Local Councillors throughout the country are concerned local authorities are obliged by government to build houses as part of the policy of building 300, 000 new homes a year to cater for increased population.The problem for us in Clitheroe as in every other part of the Ribble Valley is that the infrastructure lags behind the building of homes, which includes roads, school places, GP services, social services, leisure and shopping  As a council we ask developers for contributions but in my view we need to adopt a more robust policy in relation to infrastructure , which makes developers pay, attaching conditions to every planning consent requiring financial contributions to key services including highways, and make sure it is collected and spent in the Ribble Valley.  

'' Developers with their huge financial resources play games  with the local authorities and try to manipulate the system to their advantage. I pressed the minister to consider a policy of infrastructure first and and homes second. 

''I cited to him the example in Clitheroe of David Wilson Homes on the Wadddow View site in Waddington Road where the developers are wanting to build 50 houses before the necessary traffic improvements including a roundabout are built. We have sadly experienced the same problems with a roundabout on the A59 which has resulted in the closure of roads for 6 months and the building site traffic continues along with  disruption to the community.  

The minister agreed to take away the concerns shared by councillors all over the country and look at our particular problems in Clitheroe as an example. I shall be liasing with Nigel Evans MP  to keep pressure on government to review this policy.