''The Ribble Valley Borough Council has to decide if it wishes to protect the Recreation Ground in Longridge  from development and preserve it as playing field  by placing a covenant upon it  by deed, preventing its use for anything other than recreation.This will be decided at the next Community Committee of the Borough Council on Tuesday 22nd May 2018.''

''Both myself and the Mayor Councillor Stuart Carefoot  have met representatives of the former National Playing Fields Association  now  known  as Fields in Trust with a view to protecting the recreation ground. On going discussions are taking place between Fields in Trust and Council officials."

''My view which I shall urge upon the Council  and that shared by the Mayor is that the recreation ground should be protected and rededicated  to the 74 Longridge men who gave their lives in  the First World War on Remembrance Sunday, 11th November 2018, the 100 year anniversary of the end of the war, We propose a new plaque be put in place  and  should consider renaming the ground Centenary Fields."   

''Investigation of the origins of the purchase of the recreation ground has shown  that it bought as a memorial to those who died in the 1914-18 war. The plaque has long disappeared and the shelter built was vandalised and has been demolished. The deeds show the land was purchased from William and Albert Sanderson both Longridge butchers by the Urban District Council of Longridge with a loan from the Ministry of Health in May 1926, 8 years after the war ended. It is clear from the deeds that the Ministry must have approved the loan. Following local government reorganisation in 1974 and the creation of the Ribble Valley Borough Council the recreation ground was transferred  to RVBC.Other parts of the land were subject to a land swap between the Co-op and the Urban District Council in 1973.". 

"Attempts in the past by Booths supermarket and others to build upon it have been rejected following strong opposition from Longridge residents and the Longridge Town Council."

''By taking this action we can make sure the recreation ground will be preserved for the use of future generations.''