Chester Magistrates Court. A MAN caught riding an e-scooter in Chester while twice the drink-drive limit has appeared before magistrates in court today (Tuesday, May 25). Jake Nellany, 22, pleaded guilty to riding his friend s e-scooter in Chester on the night of May 5, while he was over the limit and while banned from driving. He also pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer. However, defence solicitor Marcus Johnstone said the pleas to the riding were under special reasons , on the basis of triviality . A special reasons hearing will take place later this year before District Judge Nicholas Sanders, which will rule on the merits of the defence case, with Nellany, of Ashburn Close, Barrow, to be sentenced later.
Currently Cllr Mark Townsend leads a minority Labour administration with 22 councillors. Ranged up against it are eight Liberal Democrats, six Conservatives, six Burnley and Padiham Independent Party councillors, two Greens and one Independent. With 15 wards up for election and 61 candidates from seven parties standing the campaign is turning out to be a real dogfight. Labour needs just one gain to form a majority able to implement its priorities of jobs and pandemic recovery but will really struggle to achieve this - and even hold on to the eight wards it is defending. The Liberal Democrats are confident of regaining the Coal Clough with Deerplay seat which went Labour when retiring councillor Bill Brindle defected and are eyeing an unlikely victory in Daneshouse and Stoneyholme.
Burnley political dogfight as divided borough goes to the polls thisislancashire.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thisislancashire.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A developer trying to bring 52 homes to a former cotton mill site has been told to go back to the drawing board.
Burnley Council refused a scheme by Mr M Payne for the former Walshaw Mill site on Talbot Street in Briercliffe, with one councillor labelling the scheme a ‘complete non-runner’. The application was a resubmission of a proposal for the demolition of the old cotton mill buildings that was refused by the council under delegated powers in May 2020. The proposals were for 34 three bedroom townhouses, 14 three bedroom semi-detached houses and two four bedroom houses. The majority of councillors voted against it followed the officer’s recommendation as it ‘would result in a degree of harm to the significance of the Harle Syke Conservation Area’.
A SENIOR Labour councillor has had to publicly apologise for a social media post which said ‘we must throw rocks at the Bastard Tories’. Marcus Johnstone’s regret was noted at a Burnley Council meeting tonight after he was found to have breached the authority’s code of conduct. The Rosegrove with Lowerhouse councillor had posted the comments on Facebook following the Conservatives December 2019 General Election victory. It prompted Conservative councillor Cosima Towneley to complain to the authority’s monitoring officer Lukman Patel. Last night his report was presented to Burnley Council’s Audit and Standards Committee. It said: “An allegation was made by Cllr Towneley that Cllr Johnstone had breached the Council’s Code of Conduct for Members in relation to comments he made on his Facebook account in the aftermath of the General Election.