TRIBUTES have poured in for a legendary former Barrow council leader who has died aged 76. Heartfelt tributes have been paid to the former Labour leader of Barrow Borough Council Jack Melling who died at his home in Barrow on Friday. Mr Melling was born in 1944 in Lostock Hall, Lancashire, and moved to Ulverston with his wife Rebecca in 1983. They relocated to Askam before settling in Barrow along with daughter Louise in 2001. The revered Labourite is remembered for delivering the longest-ever reply to a question when he was council leader in the 1980s. His response lasted for more than an hour and it is a record that still stands.
BREXIT has been blamed for an inability to immediately source repair parts following further failures with a £9 million home heating system in Greenock, a councillor claims. Colin Jackson says he was told by engineers assigned to fix problems associated with the Broomhill biomass boiler that the delay was down to complications arising from the UK leaving the European Union. Six-hundred properties at the River Clyde Homes housing scheme recently refurbished as part of an overall £30m regeneration programme are dependant on the system for heating and hot water. A number of residents have been left without either after their individual household heat exchanger units broke down.
Could you offer a young person the caring and supportive environment they need to progress? Cumbria County Council is searching for those who could offer short-term placements to those aged between 16-21 years old, who are lkeaving foster care and looking to live independently. By welcoming a young person into your home, you can provide emotional support and help them learn practical skills they will need for adult life. All you need is a spare room and a safe, supportive environment, along with the time to teach them simple life skills such as budgeting, learning to cook and do housework, attending appointments and building confidence.
Frustrated parents will have to wait two more months to find out how school places will be allocated if catchment areas change. After two years of campaigning to get rural schools into dual-catchment areas in the county, parents were told that a final decision will be put off until February for further scrutiny. Cllr Sue Sanderson, Cabinet Member for Schools and Learning, is concerned that any changes made to the current single-catchment area policy must be made before the legal deadline. She said: “I totally understand why parents think it’s unfair if they cannot get their first and second-choice places.
A £5M project which will see the creation of two brand new specialist schools in Cumbria is now set to get underway. Cumbria County Council s cabinet yesterday gave its assent to the awarding of a construction contract for the creation of the two schools, in Carlisle and Barrow. The alternative provision schools, to be built by contractors Roland Hill, will cater to young people who, for academic, social, emotional or mental health reasons, do not thrive in a mainstream school setting. The school set to be built in Carlisle will be housed at the bottom of Edgehill Road in Harraby, on the site most recently used as a car park for Newman School prior to its relocation in September.