Rossendale Borough Council

Rossendale Borough Council is a local authority district council in the Lancashire area of north west England.

It was formed on 1st April 1974 as a result of the 1972 Local Government Act and consists of:

* The former Municipal Boroughs of Bacup, Haslingden & Rawtenstall
* One third of the former Urban District of Ramsbottom
* The former Urban District of Whitworth

The population of the borough was 65,652 at the time of the 2001 Census. [cite web |url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=277024&c=Rossendale&d=13&e=16&g=463797&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1209324679718&enc=1&dsFamilyId=75 |title=2001 Census: Census Area Statistics: Population: Area: Rossendale (Local Authority)|work=Neighbourhood Statistics | publisher=Office for National Statistics | accessdate=2008-04-27]

Tragedy

The district is internationally notable for the murder of Sophie Lancaster, a 20 year old British woman who was brutally attacked with her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, by a gang of youths while walking through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Rossendale in Lancashire on the night of 11 August 2007. Following the murder, residents called for improved security in the area but Rossendale Borough Council said park rangers would be too expensive. [ [http://www.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.uk/display.var.1645689.0.residents_call_for_park_patrols_after_womans_death.php "Residents call for park patrols after woman's death", "Lancashire Evening Telegraph", 27 August 2007] ]

A columnist for Times Online, commenting on the incident, noted "the park itself... a familiar, frowsy, urban wasteland, the subject of continual complaints from local residents that drunken yobs congregated there late at night, vandalising property and threatening people - but neither the police nor the local council were sufficiently concerned to do anything about it. Park wardens, the council said, were too expensive." [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article3646263.ece "We indulge yobs - and murdered Sophie Lancaster pays the price","Times Online", 30 March 2008] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.rossendale.gov.uk/site/index.php Official web site]