Ribble Valley

Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132.[2] Its council is based in Clitheroe. Other places include Whalley, Longridge and Ribchester. The area is so called due to the River Ribble which flows in its final stages towards its estuary near Preston. The area is popular with tourists who enjoy the area's natural unspoilt beauty, much of which lies within the Forest of Bowland.

This article is about the local government district. For the parliamentary constituency, see Ribble Valley (UK Parliament constituency). For the geographical valley, see River Ribble.
Borough of Ribble Valley
Borough
Ribble Valley shown within Lancashire and England
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionNorth West England
Ceremonial countyLancashire
Admin. HQClitheroe
Government
 • TypeRibble Valley Borough Council
 • Leadership:Alternative – Sec.31
 • Executive:Conservative
 • MPs:Nigel Evans
Area
 • Total225.2 sq mi (583.2 km2)
Area rank74th
Population
 (mid-2019 est.)
 • Total60,888
 • RankRanked 304th
 • Density270/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zoneUTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code30UL (ONS)
E07000124 (GSS)
Ethnicity95.8% White
2.5% S. Asian[1]
Websiteribblevalley.gov.uk

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Clitheroe, Longridge urban district, Clitheroe Rural District, part of Blackburn Rural District, part of Burnley Rural District, and part of Preston Rural District, as well as the Bowland Rural District from the West Riding of Yorkshire, hence the addition of the Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York on the council's coat of arms.

Governance

Elections to the borough council are held every four years, with all of the 40 seats on the council being filled at each election. After being under no overall control for a number of years, the Conservative party gained a majority at the 2003 election, when boundary changes saw the number of councillors increase by one.

Following the 2011 United Kingdom local elections and subsequent by-elections,[3][4] the political composition of Ribble Valley Borough Council is as follows:

YearConservativeLiberal DemocratIndependent
20133361

Education

State-funded schools

Primary

See List of schools in Lancashire § Ribble Valley

Secondary

Specialist
  • Hillside Specialist School, Longridge

Independent schools

Adult education

Sport
  • Clitheroe FC

Local radio

Community radio

Ribble Valley Radio was a community radio station based in Clitheroe, part of the new, third sector of local radio licensed by OFCOM.[5] The project was launched in September 2004. The radio station helped six local residents into paid work within the radio sector in just three years and trained more than 100 volunteers to present and produce their own radio shows. The project was not supported by the Borough Council, which caused controversy in the area, and local newspaper the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times' held a poll which returned the result that 94% agreed that the Ribble Valley Borough Council were wrong not to fund the project and assist its long-term success. Many letters appeared in support of the project and damning the "short sighted" decision of the council. The whole episode brought excellent publicity and boosted the radio station's listening figures by 400%.

MP Nigel Evans was a staunch supporter and tabled an Early Day Motion at Parliament EDM 979[6] calling for "better resources and funding" for Ribble Valley Radio and the new and emerging sector. None of this was sufficient to save the station and on 14 October 2007 Ribble Valley Radio closed, because it was unable to gain sufficient funding to apply for a licence.[7]

A new group, known as Ribble FM,[8] was formed in 2011 with the aim of applying for a community radio licence in the third round of licensing by Ofcom. Ribble FM was set up by The Bee founder Roy Martin and includes local directors and trustees.

Neighbouring districts

Settlements
Towns, villages and hills in the Borough of Ribble Valley          Forest of Bowland AONB

Civil parishes
Ribble Valley parishes
  1. Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley
  2. Balderstone
  3. Bashall Eaves
  4. Billington and Langho
  5. Bolton-by-Bowland
  6. Bowland Forest High
  7. Bowland Forest Low
  8. Bowland-with-Leagram
  9. Chatburn
  10. Chipping
  11. Clayton-le-Dale
  12. Clitheroe
  13. Dinckley
  14. Downham
  15. Dutton
  16. Easington
  17. Gisburn
  18. Gisburn Forest
  19. Great Mitton
  20. Grindleton
  21. Horton
  22. Hothersall
  23. Little Mitton
  24. Longridge
  25. Mearley
  26. Mellor
  27. Middop
  28. Newsholme
  29. Newton
  30. Osbaldeston
  31. Paythorne
  32. Pendleton
  33. Ramsgreave
  34. Read
  35. Ribchester
  36. Rimington
  37. Sabden
  38. Salesbury
  39. Sawley
  40. Simonstone
  41. Slaidburn
  42. Thornley-with-Wheatley
  43. Twiston
  44. Waddington
  45. West Bradford
  46. Whalley
  47. Wilpshire
  48. Wiswell
  49. Worston

Economy

Although Ribble Valley is the largest area of Lancashire, it also has the smallest population. The economy of Ribble Valley is mainly rural in nature, with a high proportion of jobs being in the private sector, due to BAE there is a bigger sway towards manufacturing jobs and less of a service economy when compared to the rest of Lancashire presumably due to the size of the authority and the dispersed nature of settlements. The authority also has the highest proportion of people in Lancashire that work from home.[9]

Notable businesses
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References
  1. Neighbourhood Statistics: Ribble Valley
  2. "Non-Metropolitan district population 2011". Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  3. Ribble Valley Borough Council (2011-11-17). "Result of Poll Salthill Ward of Ribble Valley Borough Council | Ribble Valley Borough Council". Ribblevalley.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  4. Ribble Valley Borough Council (2013-07-04). "Building Control Video Guides | Home Owner Video Guides | Ribble Valley Borough Council". Ribblevalley.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  5. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ Archived 2009-07-10 at the Wayback Machine ofcom.org.uk
  6. http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=32699&SESSION=885 edmi.parliament.uk
  7. Radio station closes due to funding problems Archived 2008-02-23 at Wikiwix
  8. Saturday 16th May 2020 - 04:11. "Home". Ribble FM. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  9. "District Profile – Ribble Valley". Lancashire County Council. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
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