Tom Pickup
Your councillor for Padiham & Burnley West
We inherited a £28 million overspend and cut it to near zero. Delivered the lowest council tax rise in 12 years. Secured £72M for highways. Now we’re rebuilding Lancashire properly.
What We’ve Delivered
Reform took control of Lancashire County Council in May 2025. Here’s what’s changed.
Lowest Council Tax Rise in 12 Years
The Conservatives raised council tax to the legal maximum in 7 of 8 years, including a record 5.99%. Reform’s first budget ended that streak.
Was: 4.99% - 5.99%Overspend Nearly Eliminated
We inherited a £28 million budget overspend. Through targeted efficiency, not front-line cuts, it’s been reduced by 78%.
Inherited: £28M overspendBond Losses Exposed
£519M invested in VeLTIP bonds now worth an estimated £169M. The previous administration failed to transparently report these paper losses.
Was: Concealed from councillorsThe Numbers Speak
Lancashire County Council: first year in office
Data Verified
- LCC Budget Book 2026/27
- LCC Cabinet Reports
- GOV.UK MHCLG Data
Latest News
The Asylum System Is Dumping Its Bill on Burnley
I went through every penny Burnley Council spends on temporary accommodation, then the official homelessness figures. A national asylum policy written in Westminster keeps arriving here as a homelessness bill, and in a single year the asylum share of Burnley's homelessness jumped from 1 in 60 to 1 in 9, in a town that can least afford it.
Read more Where Burnley Council's Money Goes: Every Payment Over £500 in 2025/26
Burnley Borough Council spent £38.06 million in payments of £500 or more last year, across 4,489 separate transactions to 843 suppliers. The council publishes it, but only as four raw spreadsheets nobody can use. So I took every line of the official 2025/26 data and put it in one place you can actually search.
Read more
Nine in Ten Crimes in Lancashire End With No One Charged
Report a crime in Lancashire and the odds anyone is charged are about one in ten. That is actually one of the better records in the country, which tells you how broken the system is everywhere else. Here are the real numbers on whether crime gets answered for.
Read moreGet the facts your council won’t publish
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