Police and fire crews are investigating after a suspected arson attack in Chorley last night.

A fire broke out at a building on Friday Street at around 10.45pm on Tuesday, after the fire service received reports of a suspected fire bomb.

It’s unclear whether the building was a house or commercial premise.

Three fire crews attended the incident.

Friday Street has made headlines in recent years after a controversial swinger’s club opened up on that road.

A young woman who is fighting for her life after a tragic quad bike crash in Australia could be heading back to England after Tasmanian government officials have stepped in to help.

Holly Raper, 23, of Whittle-le-Woods went to the southern hemisphere in November for the holiday of a lifetime.

However, disaster struck with a smash on a dairy farm on King Island in Tasmania.

She has been in hospital since the incident last week the Guardian reported that her dad Chris Raper said they did not know how they were going to meet the £100,000 bill to get her back.

It came after her insurance company argued they would not pay out to cover the costs to go home.

Now, a close family friend Ann Harrison said that there was a glimmer of hope for her return.

She said: “Last Friday, they were told us that the Tazmanian Government had a Worker Compensation Scheme which will cover her even though she was out there only three weeks.

“It is a huge weight off their shoulders as it felt like they were stranded out there.

“Holly is still in a very deep coma and there are no signs of her waking up.

“She is not fit to travel at the minute but at least it gives everyone hope that she could get back in a few weeks.

“It will be a long journey because she will have to fly from Tasmania to mainland Australia then on to Singapore and London to Manchester.

“I think it is going to cost over £100,000 to get back because they need doctors to travel back and also arrange overnight stays at hospitals.

Friends and family have rallied behind the former Runshaw College student as villagers in Brindle and Whittle-le-Woods have been fundraising to try to get her back.

More than £16,000 has been donated to the ‘Help Holly Home’ appeal and Ann believes the support from people back in Chorley is helping them.

She said: “It is dreadful what they have had to put up with the insurance company not helping them as you pay money and then this situation comes around and they cannot help.

“Aside from raising money local people have been praying for her which is great to know that they are in their thoughts.

“The family need the monetary support because Holly’s dad is a tree consultant and her mum is a nurse so they are over there not earning anything.

If you want to donate to the appeal then you should visit the site: www.charitygiving.co.uk/helphollyhome

Council tax will be CUT and action taken on grot spots as part of budget proposals by Chorley Council.

Bosses will reduce their share of council tax by one per cent – £1.79 for a band D household – and still find £345,000 to get tough on dog fouling and town eyesores. Setting out how they would spend their £12.9m budget over the next 12 months, authority bosses plan to make £200,000 savings with a senior management restructure, and by driving a harder bargain with contractors to save £400,000.

The council plans to spend £500,000 to buy the former McDonald’s site off Market Street to clean up it up.

They also announced plans to kick-start the much-awaited Friday Street surgery with a £6.5m cash injection.

Leader of Chorley Council, Coun Peter Goldsworthy, said: “We know there are many hard-working families out there who are struggling to make ends meet and we know that every penny counts.”

- For the full report, see this week’s Chorley Guardian

New licencees have taken the helm at a Chorley pub, and they’re hoping to fly the flag for British food.

Jamie Rankin and his wife Amanda have taken charge of The Railway in Euxton.

Jamie has 18 years of fine dining from across the Atlantic under his belt, including experience as an executive chef in restaurants and resorts in New York, Florida, Massachusetts and Chicago.

He said: “We’re really looking forward to building a reputation as a destination pub that’s great for food.

“With my background in fine dining, we will be serving dishes that are well designed and presented, all prepared from local ingredients with great care.”

Amanda has lived in the Euxton for 28 years and Jamie ignited his passion for cooking at the nearby Leyland Golf Club, before moving to the US and graduating from the University of New York with a degree in business management and culinary art.

He said: “I missed the community feel of home after a while.

“The Railway is a lovely pub with a warm atmosphere and we’re really excited.”

Two new businesses have been given almost £15,000 in grants to help them thrive.

Butter Boutique on Fazakerley Street and Fabulous Floors and Furnishings on Market Street have been handed grant support to the tune of £11,000 and £3,354 respectively by Chorley Council.

Cheryl Moran, who manages Fabulous Floors and Furnishings, on Market Street, said the shop had benefited from a business rate subsidy, shop floor refurbishment grant and shop front improvement grant.

She said: “The grant was a great help getting the business started and trading has been successful.”

Kate McCullagh opened Butter Boutique, on Fazakerley Street, in November last year and applied for the grant to help support her new business. The application was successful and she now receives a subsidy of £3,354.75 – a 50 per cent contribution to her business rate.

Kate, 27, from Heath Charnock, said: “I’ve wanted to open a fashion shop since leaving school so I’d been saving up for the right time.”

Coun Alan Cullens, who has responsibility for town centre development at Chorley Council, said: “One of the council’s priorities is to help local traders and attract new businesses to the town centre.

“These grants were created to do just that and have been an undoubted success.

“It’s important we continue to support new and existing local business in Chorley to help them develop and flourish in these difficult economic times.”

Car parking charges have been introduced at Chorley’s railway station.

Visitors to the car park, which is operated by Northern Rail, will now have to pay £2 a day.

At peak times the station is often full, with rail users parking on pavements and double yellow lines.

Rail bosses say the new fees still make the station car park ‘significantly cheaper’ than others in the town centre, and money was needed to carry out improvements at the station.

A spokesperson for Northern Rail said: “We have introduced a £2 daily car park charge at Chorley station that applied from February 20, which is significantly cheaper than other town centre car parks.

“We have recently carried out improvements to the car park, including the installation of CCTV, the cutting back of vegetation, the relining of the surface to create marked bays and the introduction of security teams.

“As our franchise was awarded on ‘no growth and no investment’ the revenue received from parking charges will generate the funding for these improvements and the ongoing management and maintenance of the car park.”

The move comes after plans were scrapped to build a multi-storey car park to tackle the problem of people leaving their cars on yellow lines and pavements when it’s busy.

Bosses previously said they wanted to see how the opening of Buckshaw Village’s new Buckshaw Parkway station affected the amount of people still visiting Chorley before committing to the project.

They also agreed to look into making more room for spaces in the existing car park while assessments were ongoing, but in December they announced there were no intentions to pursue the idea at all.

Coun Alan Cullens, who is executive member for partnerships and planning at Chorley Council, raised concerns about how this would affect the station, with no parking charges currently in place at Buckshaw Parkway. The new station, which opened in October last year, currently has around 2,000 passengers passing through every week.

He said: “The process of the railway is to try and entice customers to use the rail and not the road.

“This will deter people from using the rail. I don’t see there’s anything to be gained from this.

“Why would you pay to park at Chorley when you can park free at Buckshaw at the moment?

“I would also be concerned if Northern Rail put in any plans to introduce charges at Buckshaw in the future.

“They say there has been a dramatic increase in the traffic at Buckshaw and a lot of that has to be coming from Chorley.

“This just reminds me of Chorley Hospital making despicable charges.”

Campaigners were this week celebrating news that a Chorley landmark will be saved.

A £1.6m cash injection by the Heritage Lottery Fund will save the historic the grade 2* listed Bank Hall in Bretherton. It spells an end to a 16-year battle by residents and activists to save the 17th century building, which has been left crumbling.

Janet Edwards, chair of the Bank Hall Action Group, said: “It’s hard to believe after so long something will truly happen.

“We care about this building passionately and it has taken people like me who are slightly mad to keep pushing. But you have to.

“It takes a lot of time and energy and a lot of us have been involved for 16 years.

“Now we’re at this stage, we can hardly believe it.”

The Heritage Trust North West will be working with Manchester-based development partner Urban Splash and the action group to restore the building to its former glory.

Janet said: “This money is crucial to making the project work, and we’re very, very pleased.

“The long-term aim is to restore the whole building.

“The Heritage Trust for the North West will be responsible for drawing the money down from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the restoration of the whole of Bank Hall is one of the first things that will be started.

“If we hadn’t succeeded I dread to think what would have happened to the building. It would have been a diaster.

“(Restoring it) is a complicated process but it means that everything can be kick-started.

“Most people are captivated by the building. The building itself is in a poor state of repair but the walls are sound.”

It is hoped restoration work can start by the end of the year.

Throughout the project, the entrance hall and Prospect Tower will be opened up to the public access and displays and information boards will be put up.

South Ribble MP Lorraine Fullbrook joined campaigners and representatives from the Heritage Lottery Fund to celebrate the news.

She said: “I know the local community will be as delighted as me that it is to be restored to its former glory.”

Bank Hall was made famous as the runner-up in the North West heat of BBC Two ‘Restoration’ programme.

Over the last few years stabilisation work has been carried out to protect the walls from damage and collapse. This has involved erecting scaffolding at the front.

MONEY saving scheme means Chorley commuters will have to send a 25p text to find out when the next bus is coming.

Lancashire County Council has launched a new initiative to save money on printed and electronic timetables, meaning people now have to send the text to get information.

More than 50 bus stops across Chorley borough are left without timetable information now, leaving customers furious.

Jeff Lostock was waiting at a bus stop on the A6 in Whittle-le-Woods when he saw the notice telling him to text the council. He said: “I think this is discriminating against older people, because a lot of pensioners don’t have mobile phones.

“Some people who use the bus services regularly might know when their bus is due to arrive, but some people will be from out of the area and will have to rely on this texting service.

“I’m only using the buses while my car is being fixed, but I feel sorry for anyone who has to use the bus often.”

LCC said the move is part of a long-term plan to save more than £170m in the run up to 2014.

Tim Ashton, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “The timetables at certain bus stops have been removed, as part of county council’s wider plans to save £179m up to 2014.

“We had to make some tough decisions in finalising our budget to protect frontline services and spend £133m less on management and administration over the next three years.”

He added: “There are still many different ways for passengers to find out travel details.

“The county council will continue to provide bus timetable information on posters at bus stations/interchanges, and it will still be available over the internet or by phoning Traveline.”