In the late 19th century industrial activity in the town was rising, the new shed companies were increasing employment and attracting workers into the town from the surrounding countryside. The attraction was not only the jobs to be had in the mills but the possibility of getting employment for young children as well. The concept of 'The Family Wage' was a good alternative to low paid employment in agriculture. By 1891 the population was approaching 5,000 and this led to house-building and pressure on local services like the town wells and night soil disposal.
In 1890 Skipton Rural District Council relinquished control over the town to the new Local Board and in 1892 they were investigating the provision of mains water to the houses in the town. Two years later they were borrowing £8,000 for the installation of a modern water carriage sewage disposal system. In 1892 they were borrowing money to buy and run the gasworks erected by Bracewell but bought by a private company when Bracewell Brothers failed in 1885. This cost £13,850, an enormous sum in those days. Over the next few years they borrowed more money to extend and improve all these services and in 1898 they borrowed £2,000 to build the Isolation Hospital at Banks Hill. In the interim (1894) they had changed the status of the local government body to that of an Urban District Council because that gave them more powers. This was to be the local governance until 1973 when the reorganisation of the structure of the wider region created Pendle District Council and the old BUDC was no more.
That's the bare bones of the history of Barlick local government and it is worth noting that under their care our modern town was laid out and built as the population rose to a peak of 11,915 at the census of 1931. This was when closures started to hit the textile industry and in 1973 the number of people in the town had dropped below 10,000. (In 2011 at had risen back up to 11,000)
During these early days the financing of local government was almost all from the rates income of the town and borrowings financed by this income plus a small proportion of direct government grants for capital works. In those days profits earned in Barlick largely remained here and were re-invested. When Pendle took over this income went to Nelson and at the same time the proportion of businesses financed from outside the town grew. This wasn't only large companies but retail enterprises as well owned by national chains. This applied to Pendle as well and the consequence was export of capital and more reliance on funding from Central Government. This is where our present troubles started. Government subsidy, particularly after 2008, has been savagely cut and more responsibilities like social care devolved from Whitehall to the councils. We are now at the point where we are suffering and I leave you to draw your own conclusions!
The centre of local power for many years, the BUDC offices on Jepp Hill.