Morpeth, the name derives from Old English morð pæð and literally means "murder path" writing in 1666, the antiquarian John Stainsby attributed this moniker to "the many robberies and murders in those parts committed"
Some believe that at nearby County Hall things have hardly changed and the cataclysmic rift between the tiny minded minority trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public and the real conservatives who worry that their home county is dying on its feet and is being ruined by diabolical politics.
Several issues sit at the heart of the matter but the recent statements from the Council’s Morpeth centric leaders that “Angela Rayner is going to concrete over the County” has been and is still disputed by real conservatives sitting outside the Murder path group.
A former chairperson of the Council, Councillor Richard Dodd has made clear statements in the mainstream and regional press explaining that current planning policy from his own government and his own local party has set Northumberland on a path to ever reduced services and without accepting change there will be no improvements as without people why do we need a dualled A1 or a rail service stopping at Morpeth?
The Murder path group who recently decided to design a partition of succession when declaring Northumberland a ‘Sovereign State’ and issued its treasonable anti government statements may not survive until the May election and their wish to break the law by not following instructions from Government will if enacted drag the Councils professional officers into any future prosecutions levelled against the protagonists.
Councillor Dodd warned there are "problems down the line" if planning rules in Northumberland are not changed to allow more new life into small rural communities.
He called for planning reform in the county after new figures revealed many of the county’s rural schools have low numbers of pupils, causing them to struggle financially and putting them at risk of closure. He also hit out at so-called "nimbys" – which stands for 'not in my backyard' and refers to members of the public who object to planning applications.
"There is a problem coming down the line. Longframlington has had 350 new houses, Amble has got 1,300 in the pipeline. "If we could just spread that stuff a little bit around the county, because a lot of these villages are dying. This really is a problem.
"When somebody says they’re going to build the houses, out comes the committee to oppose them, the nimbys and their armies with their petitions and their letters and everything.
"At one time, farm cottages used to be full of farm workers and their families who went to the local school, but now they’re holiday cottages. You see things like second homes too.
"We need to build all kinds of houses that people can afford, not with all the palaver that goes with it, but just cheaper houses. It can be done.
"Otherwise, we, or someone, is going to be sitting here in 10 years time and we will have a list of schools that will have to close."
The Council has over 1,700 homeless people, over 430 empty Council Houses awaiting repair and has a revised local plan to reduce the new builds across the County to a level that is two thirds below need.
The changes from Government would simply mean that each parish in Northumberland should encourage and have built and additional 2.2 homes each year over the current meagre housing numbers currently paralysing rural life right across the County.
