Wealthy Tory Councillors dismiss macro-economics and social deprivation to attack Blyth Valley pensioners.

 

A fact that should sit at the heart of any decision made regarding Northumberland yet its never known to have been taken into account by Northumberland Conservatives well heeled Council Cabinet members is the differing levels of social deprivation residents from poorer areas suffer when compared with their own champagne lifestyles.

A baby girl born on the affluent Northburn estate in Cramlington has a life expectancy of up to 105 years, which is roughly 16 years longer than girls from Cowpen, Croft, Isabella, Hirst, Sleekburn and large sections of villages across the County’s rural coalfields. Yet Councillor Eve Chicken, the Northumberland Conservative cabinet member for adult social care, has announced the scrapping of the much needed OAP Warden system and forced up the costs to pensioners in some of the poorest and most deprived places in the UK.

Locals have taken to social media to give their opinions following the announcement that a consultation that few have seen has taken place cutting down the low level of pension payments that their older relatives have come to rely on.

The majority of older residents who use this service do not enjoy the new national state pension pushed by the right wing press and which REFORM;s think tank wish to abolish. Many proud pensioners receive £184.90 per week and struggle as they do not wish to be dragged through the pension credit system yet the unthinking Cabinet Member who announced this cut is classed as a standard cabinet member with a portfolio who receives a specific Special Responsibility Allowance tier on top of  base rate when combined with the index-linked basic allowance means cabinet members receive between £33,000 and £45,000 total per year, depending on their exact portfolio seniority. If on the lower rate she receives £633 per week for her part time job.

The Council has recently announced a new committee the ‘assurance and challenge panel’ manned up and its true its all men from the Tories and one Reform member Rick Baker who happens to be the Councillor for the County’s most deprived ward, Cowpen.

Here’s a few reminders of how poor his ward is and why he needs to get his new panel to kick this attack on pensioners from his area out!

The significant disparity between Cowpen and other areas is primarily attributed to socioeconomic factors and lifestyle differences that the Council should have taken into account in its risk assessment of this decision and if they actually produced one it is not available in the public domain.

Socioeconomic Deprivation: Cowpen experiences much higher levels of income deprivation, unemployment, and child poverty compared to Cramlington North, which is a modern, affluent residential suburb.

Dietary and Lifestyle Habits: Public health studies note a higher reliance on processed foods, cigarettes, and energy drinks in Cowpen, contrasted with easier access to fresh produce and a focus on preventative wellness in Cramlington North. So Councillor Baker, when will Cowpen residents get full access to the wellness and preventative issues that the warden service helped plant into the Community you are meant to serve?

Substance Misuse: The more deprived pockets of Blyth experience significantly elevated rates of illicit drug and alcohol use, which heavily impacts overall community life expectancy which adds to the lower life expectancy but the outcome of this decision will add a great deal more!

Notes

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/council/council-cabinet-agree-to-increase-telecare-charges-in-northumberland-with-warden-service-scrapped-9273336

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/life-expectancy-northumberland_uk_5bfd4251e4b0eb6d9313c450

Longest lived top 15 list

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/people/the-northumberland-areas-where-life-expectancy-is-the-longest-for-women-3449724

 

Reforms own Marlena Dietrich Is in policy denial from ‘The Company’s’ Central Office?

 

Northumberland REFORM UK Ltd., Leader, Councillor Rick Baker is probably better known around the Blyth pub & social club scene as a person who glories in the limelight of karaoke singing.

He appears to be very different when it comes to his paid job as leader of the opposition to the Tories who run Northumberland County Council.

His nouse has been exposed several times since following the ignominious ditching of Nigel Farage’s friend Councillor Mark Peart exposing the huge rift between the factions that make up Northumberland's department of ‘The Company’.

Out in the public ether and ‘exposed by several organisations’ including his sons patriots organisation, Rick has shown he isn’t up to it as his excuse of an apology to the people he’s meant to serve reads as a lack of support and an inability to follow Tice and Farage’s hard line attitude. His excuse seems to show he is attempting to soft soap the locals and show how he isn’t what his party position is.

Those who know him well have been telling folk locally that he is not one of the ‘great unwashed Reform UK Ltd., members as described by the manager of Birmingham NEC where the Reform conference is being held as Reform delegates have Poor Hygiene and hideous body odour. Putting him well out of step with his colleagues and obviously is developing a schism with the public supporters.

His reputation drifted further into disrepute when he went into total denial following accusations by the organisation ‘Hope Not Hate’ regarding him being a racist after he commented on his facebook pages quoting GB News supposedly reporting on the housing situation in Birmingham (the links in our notes).

The division within REFORM UK Northumberland, was brought to the fore earlier this year and widely reported on during July 2026 with public commentators also expressing concern about Rick Baker taking part in a patriots video on a youtube channel run by his son.

Northumberland reformers and ‘Company’ members seem to be oblivious to his beliefs as when asked they all tell you “Rick’s a good singer”, followed by the question “isn't he?”

NOTES

https://apple.news/A1XDAMJEAT3GavtZLGwH9qg

https://x.com/BotFinderUK/status/2094085734676222045

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/04/30/reform-uks-northumberland-neer-do-wells/

https://realnorthumberlandmurky.blogspot.com/2026/07/explosive-division-has-closed-off.html

Conservatives propose benefit cuts for long-term unemployed and control how the lower benefits are spent?

 

The press have revealed that Conservative leaders have  unveiled plans to restrict how long-term unemployed benefit claimants can spend  their welfare payments, including preventing money being used on alcohol,  cigarettes and gambling.  Under the proposals, people judged capable of work would  receive six months of full Universal Credit to find a job, plus an additional  year at the full rate for every two years they had previously worked. Those who  had not paid enough into the system would then have their Universal Credit cut  by 30%, with the reduced payment transferred to a “Back to Work” card that  would prohibit cash withdrawals and spending on the restricted items. The  Conservatives estimate about 350,000 claimants would move to the lower rate,  saving around £538m a year. Sick and disabled people, and those already in  work, would be exempt. This follows on from Sir Charlie Mayfield, a  senior government adviser to the Treasury from 2010-2016 who has set out plans to change employers' relationships with their employees; he  advocates for direct communication between employees  and employers regarding sick leave.  The former John Lewis boss aims to change  workplace norms, suggesting that employees should not simply text or email  their absence. Instead, they should engage in dialogue about their health and  potential return-to-work plans.  Mayfield's report, titled Keep Britain Working,  argues that many long-term absences could be prevented through better  collaboration among the NHS, employers, and local councils. Labour has described both elements of these schemes as “unworkable”.

Lets stop grass cutting, services being slashed?

Another Tory secret has come to light this week when Councillors who had no idea that the Grounds Maintenance service was being cut to the bone spoke out on social media.

With the introduction of the new STASI like secret pact in Northumberland where only the inner wheel gets to know what's happening and the other democratically elected members representing large swathes of the County get to know nowt and can’t even get their questions answered unless they agree not to tell their constituents what's going on then have to take the flack from their residents..

You may think that unbelieveable but its true, Councillors now appear to be elected in name only and are unable to undertake their main function, that of representing those who vote them into office.

The grass cutting service is cherished across South East Northumberland and the rural coalfield where the majority of people live in this vast County, yet the ruling Tories who represent the County’s farming communities who ploughed out their hedgerows in order to make greater profit form thier land now want the urban areas of South east Northumberland and its rural coalfield to bear the brunt of what they call diversity?

That need for diversity with the exception of profit making cereal growing land will lead to towns outside of Morpeth, Alnwick and Hexham looking like wildernesses with complaints about street weeds and hedgerow rubbish already growing every day on the Government site ‘fix my street’.

The revelation from Councillors pushed out over last weekend noted that a public consultation had been held on this subject and local folk agreed to lose their grounds maintenance service allowing the Tories to shift cash over to projects to keep them in office.

If you're concerned about this vast change brought about though a consultation that opposition councillors seemingly weren’t informed about while the leading group concentrated their news items on misinformation about planning changes then please write or email your local County Councillors and insist your area doesn’t lose its entitlement to having tidy verges, streets and parks.

https://www.fixmystreet.com/

Northumberland’s latest rule change means the public will miss the clash between education and adult care?

 The do nowt Tories running Northumberland County Council showed at the last full Council meeting how anti-democratic their latest close down of the other elected members on the Council has become and how disgracefully insolent the words from their top politicians sound now they have shifted the rules to safeguard their kingdoms.

Edits of The youtube video slashed out the Labour Leader, Councillor Scott Dickinson's questioning of the dreadful handling of the Council's budget plans with the editor centering on Councillor Wearmouth's nasty attitude towards being questioned as if it was the polite answer to a question.

So this article has been set out by the codgers group to ask the question that can’t be asked in the dark regime’s presence with the blame game being spun towards other people instead of the Council’s cabinet, that may cause angst between Blyth folk and Berwick residents.

The spinning spokeless wheel was turning more rapidly than usual when the completely untrue statements regarding regional strategic planning were put forward by Conservative Council members with the new rules of cancelling out opposition replies and points of order blanking the truth from being exposed.

With planning being the prime weapon in the ‘lets conserve and never renew’ outside of South East Northumberland an unwritten policy well practiced by those in office even though the sitting Government increased the new build numbers and delivered an increased spending allowance to pump charge the changes.

The Conservatives' statement that the Mayor for the North-East can call in any planning application she wishes too is complete and utter spin from Councillors who should know better.

The true extent of the Mayor's powers are enshrined in Government policy and they add up to:
Under the new framework, Mayor Kim McGuinness and other English mayors will gain the authority to "call in" and overrule local council rejections for large-scale developments. The powers specifically apply to proposals that meet any of the following criteria: 

• More than 150 homes

• More than 15,000 square metres of commercial space

• Buildings over 30 metres in height

But those changes from the Government not delivered will certainly damage development companies who support and donate to Northumberland's Tories. 

Those same Tories will live on to rue the attacks and spin regarding the regional mayor simply to deeply influence NIMBY supporters across the County.

The spin of the spokeless Tory cabinet wheel hasn’t put forward the true picture of County-wide development with the new build numbers having been exceeded most years over the last decade (but that’s now a secret) with their new rules over debate stifling democratic scrutiny allowing Tories to speak openly about matters that have little to do with transparency and candor. Northumberland County Council's draft government-assigned housing target has increased by 222% to 1,768 new homes per year, up from the previous local plan target of 549 homes per year with the council having delivered over 1700 in a number of years and at least 1600 in slow development years.

Any act by the Council’s Leadership Group will lead to increased cost to the public as the cost of increased numbers of planning applications lost to planning inspectorate appeals. The huge costs of legal matters tied up in applications lost to planning appeals hasn’t been published by the Tories although it would be nice to know as a decade of costly failures may have led to the debacle that's about to unfold between two of Northumberland’s prime towns.

The cash shortage brought about by a decade of Tory rule in the County to develop schools in Berwick and Blyth will lead to choices that won't benefit both communities and the chosen Towns have no recent links to Northumberland Tories.

With the Leader of Council openly stating that he can’t afford to put in an additional £7m to build a new school in Berwick even though educationalists have spoken often about their needs to safeguard and succour children from the North of the County, whilst at the same time announcing another SEND school in Blyth, a £6m+ school for older SEND pupils and students from surrounding towns to Blyth.

So who will get Caesar's thumb?

And where has the cash disappeared too?

NOTES:

Scott Dickinson MBE

6 days ago

 

·

One of the most terrible Council meetings I’ve sat through in a long time.

Far too much time was taken up by political point-scoring and national political arguments, rather than meaningful discussion about Northumberland and the issues that actually matter to the people we represent.

Today I spoke about homelessness, road crossings and other practical issues that residents raise with us the things that affect people’s everyday lives and where they rightly expect their County Council to focus its time and energy.

By the end, I did suggest a few new KPIs we could perhaps start monitoring…

How often is Question Time abused?

How truthful and relevant are the answers actually given?

How much Council time is lost debating national political arguments rather than Northumberland issues?

Residents deserve serious debate about Northumberland, its communities and the services they rely on. That’s what I’ll continue trying to bring to the Council Chamber. See less

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-concern-over-move-give-34510448

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw07lkvjr2dxt

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/education/its-worrying-new-fears-raised-as-department-for-education-responds-to-berwick-academy-funding-call-8928150

Another SEND school in Blyth that covers young people moving over to adult care?
https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/council/blyths-former-civic-centre-to-be-converted-into-education-facility-as-planning-approval-granted-9057286

https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/26088710.northumberland-scrutiny-committee-set-council-housing/

https://northumberland.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s9762/02.1%20Appendix%201%20-%20Northumberland%20Local%20Plan%20-%20FINAL%20ADOPTED%20VERSION%20WITH%20PHOTOS%20AND%20COVERS%20March%2020.pdf

Independents! Just learning the secret ways of the secret Council that regularly overspends?

 

As we move towards the next Northumberland County Council election the ruling Tories have come to realise that they have to deliver something other than Labour’s Northumberland Rail Line and a couple of picture halls for 10 years in office?

This Council, although regularly overspending on social care ever since they decided to break the deal between local NHS providers and the Council have taken up their top members' time with additional ‘secret cabinet’ meetings in order to twist the news towards themselves and avoid criticism at as many turns as possible.

As the next County election looms they penny seems to have dropped that they need to get out and about dealing with the problems of their constituents and not sit at meetings attempting to control an agenda they are losing due to the way their own party set up mayoralities with strategy having been ripped from them and given to regional mayors so that Councils can concentrate on delivering services, an area Northumberland Conservatives are unfamiliar with.

With so many farmers sitting as Councillors for the Tory Party we often hear about their perceived dilemma with inheritance tax which they get a decade to resolve if and when it happens whilst decreed by Tory Councillors residents must place their inheritance in the hands of NCC’s social services within six weeks of family members needing to enter care and are the Tories bothered? Not at all.

That said the Independents are now complaining that questions they submit to be answered at public question time are now being censored by officers!

Is that not slightly more professional than being censored by Councillors from the leading party who then substitute them with questions from their own party members to nullify and twist any story towards their advantage.

Politics has taken some nasty turns over the last decade but none so much as is now being exposed across Northumberland.

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/council/councils-new-rules-for-questions-at-meetings-branded-orwellian-by-furious-northumberland-councillor-9048448

https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/26536921.northumberland-county-council-predicts-7-9m-budget/