How Desperate is Your Council?

 Older people in Northumberland who when the weather turns cold and damp stay indoors may have watched through their condensation covered windows how last week their local postman was leaning towards their bags, carrying weights usually only seen at Christmas time. But unlike Christmas their bags weren’t filled with cheer, they bulged with misery, the misery that comes with red letters from the County Council about arrears on their Council tax.

The Trade Unions Unison and GMB have warned Councils and Government that for the first time in a decade Councils must be centrally funded properly in order to keep communities safe to retain the skilled people needed at the helm and on the street who can organise and work on the rebuilding of Britain after the pandemic.

Its known by all parties involved in Local Government that the current funding gap is £10Bn caused by the 21% austerity cuts placed on Local Government by the Tories at Westminster. With just over half of that sum required to support Adult Care departments of Councils and £1.9Bn needed for Childrens Services. Without this subsidy its ordinary people who will suffer next year.

We at Murky have been informed about the mess Northumberland County Council finances are in, much of it due to the gifting of cash to businesses who are friends of the Finance Portfolio holder of the Council Nick Oliver of Corbridge, we believe the Police are looking at theses claims of mismanagement by the embattled Councillor.

Of course in desperation he has had the ‘red bills’ issued to chase up people who have fallen into arrears with their Council Tax. Thats from a man who its said owes £31,000 in business rates to the same Council. The complete lack of understanding from Councillor Oliver as to the position many who haven’t received a penny from his Council or Government since Feb 2020 are in and the family problems and stress he has caused through his grasping frenzied need to fill the coffers that he and his Government have ripped apart since May 2017.

At murkyville we have been watching older recordings of Council meetings and noted how ecstatic Councillor Oliver was when driving benefit claimants into further debt through his report reducing benefit payments by 8%. We hope that the return of the bullied and battered Chief Executive Daljit Lally to her office leads to Councillor Oliver suffering the same fate as those ordinary residents who have fallen on poor times this year and the letter writers make sure he is shaken not stirred so that the cash falls from his pockets first to begin to fill the war chest depleted by himself.