NORTHUMBERLANDS BIGGEST ‘RED RISK’

 Chair of Audit puts up with 31K?

31K, the man who didn’t bother to pay his companies business rates for two years on two different properties in Northumberland then got his mates to write off his debt, his dreadful tactics have now been exposed by the press.

Although he has used the same tactics steadily for almost the last four years since becoming the financial portfolio holder of Northumberland County Council, Councillor Nick Oliver, from Corbridge has centred his concentration solely on technique. This mind convergence shows that his prime interest is in covering his own back which has openly exposed his lack of accountancy skills as he has failed to have the Councils accounts accepted by external auditors for the delivery of Best Value on three occasions and is rapidly moving to a record fourth failure.

Along with his notoriety in local government for hopelessness in business he is of course one of the Councillors involved with the professional investigations into Bullying, Racism, Corruption and dodgy land dealings is also accused outside of these legal and audit investigations of spinning lies via reports written in his own name and not that of Council Officers who wouldn’t touch his stuff through the Councils Audit Committee to fein the truth of their contents and have these damaging fairy tales run out in the press.

The Council in the shape of its legal department should have stopped his antics and as in all other Councils he should not be allowed to attend the Audit Committee, which looks at the process of his department until asked to present his annual report to that committee. 

His antics and tactics at the Audit Committee are abysmal as he is a very vocal politician who spins the subject matter away from anything which detracts from his agenda and we here at Murky fear he is pressuring and bullying the Chair of Audit and officers in charge of the protocol of his work and were sure the investigations will find him out. This Councillor is unprecedented in forcing out at great cost to the ratepayer four financial directors in three years. A disgrace for any Councillor.

At the December meeting of the Councils Audit Committee the local democracy reporter centred his news story on the spin away from the subject at hand by Councillor Oliver and how another member of his Party, Councillor Swinburn tried to bring the debate back on track, but unfortunately the non independent, independent person on the committee halted the return to business.

May 2021 looms shortly and the local government elections should find this man out who is the epitome of his Government in office and their support for the corrupt. He is not only a massive ‘red risk’ to the Council he is a devil incarnate at a local level with access to taxpayers cash.

His attitude is one of the reasons you should never trust a Tory.

 

Northumbria NHS Areas Ready to Administer Oxford Vaccine

Mrs Dajit Lally the understandably under pressure part time Chief Executive of Northumberland County Council where investigations into leaked emails to Councillors and evidence is being sifted through by teams of both lawyers and auditors, has shown her mettle through this period and has the local NHS ready to deliver the about to be approved Oxford vaccine as soon as its available.

She and the team under her control at the other half of her job in the NHS have rounded up a huge number of volunteers and rescheduled work rosters to ensure the vaccine is delivered in record time to the residents of Northumberland and North Tyneside.

We here at Murky have been made aware through our community contacts that Community Centres and Village Halls County wide and across the more urban North Tyneside are being put on standby to be used as centres to deliver the new inoculation's from.

On a wider note on the same subject the NHS are considering extending the time period between the two injections required to ensure the virus is beaten back in an attempt to cover the whole population with a first round inoculation by Easter 2021.

Rumour has it that Northumberland Conservatives are seething at the prospect of Mrs Lally delivering the goods on this program as their infighting at County Hall gets nearer to self destruction as the investigations into their antics hot up and the local government elections 2021 get ever closer.

Conservid 19 The fourth mutation keeping Priti ‘Ahead of the Curve’

 The news that the Tory Party has been challenged to investigate its policy of lying and saying the first thing that comes into your head released by Party activists last week and published in the press proves that numerous Tories are infected with this new virus mutation, now known as Conservid 19.

The actions of the Tory Party since February 2020 has been  confirmed and proven probably by the Home Secretary’s special advisor that the unique virus infecting onlyTories which they have no resistance to giving them delusions of ultimate power and undying belief in controlling the public’s tears through tiers!

So what delusion has Conservid 19 brought to the frontal lobes of the Home Secretary and her friends? Lets look at some of the ahead of the curve matters.

Don’t close down the City of London into tier three or four until the trading floor of the stock exchange has run down for xmas.

Leave the safeguarding of thousands of Lorry Drivers to the Salvation Army and volunteers risking disease outbreaks over and above the pandemic as only one WC has been supplied at the giant lorry park the Conservid 19 sufferers have been boasting about since March 2020.

 U-turn everywhere but on the roads into Kent.

Never listen to Local Council Leaders and Mayors or other member states of the United Kingdom as Conservid 19 causes the brain to thicken to a level where all shame is underwritten by the released Tory party policy of ensuring you lie and back it up by saying the first thing that comes into your head.

Don’t bother combing your hair before appearing in front of millions of TV Viewers is a known secondary by product of the latest virus mutation.

The Conservid 19 infected refuse to take responsibility for bullying your subordinates and those under your care, yet expecting and accepting a pardon from your boss.

Ensure friends are given top jobs during the Pandemic and showing no shame in what is a giant ‘Red Risk’.

Considering those friends interests even when scientists tell you otherwise and ensure the original pandemic virus which can be caught by everyone, is spread nationwide by ensuring the spectacle of Cheltenham raced the pandemic on its way.

Using pals as agents to provide dodgy PPE is a well illustrated symptom of Conservid 19 but the sweaty and temperature raising needs to fill the pockets of your mates with guaranteed cash while trading in stock and shares is slightly more dangerous for their pocket linings is classic among Conservid 19 sufferers.

The little problem we have as non-scientific reporters here at Murky is that locally in Northumberland we can prove that Conservid 19 has been rabid and spreading since May 2017 and every sufferer has the same beliefs as their Home Secretary that they are well “ahead of the curve” (NOT) and only the pockets of other sufferers are looked after to the detriment of those they are meant to serve!

But we are sure that non sufferers of Conservid 19 will through linked comments will list many more items of proof that Conservid 19 is fully alive and kicking.

News that Tories can ‘officially lie’ in the forthcoming election campaigns is leaked by Huffington Post! So everything else was an unofficial lie?

 What a Government and local County Council we have in Northumberland with these Tories in charge.

This week we have the public seeing at last the news we have been pushing through the Real Northumberland Murky for the last couple of years, That the Tories lie on every matter at all times.

Our team has been ever so nice in calling lies, ‘spin’ but were ever so pleased that at last a national public media giant has joined us in condemning the liars at every turn.

In Northumberland their lies have shown up and let down the reputation of the Council and we believe they have made the officers they are supposed to have a duty of care to protect feel completely and utterly let down as do Councillors from other parties and colours who have had stories told about this improvement and that infrastructure project around where they live and when the time comes to deliver they are left with sand in their hands and eyes.

Interestingly the reporter who has released this information is from the North and has done some excellent investigation and reports in the Newcastle Journal and Chronicle, it's certainly worth a read.

 

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/tory-leaflet-fake-news-openly-lie_uk_5fd9f679c5b62f31c201f7dc/?__twitter_impression=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL20uZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIzkWAI9PRFKFg75JqO13rPO9r4mkXfPDbmC7BPv6gKQsSmy4ddlaq5QzEVvgY1uFzedWxx9T5a1uSFryVWJV8w5Si9-vNxoTIZhTc3U7CUnshjBG1EvZX8BCRsYIq6pM5ALzPWv7PbIck4WprMZoxZZ6jV3easFOhf7Vmxsv_rI

 

Pull Back from polishing roads to farms Glen and get your manifesto promise to fill all the potholes started!

In the run up to the Local Government elections 2017, the Tories ran a successful campaign regarding the potholes in highways across the County of Northumberland stating on social media it was because Labour were fixated on delivering the ‘Local Transport Plan’ to the detriment of potholes across the County.

Councillor Glen Sanderson the current leader of Council was given the job of portfolio holder for Local Services to deliver this manifesto promise.

After May 2017 following a major shift in emphasis and policy in order to become a top secret organisation, the public were denied access to the reporting list for highways repairs and progress on the delivery of the Local Transport Plan on the Councils website in order that criticism of any failings was reduced.

The residents of the County were slightly slow in noticing the changes but gradually through the process of sickening off your public by ignoring their plight, people turned to the Government sponsored web reporting system, https://www.fixmystreet.com/

in order that they could ensure when enquiring and setting the biggest questions in Local Government of ‘WHY have I waited so long and WHEN’ will my report be dealt with, they have a report that they can access and refer back too.

The secrecy surrounding Northumberland County Council and the alleged bullying of staff who give information or make any comment at all to the public has driven residents to rely on this system as trust in their Council is at an all time low.

At the last budget Council meeting recorded for youtube, Tory Councillors were hee-hawing, laughing and cheering when the future work program was read out as it takes the spend for rural roads over £100m since May 2017. Yet this minority Tory Council bolstered by Bedlington Tory independents held by a string of spin about their never to happen investments to improve their Town, are not delivering the Highways element of the Local Transport Plan and some roads and pavements well past their planned life have been delayed for the last three years and will not be delivered in the near future or may be delivered in bits over a number of years as spend is raided to support polished roads to farms.

Interestingly, on fix my street.com the reports for pothole repairs across the South East of the County and the Rural Coalfield have shot up as workers tarmacing in the countryside instead of delivering the plan has reduced their ability to cope. The Tories who laid so much store in their manifesto about repairing potholes across the County are now stymied for cash through their lavish rural spend and are concentrating on spin and semantics to cover up for ignoring the publics needs.

Does your Parish Council Deliver ‘Value for Money?’

 Auditors say Northumberland County Council Doesn’t

Parish Council’s have a prime role to play in the democracy of the Country being able to pick up the ‘soundings’ from local people and pass them up in reports and minutes to their Unitary or two tier (District and County in some cases) bringing them into full public view for debate. Making Town and Parish Councils an essential part of the structure of local democracy as have a vital role in acting on behalf of the communities they represent.
They:

       give views, on behalf of the community, on planning applications and other proposals that affect the parish

       undertake projects and schemes that benefit local residents

       work in partnership with other bodies to achieve benefits for the parish

       alert relevant authorities to problems that arise or work that needs to be undertaken

       help the other tiers of local government keep in touch with their local communities.

Across the County of Northumberland since 2017 a minority Tory administration runs the Unitary all purpose Council hiding behind the County Council badge to confuse people into thinking they do not have to deliver statutory services and its all somebody else’s fault.

The Unitary County Council has failed over the last three years to deliver ‘Best Value’ on behalf of residents as its accounts have been ‘qualified’ by its external auditors (Qualified means failed in accountancy parlance) due to in the main the lack of good governance and the secrecy which prevails, cutting out the base layer of local government in the Country, the Town and Parish Councils.

According to their auditors, most of Northumberland’s Town and Parish Councils who run clear and precise web sites on behalf of residents do deliver best value and good and honest Governance. In many cases they also support the delivery of services which their residents like to have enhanced to ensure people are proud of the Towns and Parishes they live in.

We here at Murky thought we would take a look at one of the largest Parish Councils in the Country, the Labour led Blyth Town Council who on behalf of its residents deliver masses of enhanced services to keep their Town neat and tidy, well above some of the Unitary Metropolitan and City councils nearby.

Here’s the services Blyth Town Council delivers and the similar services delivered by the County Council, listed to stop future mix ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will Councillor Sanderson show some bottle or face being sued and a Judicial Review for not dealing with the scandals at County Hall, Morpeth?

As many avid readers of politics may have noticed, the prime minister is facing being dragged screaming and shouting into court to be sued by the Senior Civil Service Trade Union the FDA over his handling of the Priti Patel bullying of staff under her care scandal and for clearing her of all wrongdoing.

Boris Johnson’s actions of unburdening Ms Patel of wrongdoings caused uproar when he cleared the home secretary of misconduct last month despite a lengthy inquiry finding that her behaviour, which included shouting and swearing at staff, amounted to bullying.

The FDA Lawyers have issued a pre action notice which is the first step on the road to a judicial review.

In Northumberland bullying by top elected Councillors from the administration is just the awful tip of a deplorable iceberg which was revealed in leaked e-mails from the Councils top officer and the tales of woe that followed were published in Asia Sunday the highly regarded media outlet as follows: https://www.asiansunday.co.uk/scandal-in-northumberland-as-chief-executive-placed-on-leave/

Here at Murky were led to believe by those in the know that the Local Government Trade Unions at County Hall are considering similar action to the FDA if the new Council Leader doesn’t react appropriately and dismiss those who have either bullied Officers, written reports that should have been handled only by Officers, forced Officers of the Council to give wrongful advice, used the Audit Committee to legitimise false reports or let ADVANCE Northumberland rack up costs and not follow legitimate instructions from their single shareholder, the Council.

That’s beside the allegations of corruption, dodgy land dealings, racism etc, etc!

 

 

 

Levy and Wearmouth in Different Leagues! and their spin doctors can’t even get any stories lined up.

 

We have reported on a number of occasions about the mammoth splits in the Northumberland Conservative Party since the investigations into corruption at County Hall in Morpeth appeared in full public view following the leaking of an email from a whistleblower to Councillors.

The Conservatives in this County have become the epitome of English league football in the 1970’s with no premier league and pre Bosman clubs, with over the hill playing staff going through the motions as they wait to see if chairman of other teams will come to their rescue and fork out a transfer payment for their services. That neglect killed football’s quality and Northumberland Tories are now fully entangled in that type of extreme negative culture.

The current first division headed by Glen Sanderson now has to make promises to spend in the North of the County as his team has recruited from that area. It's believed he has had to promise to build a new theatre to replace the playhouse in order to keep his team under his control.

The second division is managed by the former ‘A-team’ the Castle Morpeth Mob. Let down by their former Leader Peter Jackson of  Ponteland kicked out of his job by the opposition and sent to wasteland. Division two now led by Cllr Wearmouth who isn’t doing very well being the Chairman of ADVANCE Northumberland and his former mates have let him down badly.

Division three is made up of the turncoat Cramlington Conservatives. Councillors jointly captained by the shark himself, Cllr. Wayne Daley who split from the Jackson group and voted with the Labour Party to get rid of him. His back up, the paper candidate now residing in  Alnwick, Barry Flux sat on all sides in this dispute like the Norwegian nasty party sympathiser Vidkun Quisling.

This leaves Division Four with Ian Levy MP waiting to drop out from the professional scene whilst spinning out false news as he hasn’t been told that his Government in London have slashed the funds for delivery of the projects he is trying to spin to Blyth Valley Residents. The differences and divisions are now in print for posterity with the release of his ‘Reporting Back’ leaflet where it looks like he has lost the plot and position his party has put itself in at County Council level.

Let's take Public Health, still managed by the first division team, great success has been hailed by Levy who must not have noticed things that were going on during his Chancellors spending review which he supported. The North East has taken the biggest hit nationally with a huge reduction of £26 per person Northumberland loses £7.8M because of the action from his Tories, supporting London over the North.

When reporting back, Ian Levy has come out with even more sin about the reopening of the AB&T rail line just being over the horizon. We think we should point out that the horizon is at rainbows end. Levy needs to ensure he gifts a copy of the News Post Leader to his spin doctor as the man allotted to look after Blyth by the Tories, second divisions Richard Wearmouth came out in that awesome media machine last week telling the people of South East Northumberland and the motorists of Blyth that residents will have to possibly wait another ten years before they see either the rail line reopening or the Cowpen Road bypass built. His Government will have seen the asthma rates rise across Blyth and its very short life expectancy figures maintained at their current unacceptable level whilst cash to help Pubic Health experts combat the problems has been cut to the bone.

But one of the most sickening announcements by Levy was regarding the 60yr old Blyth Leisure Centre which the last Labour administration at County Hall was going to renew, and build closer to the Town Centre on the bus station or gasometer site to help commerce, is to now be simply refurbished by the Tories for £5M at the same time as Division 1 at County Hall announced a new Leisure Centre for Morpeth at £21M which local people from that Town are rallying against as it will remove two large car parks from public use.

Ian levy in his literature is praising the £40M Blyth Town will be gifted from Government whilst Richard Wearmouth is letting down the public from Blyth in the NPL telling them that the offer is down to £15M and he is going to concentrate efforts on Blyth Town Labour's plan to provide parking and cycle access on Bowes Street. Come on chaps try at least to get the fibs to match!

There doesn’t appear to be any mention or an apology in ‘Reporting Back’ for Ian Levy’s voting record on free school meals, the rise in unemployment across the Town, the spending review that is skewed towards London and the South East, Public Sector pay cap to grind the workers who support local economies in its times of greatest need further into the ground and his initial lack of support for an extension of the furlough scheme and extra help for the self employed small business sector such as Taxi Drivers, Hairdressers, Nail Bars and open air market traders who have seen their business driven down to desperation level during this pandemic.

But the biggest division between all the Tory leagues in Northumberland is the reason why so many families are reliant on Food Banks and Charity? Its because the theology and thought processes of a Tory are always driven by what they can take and get from society and not what they can give back. Austerity and its revival through the spending review brings that process into full public sight. Ian Levy, ‘Reporting Back’ needs to be honest & truthful and you need to take ownership of what you and your County Council are doing to society and at least match up your fibs in future!

Writing off your mates debt is an attack on deprived children County-wide.

 

Week ending 13:December:2020 is quite significant in the Calendrer of Northumberland County’s Tory led Council. Its the week in which the Tories decided to save their mate, Councillor Nick Oliver the man who holds the Financial Portfolio on their behalf from facing bailiffs, court and the possibility of becoming homeless by writing off the debt accrued when he and his wife collapsed their company ‘Katie Kerr’ based in Corbridge and began another company trading in similar goods in the same town.

In a County which has suffered badly under Covid 19 and with a great many families working in the transport and farming industries which the mainstream media tell us will be hit badly if a no deal Brexit followed by deep recession is the outcome of this weeks talks in Brussels, Fellow Tories wrote off a debt that would have covered the cost for 2066 Northumberland families free school meals support food vouchers for one of the weeks over the christmas holidays.

The Tories in their debt write off report to cabinet agreed to write off a £31,000 debt accrued by this Councillor without turning a hair and hiding the actual detail in the overall debt recovery failure element of their report presented in the main by Councillor Oliver himself to a scrutiny panel this week, although as viewed on TV he did declare and interest in item 6 which included his own mess.

The report showed how debt has increased greatly in line with ever more children being forced onto free school meals through the huge hike in unemployment caused by the policies of spin being pursued by both the Government and Tory Groups nationally and only brought to peoples attention through the scandalous way they and Councils under their control went on with showing no compassion whatsoever towards families and children in need.

All we can do as reporters in a murky world is point to decisions like this and inform our readers whom we believe need to know how bad their allegedly corrupt county council really is.

A Merry Christmas and stay safe.

 

Secretive organisation, run by a Secretive Chairman has dropped out of its legal obligations towards making information public?

Following major criticism regarding the huge cost of changing its name and make up of the Council owned Group of companies known as ADVANCE Northumberland by the outgoing external auditor, Ernst Young,who expressed concern in auditor speak in their first report on the company known as ADVANCE.

As well as hiding a small profit from work with Newcastle Airport as a £6.3M loss the Auditor recorded the following as an element of their findings of failure:

Significant matters arising during the audit in connection with the Councils related parties (ADVANCE Northumberland) including, when applicable:

·         Non-Disclosure by management.

·         Inappropriate authorisation and approval of transactions.

·         Disagreement over disclosures.

·         Non-Compliance with Laws and regulations.

·         Difficulty in identifying the party that currently controls the Authority (In that organisation).

The administration of this Tory Council were so aggrieved that someone should question their superior being status regarding the findings at ADVANCE who’s chairman is Cllr Richard Wearmouth, that in similar fashion to the problems found by the auditor, Councillors (not officers of the Council)wrote a report to the Councils audit committee to spin a completely different set of findings on the day Ernst Young’s report was released and Councillors issued innuendo without proof about the predecessor to ADVANCE, the Company ARCH which these same Tories spent four years poisoning the brand due to its success in delivering fantastic projects on the then Labour and previously LibDem Councils behalf.

But today we at Murky aren’t looking at that element of ADVANCE which currently has multi-agency investigators crawling all over it following  whistleblowing allegations from the Councils top officer, were looking at the effect two of the above findings have on you the public and how deceitful the Council’s Cabinet members who make up the majority of directors of the board have been.

Disagreement over Disclosures and non-compliance with Laws and Regulations:

As part of its role in the region ADVANCE Northumberland manages the rural growth network and funding on behalf of Government, one of the matters it funds is i-Northumberland the information arm of the County Council yet that is a far as the company ADVANCE gets towards sharing any information with its council tax paying ultimate resource, you the public.

This company being fully owned by you the public is covered by the The Freedom of Information Act 2000 its an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. ADVANCE Northumberland do not recognise that law and do not respond to FOI requests, they do not appear on the Government web site ‘What do they know’ as a public body which we all know they are.

Currently the County Council of and for Northumberland has been hijacked by pirates who believe they can do what they like when they like. Through fiddling expenses they have lost their Leader a former director of ADVANCE and ARCH, Peter Jackson and their wider Group has been accused among other things of corruption and bullying of staff. The Councillors involved with this administration at County Hall believe they are the professional officers of this organisation and the Council and it doesn’t seem to matter to them what they do. But compliance with national law is essential and we the public need to know whats been going on behind the closed doors of ADVANCE Northumberland since 2018.

Its interesting that Labour’s leaders in Northumberland have made public their wish to close ADVANCE Northumberland and manage regeneration through a department of the council.

But we wonder what the Counties three Tory MP’s think of this latest scandal in the name of Northumberland Conservatives and will Government pressure be brought on to ensure compliance with the Law ASAP?

 

Murky needs to know about the answer to this recent FOI from Northumberland County Council whether Councillor Homer stayed for three nights with a friend or relative or did she sleep on a London Park Bench? The associated murkiness with this FOI requires answers and an answer to question of whether the Castle Morpeth Tories are all in to very odd expenses claims at the Council Taxpayers Expense on an industrial scale?

 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 

 

I refer to your Freedom of Information request in relation to Overnight stays - Councillors. 

 

Right of Access 

 

Section 1(1) of the Act provides any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled. 

 

(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request (which Section 1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and 

 

(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him. 

 

The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the document or record which contains it. 

 

The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public authorities subject to various exemptions. 

 

Northumberland County Council confirms that it holds the information you have requested, please see the attached following information in response. 

 

Q.1 Details of trips to London and other places requiring an overnight stay taken by Cllr Cath Homer and Cllr Peter Jackson TOGETHER between May 2017 and August 2020

A.1 2/3 October 2017

Conservative Party Conference booked by both Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson, along with others, booked by the Group and at no cost to the County Council. No other information available. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

3-5 July 2018

LGA Conference, Birmingham, Overnight stay at Jurys Inn, Birmingham at a cost of £133.11 per night per guest. Outside permissable limit, but approved by the Business Chair for ease of travelling to/from the venue of the conference, which saved money on transport fares. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

11-14 June 2018

House of Lords Reception for Cllr Homer and Cllr Jackson, Meetings with Government Officers for Cllr Homer, LGA meeting for Cllr Jackson and Produced in Northumberland Event for Cllr Homer and Cllr Jackson Overnight stay at the Premier Inn London County Hall at a cost of £181.50 per room per night, with the third night’s accommodation (booked nearer the time of the events) costing £191.00 per night. Outside the permissable limit, but approved by the Business Chair because at the time of booking it was peak time and all hotel costs were higher, but also to save on the cost of transport to/from the venues. Cost of travel was £312.12 each for train fare. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

1-3 October 2018

Conservative Party Conference booked by both Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson, along with others, booked by the Group at no cost to the County Council. No other information available. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

27-28 November 2018

27 November – Historic England – Angel Awards – booked to attend for both Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson. 28 November – Discover our Land Ambassador appointments and British Travel Awards. No record of any travel/overnight accommodation costs. 

 

4-6 March 2019

Attendance at the Annual LGA Tourism Conference by Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson. Cost of conference for Councillor Jackson was £358.80, Councillor Homer – no record of any costs for attending the conference. Travel costs were £229.50 each for train. No accommodation costs paid for by the Council. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

1-4 July 2019

LGA Annual Conference in Bournemouth booked to attend for Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson, with another Councillor. Accommodation was at Bournemouth West Cliff Hotel, £87.22 per person, per night. Flight for Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson was £200.99 per person. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

30 September-2 October 2019

Conservative Party Conference booked to attend for both Councillor Homer and Councillor Jackson, along with others, booked by the Group at no cost to the County Council. No other information available. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. 

 

26-28 November 2019

British Travel Awards and various meetings with Ministers – overnight accommodation at the Premier Inn London County Hall at a cost of £169.50 per person, per room, per night, which is outside the permissable limit, but approved by the Business Chair as, again, it saved on transport costs travelling from the hotel to the various commitments in London, which would have incurred taxi fares. Rail costs were £124.00 each for travel to London and £70.00 each for return travel, total cost of £194.00 return. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties. No confirmation of attendance available from third parties.

 

Q.2 On trips to London taken together by Cllr Homer and Cllr Jackson, details of the cost of the travel and accommodation between May 2017 and August 2020.

A.2 Please see response to Q.1

 

Q.3 Confirmation of the names of the hotel(s) used and whether the hotel(s) used in London were within the prescribed and permissible claim bands agreed by the Council at the time of the booking. 

A.3 Please see response to Q.1

 

Q.4 Confirmation whether an exception was made for Cllr Jackson and Cllr Homer to stay in hotels outside of the normal claim limit for over night stays in London and who authorised these to be booked.

A.4 Please see response to Q.1

 

Q.5 Provide me with the published NCC claim limits for hotel accommodation in London and when any changes were made to allow Cllr Homer and Cllr Jackson to book hotels outside of the then published limits. 

A.5 Please see the attached: April Allowances April 2019

 

Q.6 On stays in London, details of all expenses relating to food and drink claimed by Cllr Jackson and Cllr Homer.

A.6 No claims have been claimed for in the travel system.

 

Q.7 Any evidence you have of proof that their trips were on council business including confirmation by third parties that they attended said meetings.

A.7 Please see response to Q.1

 

Complaints 

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office: 

 

Information Governance Office

Northumberland County Council

County Hall

Morpeth

NE61 2EF”

Monday 7th December 2020 Is it Isaiah Chapter 10 Verse 3, ref: ‘The day of reckoning’ or Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors

 

            ‘Why should their liberty than ours be more’?

Northumberland’s annual? December Council half yearly debt meeting of the Corporate & Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny committee which looks at the first half years debt the County Council administration has accrued, and suggests what should be written off to Cabinet in the same week.

The report which is available via the Council’s meeting diary shows that in this very strange year for people and their Council who havw recorded a huge debt increase with the half year figures looking very similar to annual figures for the last four financial years. In their usual secret society manner, the Tory Administration haven’t listed them together within the report for the Taxpayer to be able to make an easy comparison.

The report has been written on behalf of the Cabinet member for finance, Councillor Nick Oliver who, as has been released recently lost his fourth Director of Finance in three and a half years. Unknown in Local Government circles but this is Northumberland County Council who are sitting under the dark cloud of a series of major investigations into a number of high level allegations including bullying of staff by Councillors and corruption both of which would affect the role of any Director of Finance and include the Portfolio holder, Cllr Nick Oliver.

But its the report we are more interested in, particularly the write off of debt. Its been reported that Councillor Oliver was involved at a top level with a company which folded leaving the Council with £31,000 worth of debt in business rates. All business rate debt has been clumped together in the report making it impossible to decipher who the main debtors are. Is one of them Councillor Oliver and his families defunct company of which he was company secretary and will they receive a debt write off, or the bailiff and court like everyone else? 

Just like Isaiah and his explanation of the day of reckoning, will we the taxpayer have to wait until St Peter has had a chat with Cllr Oliver to chalk the matter up in his eternal scroll before we find out? and as we the taxpayer know its been an expensive Comedy of Errors at County Hall Morpeth since May 2017. 

We believe Shakespeare was correct in the assumption we listed above which is more modernly explained by George Orwell via the pigs in his classic, animal farm, with his famous explanation of equality which we will plagiarise here as ‘Some Tories feel they are much more equal than the Northumberland Taxpayer’!  

 

Northumbrians Demand Reform!

 

Strong Minded Parish Councillors

Cut the allegedly corrupt antediluvian Tories Spin Dead!

The news that in the safe Conservative County Council seat of Wooler its prime Parish Council are exasperated with having to deal with the Tory led County Council and its inability and unwillingness to deliver basic essential road safety projects which have sat festering in the Councils Local Transport Plan or others from its seeping and leaking Infrastructure plan rotting for eons. These plans were reset in May 2018 by the Tories and refreshed during December 2019 and a desktop review was reported in the trade press in October 2020 in preparation for a visit from a high level Government planning inspector.

Wooler isn’t the only Parish Council to find that the Tory Administration sat at County Hall has lost the will to deliver on its own simple Unitary Council plans in favour of centering activity and preserving in aspic at whatever cost to the public purse Castle Morpeth Borough Council and damn the rest.

Huge sums of money have been spent on the revitalisation of County Hall, a building erected to house almost three times the staff than currently employed by the Council. Sitting in an area that is of no economic benefit to the Town of Morpeth as it is positioned well away from the Town and too far for workers to shop and browse at the goods on offer in their lunchtime. Leaving Parish Councillors who have Towns they cherish out in the cold as with the disappearance of cash to Castle Morpeth their planned projects await completion. 

Projects such as Pipers Place in West Bedlington Parish, where in the auditors report on ARCH cash had been set aside for its completion. The current administration poisoned ARCH and at huge cost to the public purse launched Advance Northumberland, (now subject to intense multi agency investigation) but the real question is where has the money gone to develop this seriously ugly empty site?

Continuing on behalf of West Bedlington Parish Councillors their County Councillors recently told them and it was run out in the press that they would be getting a new Leisure Centre developed on the Pipers Place site and that cash had been set aside by the Administration to furnish their request. In links below to the recently reviewed planning documents you will see under the infrastructure delivery plan pages 63-67 that the Council have no intention of developing a Leisure facility in Bedlington their developing a new one in Morpeth instead and an FOI from the Councils shows they haven’t set any funds aside for its delivery in West Bedlington either.

Similar exasperations from Parish Councils are to be found all over the County through the shifty way they deal with spin and finance that is interfered with by elected members which damages plans that have been agreed, made and promised for years. But the most blatant actions which all Parish Councils should measure their Unitary Council on is the experience of the hatred of working class communities by the Tories particularly Ashington, where the current administration have left a Town Centre site locally known as the ‘Whole’ in a desperate state. Ashington parish Councillors and the Local MP, Ian Lavery have tried and keep trying to get the Tories at County Hall to listen to their case but to no avail.

Blyth Town Council have found similar problems with a highway resurfacing project on one of Blyth’s few cross town roads, Malvins Road, has been stopped from completion by the Tories for the last two years. 

County Council Tory spin stories about projects to help the Town of Blyth with multi-million projects released to the press on a regular and ongoing basis whilst on the sly they have removed signage from major roads and bypass roads and even roads in the Town telling people how to get to Blyth Town Centre in order that shoppers go elsewhere and as the Town Centre deteriorates further, lowering people's expectations any small thing may be seen as a benefit (real nasty party antics). This fact of no signage was even brought up by the Northern Football Leagues, They found in their investigations that Blyth the largest Town in the County is no longer a destination when signage is replaced by the Highways Authorities. Fair treatment of place it seems is not a priority for Northumberland Conservatives as in the neighbouring Parish of Cramlington new signs directing the 11 Million people who visit each year to its shopping mall have been going up all over the County and in surrounding Boroughs and A class roads.

 

NOTES:

 

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Highways/Transport-policy/Transport-plan.aspx

 

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Planning/Reports.aspx

 

Who has and still is being bullied by County Hall’s Administration?

I suppose our short break from the Murky and sweaty keyboards has been noticeable over the last few days but with the change from total lockdown to stalag 3 and the national news that the Tories as ever are still bankrolling their mates in front of our eyes, as they have ordered and paid for 370M vaccines for 66M people illustrates were as gullible as ever to their forked tongue spin.

So then where have we been, to Morpeth of course as we can meet outside and we have loads of real people to converse with in the open among the Gadgies and we have learnt a lot.

There now seems to be a considerable difference between the Conservative ‘reptile groups’ who live under mats at County Hall and the proletariat of Morpeth and its surrounds, with the message that the Sanderson gang has announced the building of a new leisure centre on the old library car park site and the Castle Morpeth Mob are not sure what spelks to pick from their bottoms as the loss of a car park and the sell off of another car park and former Leisure Centre site to their mates (but which reptilian groups mates?) to profit from expensive housing hasn’t gone down well with the Gadgies. The street talk of a rebirth for both the LibDems and Labour in Morpeth was red hot as the infighting among the allegedly corrupt administration has sickened most. Their twisted decision making looks like paid car parking will be back on the cards at Morpeth to help drive the public away and keep it dying in aspic, or will people simply drift across to Ashington anyway?

That alleged corruption, currently ongoing at County Hall has taken a funny twist as it was said to us that the Tory led Local Government Association have, unlike the US Cavalry in all the ‘best westerns’ (or is that only where lothario Tory councillors stay at Northumberland residents expense?)  refused to come to the rescue on behalf of the public as it is two Tory Groups who are being investigated through the multi-agency teams. It was also cheekily said that the Telegraph, Mail and Express were all over this story thinking they could attack Ian Lavery MP yet again but when they found out it was their own side who were the accused, ran away to Morrisons to buy drink and fags before boardiing the train to get better access to the web and put their arms under their pipistrel type wings at having travelled so far North.

So then who has been getting bullied?

We know that the top Council officers have had a really tough time following the release of Mrs Lally, the Councils Chief Executive’s email to all Councillors to the press which said it all.

Mrs Lally when signing up to the Tory Councils banner and following their instructions probably didn’t expect to be dragged into legal action and court on a number of occasions to defend the Tories against developers and former employees with the costs being shouldered by the Council to protect the former now deposed Leader Cllr Peter Jackson and the man she herself accused of dodgy land dealing Cllr John Riddle from meeting their makers in jail, that may still arrive on their doorsteps yet.

We were told by Gadgies that the Councils Solicitor was being bullied badly, he is off work ill and that the legal advice he gave to stop the opposition raising issues designed to save the pubic £millions was as the Jacksonites had urged him to say and not as his trade would have expected him to say. Dozens of middle grade officers have suffered by his actions especially the former head of planning who is still being maligned as recently as October 2020 by the reptiles trying to cover their tracks.

We suspect the Councils fourth Director of Finance in three and a half years is being bullied as he has thrown the towel in and taken a top job elsewhere following some pretty dodgy financial decisions and spend by the very strange Portfolio holder for finance, Cllr. ‘Nick’ Oliver from Corbridge. We suppose three qualified (thats posh accountants speak for failed!) sets of accounts in three years and the fact that the Council in its wisdom have dumped shifty Advance Northumberland’s books at his door to sort out won’t have helped. We can’t understand why the new Leader of Council and Local Government Association Peer, top dog Glen Sanderson  hasn’t sacked Cllr Oliver from office before he and his cohort Councillor bodycam wearing Richard Dodds are dragged deeper into the cesspool and pulled under.

We know that the current Labour group Leader Cllr Susan Dungworth and the last one Cllr Grant Davey were and are being bullied. Libelling stories of their misdemeanours along with thousands of pounds spent investigating their hardworking pasts have shocked the Tories who expected dark sides to emerge as they are very ordinary people indeed. Costly investigation after investigation found the former Leader innocent of all crime and the lies about the company ARCH were discovered to be just that, lies, with the Current Labour Leader Cllr Dungworth being falsely accused.

But those lies were legitimised through the Councils audit committee via a set of false reports written by Councillors Oliver and Wearmouth being presented as fact. The Councils auditors EY were so incensed at this action that they packed their bags and left. The Tories particularly the turncoat Tory Councillor Wayne Daley have slated them openly ever since because they were honest. Its known the former Labour leader’s health suffered badly and the current leader has been openly accused via social media of collaboration with Council officers by the nasty parties reptiles she’s said to be just hanging in there supported by her group whose popularity is growing as the infighting worsens.

That brings us to the legitimisation of spin and lies through the audit committee?

We as observers of happenings at the Council now need to know if the Chairwoman of the Audit Committee Cllr Georgina Hall is being bullied? Before we bring the sword down onto one side or another on the publics behalf we require answers to whether she knew about the unlawful County Councillor and not officer written reports being placed before her committee? If she did, was she bullied into putting  those known lies before her committee? She has changed her stance and reports through social media recently to show perpetual undying support for Mrs Lally. 

Something to cover their own backs and not hers that the well rehearsed Tories did on a televised Audit Committee recently was to use someone who should know better, the Solicitor Cllr David Towns to make a statement explaining that the Audit Committee was not a scrutiny panel. His clarification was three and half years late as the Committee acted on his teams behalf in the fashion of the worse kind of scrutiny panel you can get, a one sided politically motivated one. 

 

Cllr Hill you need to spill the beans and tell the public the truth before you're caught in the maelstrom of the current investigations.

 

NOTES

 

We thought in our links below we should illustrate a real Tory’s thoughts on matters of state that are supposedly in hand and you may see why support for them from the Gadgies of Morpeth is waning so rapidly.

 

https://www.asiaone.com/world/prince-harry-suggests-covid-19-rebuke-nature?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=addtoany

 

https://www.asiansunday.co.uk/scandal-in-northumberland-as-chief-executive-placed-on-leave/