Bullying, is it leaching out from County Hall in Morpeth as living patterns change?

Here at murky we have tried to bring you the background stories emanating from the 'secret council' at County Hall in Morpeth whilst the mainstream press get their teeth into the ongoing official investigations into the spin, lies and bullying that's been an ever present for almost the last five years.

As a regular reader of our blog you are aware we glean much of our information from social media or leaks from the sieve which the almost empty County Hall has become, as people wish to tell all about their experiences of working for an organisation which has slipped into wonderland from reality. It's where a number of those democratically elected to represent you and work with professional officers to deliver their manifestos have been reborn and expect that the professionals who guide them through the maze Local Government has become must kowtow and let them direct the staff themselves. This attitude appears to have become the norm and is now affecting the workforce itself.

The trade unions are recording a huge rise in the number of abuses the workforce encounter on a daily basis. The Council workforce across the County of Northumberland were always considered as the home of the 'happy arm of the Council', with the public openly praising everyone involved from the carer to the road sweeper, highways workers and gardeners who look after the beautiful towns and villages across the piece. Yet the spin off to the realisation by the public that Council workers have to put up with bullying from top councillors down has changed attitudes entirely.

As a critic of the Council we here at murky believe the opposition parties at County Hall should make an immediate stand on behalf of the workers and ensure the public know they are doing their duty in both protecting the workforce and engaging the public, gifting them the knowledge that our public workforce is the real prime resource of the Council and workers are not there to take the flak that in the case of Northumberland needs to be directed towards members of the administration In power.

First real test of Northumberland's 'go it alone' declaration as Newcastle gets the North of Tyne 'devolution' jobs?

  

The unbelievable arrogance of Northumberland County Council's Conservative administration in Leader of Council Councillor Glenn Sanderson's  statement declaring his group only want 'normal relations' with the other members of the North of Tyne combined authority has backfired badly as the partners who have chosen to support the regional mayor in his endeavours to improve the regions lot, Jamie Driscoll has hooked in 9000 jobs to be centred in Central Newcastle.

Many of these devolved jobs from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs aren't moving very far but the centralisation of process onto a single site is a coup for the North of Tyne and a snub to its neighbours who like Councillor Sanderson didn't want to work with an elected Mayor and it's the Borough of Sunderland which loses out as a number of the jobs are currently based in the Town of Washington.

The new site is situated in the Pilgrims quarter of Newcastle and will be covered by a clean air zone which in reality requires workers to arrive by public transport as car parking in the city of Newcastle is already at a premium. And that's where if Councillor Sanderson had his head screwed on the right way he could have 'used that loaf' to entice the HMRC guru's to consider a site in Northumberland well serviced by train and bus from the Newcastle-North Tyneside conurbation such as Cramlington, Hexham or attempt to alleviate some of the Council's deprivation by bringing some excellent clean jobs to Blyth or Ashington.

It was our murky hope that Boris Johnson's most recent visit to Kitty Brewster this week was to resolve the issues a local horse charity has which may slow the reopening of the AB&T Northumberland line.  A reopening which should have been the catalyst for the Conservatives to work with the mayor to secure a cleaner and wealthier future for its least well off areas with shrinking GDP's massively affected by Brexit which if still controlled by District Council's would have attracted large sums of EU regeneration funding to help their dire situations.

Rapidly reconsider what 'normal' is Councillor Sanderson and get stuck in to help those residents in need of a supportive team to run their Council.

With the spin unravelling Olly's tale of woe shows how his whinging is a base cover up for failure.

 

This week's leakage to the press illustrates how ultra right wing Gorgons have infiltrated the Conservative Party across the County of Northumberland. 

Firstly with the disgraceful events surrounding the closure of youth services by a Council portfolio holder who has probably never ventured that far south in the County (but he does have a Prudhoe right winger as his assistant). Secondly when that activity is coupled with the release of the investigation into Councillor Homer's  animated reactions to the Hexham Courant in an attempt to cover up potential serious allegations of bullying and harassment of staff now being reported to the Council's standards board by a top independent investigator shows the mess the council is in.

Councillor Oliver of Corbridge tried a similar 'let's all feel sorry for me' tactic, by going public on his sacking from a Council committee chairmanship then being replaced by a member of the Libdem opposition. 

His whinge does show however, if true, how the Leadership pairing of Councillors Sanderson and Wearmouth are when it comes to managing their team of extremists and bully's that they simply didn't point to his four years of pathetic failure to achieve best value on behalf of the public when he sat as the portfolio holder for finance. This tragedy to ignore openly explaining his personal failures to a member of their own party is particularly galling following release of Oliver's own reports into the public domain which led the then chair of the audit committee being conned into having to pay the ferryman to cross the river Styx and not return to high office during this four year term, an act of bullying if ever we saw one.

So our team thought it best to point towards the release of Councillor Oliver's last audit report which will be reported on next Wednesday at the audit committee, overseen by a different auditor which shows his planned borrowing to exceed £1,2Bn shortly. Something he accused Labour of planning back in 2017. 

He, Councillor Oliver, began his new order by telling the world how his prudence will stop borrowing creeping up from happening. For four years under his mighty persona the Council hasn't delivered anything that wasn't already planned and scoped in by Labour. His promises of saviour-ship under his control has led to the Council delivering nothing new of any distinction apart from alleged serious acts of bullying which drove top officers away from the Council's door leaving the skill set required by an organisation of this size with dreadful howling gales whipping through the gaps.

Let's see what he has to say when it's his turn for the investigators report to be released? We bet his spin will be a sight to behold when that happens.

More square pegs in round holes damaging Prudhoe?

 

The damage being done to the Conservative Party in Northumberland through the series of investigations into the standards expected from democratically elected representatives and the regular and ever ongoing changes required at the top level of the Tory Party at County Hall to cover for those lost through bullying and intimidation of both Council Officers and other councillors appears to be unique in local government, although it does mirror the sleaze antics of the Conservatives in Government.

A number of those enforced changes at the County Council have thrown up completely inadequate people, but the most recent shows that the Council's leadership duo of Councillors Sanderson and top regional Tory, Councillor Wearmouth have taken no notice of the needs of residents, and those needs are quite simple, that of having councillors who can deliver for the people without their own hangups and personalities getting in the way of progress. From their most recent debacle we can assume that no vetting of Councillors has taken place before they brought in the latest and arguably most unfit person to help manage the portfolio for community services. 

From information openly available on public websites the replacement for the allegedly bullied Councillor Dunbar has been named by the Leadership team based at Morpeth as Councillor Gordon Stewart.

What makes us believe he is unsuitable?

Last week those of us who watch Council committee videos noticed that at the West Area local committee, Councillor Stewart made a big thing of praising the County Council's youth service employees from Prudhoe in a manner befitting someone in love with the service newly under his control. Yet the day after his slobbering two faced statements information was passed out to staff that the County Council believes enough voluntary provision for youth was available in Prudhoe and the service under his control was being disbanded.

Following the release of the information to abandon young people in need from Prudhoe, passing them to the four winds in an area of high social deprivation combined with an underlying low wage structure, the release of information on social media has shown the decision was made by Councillor Stewart in conjunction with Councillor Renner-Thompson prior to the meeting of the aforesaid Area Committee taking place and letters had been issued to a number of people citing councillors Stewart and Renner-Thompson as the culprits for change illustrating in our eyes how unsuitable or is that unethical he is?.

The other role Councillor Stewart has picked up is the heady responsibility of community safety and that is where vetting would have really shown the Conservative leadership pair why they should have had their new incumbent vetted prior to making and supporting a proposal to move him up the ranks and be responsible for community safety and therefore liaison with the Police.

A simple viewing via the Internet would have exposed Councillor Stewart's former life as a cop and his membership of a group who tried to drag the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police through the courts. The case was lost and cost Councillor Stewart thousands.

The case is openly available and shows why the Leader of Northumberland County Council and his team should not only reconsider youth provision in Prudhoe but also the responsibilities endowed onto Councillor Stewart as the remarks exposed in his lawsuit appear to sit well outside the Nolan principles to which County Councillors should always operate. 

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/six-police-officers-lose-bullying-1421598

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff7e260d03e7f57eb29de

So our message to the Leadership at County Hall is, following your recent press release to ditch joint working with the Mayoralty of North of Tyne and therefore ruin opportunities for regional devolution, 'why do you not care at all about the needs of families, youth's and the wider cooperation of people who need to have their communities voices heard at a democratically elected senior level and their messages relayed to the Police without the possibility of undeclared personal interests clouding matters on the public's behalf?'

Regional bus plan, Will Northumberland miss out as its Leader drives on towards independence.

 

With Northumberland's political leadership acting without democratic mandate and blanking themselves off from all commitments to work with other regional leaders and the North of Tyne Mayor, who holds the responsibility for transport over the largest geographical part of the region, may leave northumbrians living in an Independent Republic with less public transport than the meagre offering they already have.

The plan, thought by transport experts to be the most people centred offer outside the Capital if all councils agree to pick up the mantle and run with it is the offer being put before residents of the north-east region to ask everyone how they would like bus transport scoped in their areas. The visionary initial outline plan looks like this:

A single ticket that would allow unlimited travel across all bus, metro, and ferry services across Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland plus rail services between Newcastle, the metrocentre and Blaydon*.

The multi-model ticket will be capped on a two zone basis at between £4 & £6:50.

Cheaper tickets for under 19's with a target £1:20 single fare and a £2:50 multi model regional cap.

A trial of free travel for under 12's will take place in 2022

A pledge to run zero emissions buses where they can be sustainably managed and the cleanest engine models where distance dictates need. With a trial of hydrogen busses as soon as practicable.

More early morning and late evening and overnight services across rural Durham and Northumberland.

*Talks still have to be agreed to organise cross ticketing on the Northumberland and Tyne Valley train lines but the reluctance or is that intransigence from the leaders of the new Republic in Northumberland who refuse to look outside of their own back gardens will lead at this moment to Northumberland missing out from what is after all an amazing green and pleasant offer. 

Is the growth of ASHINGTON being deserted by Northumberland Conservatives?

 

Just prior to the public enquiry being held in Blyth Civic Centre on the validity and essential need for the reopening of the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Northumberland  rail line we need to ask about the stand being taken by the Leaders of Northumberland County  Council?

Ashington had a lot going for its future, with the North of Tyne combined authority and its elected Mayor Jamie Driscoll working tirelessly on the project of helping an area which has been badly affected from the loss of its mining and heavy production industries with Alcan once sited on its doorstep along with Universal Credit cuts and frozen Triple Lock links with wage inflation currently damaging the area badly.

The North of Tyne combined authority, made up from North Tyneside, Northumberland and the City of Newcastle councils were challenged by George Osborne and David Cameron to design a Combined Authority with an elected Mayor to handle transport for the region and devolution issues and its opportunities as they arose.

The people elected Jamie Driscoll who has shown other areas how good an elected Mayor can be.

Most recently one of the prime projects for the North of Tyne group has been the reopening of the former Ashington, Blyth and Tyne line AKA the Northumberland Line which would bring immense growth to Ashington and open up opportunities for its residents to reach their goals and aspirations across a much wider area as places like Northumberland will be hit hard through the greening processes of our nation, with Mayor Driscoll writing to the Times along with a number of other concerned politicians to note research from the Centre for Progressive Policy which "identified 74 areas across Britain with a combined population of nine million people that are at particular risk of job losses and reduced earnings owing to decarbonisation". The group calls for "targeted interventions'' to protect vulnerable people and communities from the impact of a bad transition to net zero", and announces a five-point plan to "help our areas to build back greener and more prosperously after the pandemic". 

Northumberland, particularly the South East and the Tyne Valley will be negatively affected by net zero changes as the essential varied public transport choices are currently not available to maintain incomes once their old jobs disappear.

Yet with all of that knowledge openly available, the Leader of Northumberland Conservative Group, Glenn Sanderson whose deputy leader Richard Wearmouth, is the leading Conservative in the North-East region, being their Chairman, are backing off from working on any devolution deals with the North of Tyne combined authority.

Councillor Sanderson only wishes to keep 'normal relations' with Mayor Driscoll and the other authorities, leaving the combined authority in major difficulty in drawing down devolution cash from the Conservative Government in power to further expand the reopening of the Northumberland line as 'all the ducks aren't sitting in a row'.

We here at murky are unable to find any minutes to show that the Council has discussed this backdown from a Mayoralty at either its secret one party cabinet or its Council meetings, but we have found support articles from Anne-Marie Trevelyan the nations business minister and MP for Berwick upon Tweed and Councillor Wearmouth supporting more stopping trains at Morpeth and Berwick. Funny that they don't want them stopping in Ashington (not!).

Northumberland Splinter Group shrinks as professional investigation results leech out.

 A Christmas bye election in Hexham

A no-shock resignation of a Northumberland County Councillor took place on Wednesday November 3rd 2021 following long term investigations on behalf of the County Council standards board being sent on to Councillors and interim results being placed before them.

The results of the investigations by the Council into the standards required in public life to represent communities as a County Councillor saw Councillor Homer who holds a seat in Hexham resign with immediate effect. Following resignation standards investigations stop and cases are shelved without a public airing.

This set of events brings about the first test for the people of Hexham who showed in May 2021 that they are less than enamored with Conservative antics in the west of the County when the public voted off their stranglehold on Hexham Town Council for the first time in 60 years. With the exposure the Government has had through voting to support sleaze and corruption in Parliament this week, their lack of support for livestock farmers who eke a living on the marginal extremes on the edges of the Tyne Valley spending less in Hexhams shops are just two reasons why its not looking good for the Tories and Labour in the Tyne Valley who proved in May they are making a rapid comeback are off to an early start to muster support from Hexham residents.

A strange rumour broke out from County Hall in Morpeth yesterday linked to this item: Apparently a suspect package was left at reception, the Tories ignored requests to find out what was in it and didn't call security or the bomb squad. The Hexham independent Councillor Kennedy opened it up after the Tories had fled and reception was full of unsuspecting Labour Party councillors. Luckily for them it was Councillor Homer's laptop and phone. It's been said that the sadness that County Hall had not disappeared in smoke in order to bury information to be investigated by the standards board dampened the spirits of the Tories but we need to ask if further 'suspect packages' are being wrapped up in brown paper at a number of other Tory councillors homes as the investigations into Councillors and Advance Northumberland directors gather pace.