Their Chickens are coming home to roost?

 

                              Panic to block up the coop!

The story of how ‘Bullygate’ at County Hall in Morpeth has come off its hinges and began to fall apart and joiners have been called in from their lodges to fix what now looks like the entrance to the crooked man's mile is a fascinating one.

The run out of the tale from ‘Hans’ Sanderson in the news last week after the Taxpayers Alliance had blown the fact that £120,000 of the £180,000 unauthorised additional payments to the Councils Chief Executive should ensure a guillotine is built in Newgate Street in Morpeth and the tumbrills full of Tories should be queued up waiting for the chop as Hans declares the payments were not fraudulent and ‘no one's to blame’.

Typical Tory spin, but Hans story lines have been subject to a reasonable number of hits from people who fell on hard times over the last three years and have been exposed to the frightening interviews from the Councils fraud team and they want to know why the same team have not dragged in Hans and the former leader and well known lothario ‘Casanova Jackson’ and even the Chief Executive herself?.

Hans has gone on to spin another tale in public on a couple of occasions recently coming out to ensure he is front and centre in the recruitment of consultant and Local Government hit-man Max Caller CBE that's following Hans revelations from November 2020 when the Hexham Courant reported that preliminary findings by an independent consultant had already found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mrs Lally. So we are beginning to believe the stories that Hans and his deputy and sidekick Sancho Panza Wearmouth have been seen in Dunelm in Cramlington being protected from Crams Conservatives by a reasonable crew of captain Ahab’s pirates ordering a giant blackout curtain to cover over the investigations with the words ‘Its True Mister Honest’ emblazoned in bright blue all over it.

But denials and secrecy has dogged the Tories since 2017 with news reports from Hans stating ‘No problems found in Advance’, on 22 Feb 2022 with another press statement on 31 March 2022 stating that a report into Advance Northumberland from KPMG will not be shared with the public. Another cover bought from Dunelm?, could be as previously the centre of bully gate Ms Lally warned of "continuing weaknesses in governance" at Advance and issues in communication and "trust" between the company and the council - though at the time the company insisted improvements had been made and council leader Hans Sanderson - speaking in a political capacity rather than on behalf of the authority - defended the company.

So it appears the Tories, pre guillotine are still looking for someone to blame as ‘Its True Mister Honest’ is the new tattoo they are all wearing with space left underneath for that adage from the classic collection on Morpeth Matters 'It's all Labour's fault init’ and as Hans is front and centre in paying the Consultant Mr Caller is he also calling the tune or will those Morpeth Tories spin it over again and again and again like Boris Johnson until even the taxpayers alliance get dizzy!

Spinning, it will not cover up the truth? Out of control Council’s Leader needs a reminder of what’s gone on.

 

The recent press report regarding the overpayment of Council officers and the engagement of a Government Commissioner from the Leader of Northumberland County Council is pure spin!

His attempt to cover over the dreadful happenings at the Council since 2017 is a disgrace and he needs reminding how his party acted both under the wing of deposed Leader Peter Jackson and himself as this poorly spun press report is just another ‘secret council’ stunt by him and his mates.

 https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-county-daljit-lally-24040514?fbclid=IwAR1TP2P8FRcK_DwkqnYEEF0TQLJ2I8DMpaex5vjCj7WjN3u8Zl5PRccKnWw

The bullying of council officers and opposition members has been common place and has drove the Tories on the Council to con and lie to both fellow councillors, press and public for the last six years.

One of the worst aspects since 2017 was the conning of the former Chairperson of Audit, Councillor Hill, and hurting her political career by advising her to put false reports through the audit committee written by Councillors and by allowing the Cabinet member for finance Councillor Oliver to sit in on all audit committee meetings and speak against any opposition whose job it was to scrutinise the auditable actions of him as well as the Council deserves a section 114 notice of its own. The Tories in Northumberland also drove an international auditor to end its contract with the Council early as they took no notice of their professional advice.

Secondly Councillor Sanderson’s treatment of the Cramlington Conservatives has been abysmal after they sided with truth over evil in the Jackson affair. Kissing and making up certainly isn’t in his nature.

We here at murky do not expect that the full reports finding from the commissioner will ever be released but let's just take a few short glances back through history at why we have called this latest news report from the Council Leader spin?

Report: The payments were allegedly made without the “proper authorisation” and contravening the council’s pay policy statements. The funding was related to her responsibilities undertaken with Northumbria International Alliance (NIA).The Section 114 report does not “seek to attribute any individual blame or responsibility for actions or omissions that have led to the unlawful expenditure identified in this report and should not be read as such.”

Truth: When in joint administration with the LibDems 2008-2013 Councillors Sanderson, Jackson, Reid and Tebbutt had officers and legal representative hound Officers of the former Wansbeck District Council who had a matter of identical circumstances and had not put changes through the elected Council. Wansbeck District Council like the current County Council had not suffered loss and in fact poured £millions into the new unitary NCC’s coffers. On an equality and equity basis Councillor Sanderson needs to have his decision making Councillors and Officers hounded to the same degree.

Sand: Council Leader Councillor Glen Sanderson said: “When I took office as leader 12 months ago, I called for a thorough review of our governance arrangements

Truth The external auditor together with interim officers at that time threatened the Council with legally calling in the Council’s lack of lawful Governance arrangements and serving notice due to the Tories unlawful alterations to the constitution in 2017/18 and the dodgy legal advice issued during council meetings.

Sand: “When the council meets to consider the contents of this report , together with the corporate governance review we commissioned from Max Caller CBE, I will ensure that the administration takes all appropriate steps to ensure that there is a new culture of openness, trust and accountability, in all that we do.”

Truth: Councillor Sanderson voted to retain Councillor Jackson in Office  against advice and the combined force of the opposition groups and Conservatives rebels during 2020 and has had a considerable time in which to make the necessary alterations to get back to being an open Council, he could have introduced a mixed Cabinet, (He didn’t), He could have had the actions of the last administration investigated, he didn’t and he did nothing about the bullying of staff until he was forced to by Council officers and auditors so the term ‘WE’ in his press spin must be the royal one.

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-54002128

The Councillor Jackson debacle also brought into the light the happenings at the international department and we need to ask who signed it off as a project? Him of Course! The then, Leader of the Tories on the County Council.

 https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/18697843.probe-1-4m-northumberland-county-council-project-public-money-spent-first-class-trips-abroad/

A Denial list or is that a protagonists list was kindly produced by the Hexham Courant

https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/18685292.breaking-northumbe

 

Morpeth Residents Rate County Council Services as Poor.

 A recent visit to Morpeth, the home of Northumberland County Council, by a national charity the Taxpayers Alliance who led a survey on its main shopping street.

One of the questions they asked was what do you think of the services delivered by Northumberland County Council?

The majority answer which came as no surprise to most observers as the Tory led Council have not delivered 'Best Value' on behalf of residents for the last six years, was that people who answered think the services delivered to them are 'poor'.

It isn't really a conundrum of why the Council has lost the trust of its residents, it's down to leadership and management. The Tories at County Hall have had two leaders in the last six years, Councillor Peter Jackson followed by current Leader Glen Sanderson both of whom were former leaders of the now defunct, formerly well failed, Castle Morpeth Borough Council.

The reality of being rated poor by the public couldn't come at a worse time for Northumberland County Council, they are about to receive a report from Government Commissioner, Mr Max Caller the official hitman who ruled on problems at both Liverpool and Northampton Councils who have been in high level trouble.

Much of NCC's trouble seems to lean towards the bullying of  Council officers and opposition Councillors much of it took place when Councillor Jackson was in charge but our question to the current leadership is why did you Councillor Sanderson not put a stop to the huge problems which beset your administration and why did you not attempt to put things right?

 

Minister enjoys attacking Trade Unions rather than ensuring better road safety in Northumberland!

 

Grant Schapps, the transport minister has decided to forget his duties and have a poke at extending  anti trade union legislation instead of ensuring he fulfills his promises.

His Tory Party history is littered with accusations that he is the original Mr Murky at the highest level and was involved in the leaking of anti George Osborne info to the right wing press from Wikipedia, here’s the link from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/21/grant-shapps-accused-of-editing-wikipedia-pages-of-tory-rivals

Locally it's said he has links with Jack Gebhard the famous contributor to Morpeth Matters who it appears is now employed as the Chief of Staff at the UK parliament,nice work if you can get it. He was set on in his new role after the Dame Laura Cox enquiry into bullying at Westminster, but did his changes to stem bullying lead to the PM deciding to party with his staff on a number of occasions and if so is it now policy that boozing’s better than bullying in the national Tory party handbook?

In the knowledge that the current Tory designed and led national

crisis is forcing people to demand more help from the Government, the Trade Unions are growing in numbers as a consequence, So in an attempt to sterilise them further with a swathing Franco like 1930’s legislative move which kept the poor starving and brought about a civil war,Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told the Sunday Telegraph that the Government is set to draw up laws requiring minimum numbers of rail staff to work during a strike. The law would make any industrial action illegal if those levels were not met. Mr Shapps has accused unions of treating strikes as a first rather than last resort. How deluded is the man but he does look a bit like a clean shaven neo-liberal from that time period doesn’t he?

Our team are expecting this to be another failure for Schapps and will lead to long winded court appearances for the man who unlawfully decided to build a tunnel under Stonehenge has dithered on the AB&T Line reopening full funding, cut back on transport for the North, upset mayors galore whose promises haven’t been backed up and has left the County Council in Northumberland unfunded for its three most needed propositions that will benefit people most, the extension of safe highway on the A1 To Scotland, changing it from back lane to dual carriageway, a similar safety matter from Hexham to Carlisle of the A69 and the bypass roads to stop the poisoning of residents in Blyth, the county’s largest Town before the opening of Britain's biggest battery factory in the River Blyth estuary.

Possibly for the best for as without Jack Gebhard sitting at the Deputy Leader of Northumberland County Council’s right hand the Conservatives in Northumberland couldn’t manage ‘two moles in a bucket’ and who would trust them with extending the A1 when it's taking 48 weeks of road closure to repave a small street in the centre of Blyth.

The national picture is not much better and Schnapps Department will probably have to carry the burden of the 90,000 civil servant pay off more than most as his dithering and dallying has proven the old adage ‘He who expecteth nothing is never disappointed’ and apart from murkiness the nation seems to expect very little indeed from the windmills of the mind of the ‘new man of La Mancha’?

County Hall Tories have to face Conservatives who want them replaced; as Council Leader spins out dodgily in the regional press.

 

The local and regional newspapers have gone to print with a story regarding the full release of the long awaited Governance report into the wrongs delivered by right wing Tory Councillors against staff and opposition members of Council over the last nine years.

Before going into print the press should have spoken with Conservatives across the County of Northumberland who have leaked issues surrounding the report on social media as the internal battle and culture wars between the same banner members boil over.

The story issued by the Tory Leader states that at a public meeting about to be called by the Council the report will be issued to Councillors at the meeting and the Council will be told that they must buckle down and change their ways to suit the report in front of them or be dealt with in the same fashion as Liverpool or Northampton.

That part of the story is correct, but the full report on Mr Callers findings, according to local Conservatives, will sit in the safe at County Hall under lock and key.

 The Conservatives are not happy that the revelations within the report, the savagery dished out to employees, the favoritism and leaning towards Tory Councillors who have steered issues towards themselves, the dodgy legal advice issued to stop debate, the reasons huge payments were made to people they did not like and the spin machine operators who ran the Tories Murky blogspots will not be named, leaving major issues scattered all over the public realm not being brought into the public arena and scrutinised so that the Council, described by many as the most secretive in the UK will be able to sweep the real matters under the dusty mat at the almost empty County Hall.

So for those who had hoped that the Tories would be found out and the conservative majority within their wider party would force change on them you are about to be disappointed and the outcome will still leave the nasty party locked on their pedestals viewing you all from above.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-county-council-max-caller-23992087#ICID=Android_ChronicleNewsApp_AppShare 

 

Redundancy notices for 20% of civil servants and kicking the Lord's out of Westminster kills off devolution and Gove's need for more mayors?

 

The hopelessness of the wants and needs of both Michael Gove and Boris Johnson is causing angst at all levels of Government and local government as their most recent announcements clash in both the 'culture' of the current Tories in Parliament and the promises of the levelling up secretary Michael Gove with Johnson acting as a warlord stating the cash he will save will be spent on 'helping those in need'.

Loosening the reins and losing 20% of the nation's civil servants not only puts another 90,000 families onto the breadline it kills levelling up stone dead and who will be more in need of help than the 90,000 families whose lives and future plans are about to be placed in jeopardy.

This is certainly a culture war issue as Johnson attempts to emulate his idol Mrs Thatcher who wiped out the mining, shipbuilding and steel industries at a stroke and placed hundreds of thousands of families in a position that many communities have not recovered from more than thirty years on.

But the problem facing the Tories with this latest attack on workers is that civil service jobs have been used as bribery for the acceptance of mayors in the name of both levelling up and devolution for quite some time and without the numbers being exposed to those culture war battles the public will instantly see the inability of mayors to deliver on the Government's promises rendering them a castrated force.

But the next culture issue leaves Gove, out on his own. He is kicking the Lord's out of Westminster while the massively costly refurbishment to 'level up' the twisted constitutional home of democracy takes place and suggests they should try Stoke on Trent for their new home!

A bit of advice, the Lord's really need to get on the blower to Northumberland County Council and ask them for the use of the near empty County Hall in Morpeth, there's a station nearby and it's where the nations dual carriageways end or should that read where the nations dreams end?

Tories and their LibDem mates 'fall at the first hurdle' and fail the public on planning matters.

 

After 14 years of farming and rural Tory interference in planning Northumberland County Council produced and published a new local plan in the image of Margaret Thatcher a few short weeks ago as most of them kiss her picture on their mantlepiece as they leave to run their serfs ragged on the landed estates they dwell on. It was the only image they could design a plan around due to the limited vision that Tory culture allows.

But in the new local plans first test of compliance at the Tynedale Area planning committee on Tuesday 10th May 2022 the cosy gang of Tories and their joined by the hip pals the LibDems politicised a planning application. (It's an unlawful action in planning terms)

At this juncture we will place a link to the meeting at the foot of the page and not name the applicant as he may be an innocent party, we say that because this action may have arisen to put officers on the spot and show them that 'rural councillors rule O.K.' as the dreadful abysmal bullying of good people who work for tge council rolls on and on.

The application had been previously 'refused' the reasons are in the link, that refusal had been supported on appeal by the applicant by a planning inspector.

A Councillor called the application back to a 'rural' area committee where officer and inspectors advice was shredded and the decision overturned by the Conservatives and LibDems in the room. The Chairperson did his usual and abstained as soon as the numbers were in the bunny bag.

Disgraceful planning activity from the Tories has been a prominent element of the current administration at County Hall which rolled over from the actions of many of the same Councillors for the last 14yrs with trades people and developers hoping the new local plan would shine a light of decency on the subject and melt away the planning horrors of the past.

How wrong can people be?

https://northumberland.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=183&MId=1473

Has Glen done the deal to buy the Keel Row before he's forced to grab it for next to nowt?

 

The Queen's Speech this week is already coloured by the weakness of the Tories who feel they need to cover a number of bases to try to 'Fool everyone all the time'. Part of the speech will be the ‘levelling up and regeneration bill’ to try to fill high street shops with businesses willing to embrace the new obviously lower rent culture if commercial landlords have allowed them to stand empty for 12 month or more. 

If they can't or won't seek businesses to take on their premises they will only have two options in Michael Goves levelling up agenda, turn them into housing rapidly or the Council will be able to purchase them using their Compulsory Purchasing powers and let them out or auction them off.

This is a big hit for Councils, many of whom ran their estates departments down in the early days of austerity 12 years ago, but the bigger hit, experimented in by Goves department during the pandemic is the change of streetscene legislation which will allow businesses, pubs and restaurants etc., to use pavements for al fresco dining and guzzling which in the words of someone called Boris Johnson MP “will restore pride in our communities” This will cost Councils dearly as they currently charge businesses for pavement use and even for placing a board on pavements advertising their wares and is another huge ‘culture war’ shock from the lets have 10 Downing Street culture everywhere Johnson Government.

With one in 5 shops empty in the North-East of England and organizations who support small businesses concerned about an element of the bill which will bring derelict commercial shops onto the auction market in order to sell them on to new business buyers criticised as trying to blame commerce for the monetary policies of Government over the past twelve years the Legislation may partly founder on the rocks or will we see the broken tooth destruction of shop premises with unrentable or unaffordable to update condition demolished in the middle of our high streets?

Until we see what amendments the Government places into this new legislation we don't know if like empty office premises, shops will fall outside of the planning regime as office block conversions currently do, with no control over style or building regulation compliance or will Councils still sit outside of the growth of the Tories legalised ‘freehold scamming’ where huge charges are placed on freeholders for estate maintenance instead of grounds and pavements being maintained through Council Tax payments. Over 73,000 homes have been created from former office premises without any compliance with building or planning regulations.

But our interest is in the County of Northumberland where rumours abound that the Leader of Council, Glen Sanderson has already ‘done the deal’ to buy Blyth’s half empty Keel Row centre from the Duke of Northumberland’s estate so that his lordship is not exposed to the vagaries of the Party he invests in and that a major brewer is interested in buying a property on the Market Square in Blyth now that they can also have tables strewn across the outside of their premises but they expect that the views from the main highway aren’t blocked by the Tories planned and sponsored culture centre. Big changes ahead everywhere but expect the Council to move rapidly to gain access to empty shops in places like Hexham and Alnwick leaving Berwick, Amble, Ashington and its largest Town Blyth struggling to locate new tenants.

‘Toxic Culture’ still prevails within Northumberland Conservatives as talent to improve Council is forced out.

 

With the news that the Council is about to expose its Leisure Services to competition after ‘Active Northumberland’ its own arms length charitable company has weathered the storm of the pandemic better than most will force more of its talented workforce to seek employment elsewhere.

With the Councils chief executive forced into ill health by the pressure from the ‘New Mob’ running the Council following the demise of Councillor Peter Jackson from office, shows that the Tories in charge have not learnt any lessons from the disgraceful acts of the past even when those acts have been pointed out to them by very professional external auditors, the culture never changed and toxicity prevailed.

The Council has adopted a Government Commissioner to look into its problems with an extremely high rating from his peers. He, Mr Max Caller is to prepare a report to see which direction the Council needs to travel to at least once achieve ‘Best Value’ for the public, allow itself to be scrutinised lawfully by issuing its performance information out to opposition Councillors and the public and then relieve the pressure from officers and stop all off the cuff ideas from Councillors being the mad policy the Council follows.

The cost to the public of exposing Active Northumberland to competition at a time when the heating and lighting of the chain of leisure centres across Northumberland is at an all time high is abominable, and if the Tories have found a mate who wants to give them a fixed price to run leisure at a cost effective price to ensure it backs up its children's health and adult obesity programs then they have found a fool indeed and the medium and long term costs will be massive.

These latest toxic actions from a political party ‘blinded by the light’ of having to deliver and not just criticise will probably lead to the end of leisure and community services in Northumberland just at a time when some stability from your local council is required as people struggle with the dreadful cost of living crisis caused by members of the same party.