‘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.