'Morpeth protected in aspic'

 

The rest of Northumberland doesn't matter?

An article in the Times this weekend showed exactly how Northumberland Conservatives only have eyes for the centre of their universe, the Town of Morpeth.

We here at Murky have nothing against the population of this very attractive market Town but the workings of its less than open politicians leaves a lot to be desired.

The County Council who control planning have helped to increase the protected green belt in the UK to almost 12.5% of all land protected from development through the most recent change to its spatial strategy. It has placed huge swathes of land around Morpeth tightly into its now massive green belt. And with almost a quarter of the geographical area of Northumberland sitting in a national park which is not covered by County planning and also protected from development, diabolically massive pressure for growth is being placed on its current settlements outside Morpeth.

The Council has a target of almost 850 homes per year but by taking land out of the Green Belt in Hexham, Ponteland and Prudhoe for employment uses and ensuring that Hexham, Ponteland and Prudhoe accommodate as much housing as possible to meet future demand and needs shows they are guiding travel in the west of the county towards Newcastle, Gateshead, Washington and Durham which will lead to a decline in future need for a dualled A69 beyond Hexham.

The pressure will also increase on land surrounding Cramlington, Blyth, Bedlington and Ashington with an expected growth in jobs for the future of 15,000 new jobs 17,700 new homes are required with large growth planned for Alnwick and land taken out of the green belt surrounding Berwick upon Tweed to push up housing numbers in the North of the County. 

The Tories plan proposes to deliver the right types of homes in the right places as long as it isn’t Morpeth!.