Split wide open Conservatives attacking each other in public.

 

The four fractured groups within Northumberland Conservative Party are beginning to realise their time is nigh, with a Conservative chair, Cramlingtons Mark Swinburn openly complaining at a local area committee meeting in front of the press about how much is spent in Morpeth where the Tory Mob sit and how little is spent on highways in the South-East corner of the County where the majority of people with cars dwell.

During his, my potholes are bigger and more numerous than your potholes spat he said "I'm getting fed up of being fobbed off. I'm at the end of the road with this process. Something has to change".

Dissatisfaction with the 'Morpeth rules ok the rest pay for us' methodology is beginning to gain momentum County-wide with everyone but the about to be candidate for mob culture, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, whose Constituency gains the Town where the Conservative family of former bankrupt Castle Morpeth Councillors has developed a palace with its open waste of county taxpayers cash being poured into the six year redevelopment of County Hall while the backlog of school and highways repairs grows bigger each month.

Gross centralisation and the lack of equity and equality in spend across Northumberland has been openly criticised both from the Town of Berwick upon Tweed through a shop owner on its high street?  The County Councils response is that they are concentrating on the Towns night time economy by investing in the Maltings Theatre and secondarily the Towns military museum where visitor numbers increase in the summer holidays. Hardly the kind of input a high street needs these days? 

Then a village who believes its voice is being stifled by the County Councils deplorable planning system. The residents of the hamlet of West Chevington are feeling the full force of ‘Big Brother’ conservatives who turned down a Tourist Village application in Longhirst right next to Morpeth and the residents of West Chevington are now facing an incredibly similar application via Northumberlands politicised planning system.

On the very politicised planning issues Northumberland County Council is famous for, the West of County area committee has got itself into hot water through an application with prior permission. Its in the town of Prudhoe where the Council's leading light, Gordon Stewart who likes to be photographed picking up litter has made a right hash of things. 

The application simply needed a refresh through the amount of time since it was previously heard. The committee threw the application out twice against planning officer advice. It was from the Duke of Northumberland's management company Northumberland Estates, this shockingly ill advised political decision will gift the estates company a win from the planning inspectorate. This stops the Council having any way of protecting residents once control of a development is gifted by the state in the shape of a planning inspector to a developer and current residents can expect the worst.

Its about time that the planning function was removed altogether from this Committee and a proper cross sector committee formed to meet fortnightly and get through the work in a safe for people professional manner, instead of dodgy locals following Boris Johnsons 'i'll fix it for you’ attitude. 

Get the pints in!

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-tory-councillor-slams-lack-26588587

Northumberland’s Councillor Hill Calls Council Leaders Bluff?

Spital Beach, described by the Leader of Northumberland County Council, Glen Sanderson as a ‘Jewel in the Crown’ has been named one of 83 beaches in the country which has been deemed unsafe because of raw sewage being dumped into the sea.

At the last full Council meeting on 22nd March 2023 Councillor Georgina Hill from Berwick East Ward which contains Spital Beach explained the problems of raw sewage being dumped on the beach as well as stating that “this wasn’t the first time”!

Her follow-up question to Councillor Sanderson was "Does the council have plans to take this up with the local water company and/ or the Government?"

The Leader of Council replied "The council is working with the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water on water quality issues."

Councillor Hill smiled sweetly and sat down, ‘the net was cast’?

An alert from the environment agency covered a number of Northumberland’s tourist beaches, Spittal Beach near Berwick, while Northumberland's Warkworth, Amble Links, Druridge Bay and Blyth South were also affected by the alert.

In parliament the government faced an amendment from the house of Lords that may have stopped sewage dumping but it also may have also reduced the huge income investors receive from Water Companies annually and have done so since it was privatised by the Tories in 1989.

“Lords Amendment 45 to the ‘Environment Bill’ would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.” 

“Despite the horrendous environmental impact of the disgusting practice, shortly before the vote, the Conservative Environment Secretary George Eustice recommended to his fellow MPs that they should reject it.” And, owing largely to the government’s 80 seat majority, the amendment was indeed defeated – by a margin of 268 MPs to 204.”

Where does this leave Councillor Sanderson? As in 1974 whether he likes to be reminded or not Councils were left with environmental public health falling into two of the law’s distinct domains, Health Protection and Health Improvement. Both of these domains contain issues that are certainly in the public interest when it comes to dumping raw sewage into the North Sea. A sea where proud Northumbriand fishermen harvest its contents and sell them for human consumption including Berwicks famous Tweed Salmon caught under license, to a food industry hiding behind an image of cleanliness driven by countless televised shows portraying the Counties beauty. 

The lack of protecting the public from the reality of the situation must put Councillor Sanderson’s Council behind the nine ball and he must now ensure he backs up his staff against his Government and prosecutes the backsides off the investors in his local water company whom his Conservative Government protected in spite of Tory peers supporting the stated amendment in the House of Lords.

Councillor Sanderson needs to ensure his household insurance covers him to seek top class legal advice as Councillor Hills brilliant move will shine a light on the drab tweed wearing Tory Group at County Hall as they possibly do nothing but publish rhetoric surrounding what should be a test case of a Conservative led Council putting its own Government’s practice of ‘Money First! People, what do they matter?’ to the sword through the Courts.

We will watch Councillor Hill's next move on the matter with baited breath as if she plays her cards right Councillor Sanderson's minority administration may have to resign and go to the polls.

Ministers Trips up to Northumberland weren't to support their ‘Red Wall’ MP?

The secrets out: constant high level visits to Blyth and the making of Berwick’s MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan into the ‘deliver nowt of any use to Northumberland’ Transport Minister has now been exposed as a sham at the Conservatives spring conference

The Tories spring conference has been one of the highlights of the year in the Conservative calendar until last year when Boris Johnson was yet again caught with his pants down when he likened his struggle to leave the EU and his fix it like Jimmy Saville event as being in a similar vein to the Ukrainian struggle to fend off an invasion by Russia.

The press and public have been banned from their latest hooray for ‘fixit for us and our mates pockets’ blowbag event in Birmingham. Probably on the fact that Prime Minister Sunak who came second in the laughable race against Liz Truss, an eejit who wrecked our economy and put working people behind the nine ball and is reaping the millions ex PM’s are rewarded with over their lifetime from taxpayers pockets.

But back to the visits to Northumberland. It appears that ministers had read Max Callers report on Northumberland Conservatives antics and possibly had a chat with the international external auditor EY and decided they must hobnob with the Deputy Leader of Northumberland, packmaster Wearmouth and his sidekick the puppet Leader Glen Sanderson on how they ‘secreted’ a public body away from everyone but themselves and have staved off the press and public leading to a complete lack of interest in local politics from their constituents.

Their success in keeping even opposition parties at bay by insisting nothing even the County Hall cat is allowed out it's very expensive new doors to tell anyone what is or is not going on when they are slammed closed is heartening to the Tories who follow the old book of Liberal-Thinking and claim anything and everything that's successful as their doing and just don’t mention anything else!

Rishi Sunak’s copy of Northumberland's double act is a must for him, as the UK Statistics Authority has called him out on his lying to the press regarding asylum seeker numbers.

The Prime Minister has received a rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority for using incorrect figures when citing Home Office action on tackling the backlog of asylum claims. Watchdog chair Sir Robert Chote has written to the Government pointing out that figures used by ministers, including Rishi Sunak, “do not reflect” official statistics. He also suggested it was wrong to claim Conservative administrations had managed to halve the number waiting for their asylum application to be processed when the backlog has gone up by almost 150,000 since Labour was last in Downing Street.

How many more secrets will the Conservative administration in Westminster have to seek advice from Northumberland Conservatives top bods on, and will they learn rapidly on how to keep them locked away. But what we here at murky are really interested in, is ‘when will the safe they are kept in suddenly suffer from salvationalists spontaneous combustion?’ 

Toodle pip for now!

When is a Council Decision NOT a Council Decision?Could it be when only 8.9% of Councillors are allowed to vote for it?

 

As well as all of the things exposed in the recently retired local government expert Max Caller report on the behaviour of Northumberland’s minority conservative administration not sharing information, not sharing targets, not releasing each departments local performance indicators and achievements and the well reported on accusations of bullying, misogyny and well designed hatred of those who speak out against them, Max Callers reports also centered on the need to have cross party  agreement on a regular and ongoing basis about any changes to policy within the Councils’ bounds.

The regular cutting off of opposition council members by the business chair of the council Councillor Flux, the non acceptance of questions from fellow councillors where the instant answer may have a negative feel about it along with the recent attacks against a member of the public who was trying his best to raise issues he thought the answers to should sit in the public domain, shows that the Conservatives who do not hold or have a majority in the Council chamber have simply cocked a snook at Mr Callers expert work.

With their latest Borisian stance against leaks from County Hall via a decision to change the current policy of the Council and the methodology of how the new (still not got the cash to build a factory) company, trying to wedge its way onto the failed Britishvolt site for peanuts is allowed to handle site issues, was brought before the Council’s single party executive.

Conservative executive members, some of whom have little inklings now and then about what's right and wrong were the only people to get the opportunity to vote on this matter, a matter that if the wheels come off may cost the Council dearly.

The Council's executive is made up of 10 members of the Conservative party, they are paid a colossal sum to make decisions on your behalf, yet only 5 of them turned up for the meeting. 

As the previous battery company went under owing £150m you would think that the Leader of council would be insistent that all his elected executive turned up to alter a Council policy on such a dangerous in reputation terms issue, or he should have considered whipping them to ensure they attended, voted and their votes were recorded and that his decision was moved on so that all 67 could agree with the changes or not.

The Council is made up of 67 Councillors, 5 members took this decision, that's only 8.9% of the Councillors democratically voted in to aid you the Council taxpayer get best value for your Council Tax payments we could name the other 5 yellow streaked Councillors from the executive but courtesy says we shouldn’t.

Max Caller has such a unique reputation for helping and aiding Councils who have failed their electorate that were sure he will write his memoirs  which will be very interesting indeed but we would like to get a bet on that his only failure, Toxic Northumberland County Council will get its own chapter and his once in a lifetime frustrated failure will show why 58% of Prudhoe’s electorate voted Labour in a parish Council election last week as a practice to get rid of this lot in charge at County Hall and let Labour begin to rebuild Northumberland as a good employer and an honest dealing Council.