Leader to spend fortunes on an environmental emergency when the cost of home to school travel is unravelling youth work County-wide.

 

Services people want are ditched to gain headlines.

Councillor Glen Sanderson, is set to have his Council, Northumberland County Council call a very expensive environmental emergency to steal the thunder from the opposition parties, who are all with greening plans in place stealing his thunder as we count down to the next Local Government County Council elections.

Councillor Sanderson about whom it's said gets lost in his own world and is the exact opposite of the famous writer Herman Melville also a procrastinator who reportedly has his wife chain him to his desk while he was struggling to finish his epic novel Moby-Dick; or, the Whale. It must have worked as the book was first published in 1851. It's a well known fact that no one can get Councillor Sanderson close enough to his desk let alone chain him to it, and his days are taken up with dreaming instead of designing his Councils way out of the holes which dog it’s progress.

If he would wake up to reality he would begin to realise that by calling an environmental emergency he will have to spend oodles of the Councils dwindling resources developing plans to cover off any excitement his emergency raises whilst the services he delivers will have to be stripped of assets and cash to fulfil his dreams.

Some of the services he now isn’t delivering have been challenged by factions within his own party, such as grass cutting, dog dirt and litter, others have been criticised by opposition Councillors such as home to school transport, and the loss of youth workers both elements of extended schools that he should tackle first before dreaming up more.

He probably believes that issuing a home to school transport report containing 38 actions which his staff can’t deliver on means that he has cured a problem. Or that sacking youth workers hoping a stretched third sector will pick up the pieces while families countywide have reported they are in food poverty situations, stinks of Marie Anntoinette and sitting above the stench which prevails in the real world which passes him by.

His damaging non-delivery of social services to the ageing society he presides over will be remembered by many long after he has disappeared from local politics and the long running saga of potholes will haunt him forever well into his dotage as he was responsible for local services for a good number of years before he became leader of the council.

With the shortage of social housing through his unwillingness to build he and his party will be faced with a growing homeless situation in areas of new housing very quickly indeed and the will to help just isn’t there, with New Hartley’s massive development doubling the size of the village coming home to roost as his party dominated the planning committee when that site went through.

Yet his decision making is getting more and more farmer like in its nature as his decision to reduce the size of car parks on the Northumberland Line will not enamour people to travel by train, they may as well use their cars or keep on the high speed buses as both North Tyneside and the City of Newcastle have dedicated bus lanes to zoom people to their destination.

We codgers would really like to think that the fractured Tories will lose this leader and bring in a thinker who can manage at least to tie all of the loose ends together or do they feel a scapegoat is necessary in 2025.

Giga-GaGa from Northumberland Conservatives

But how much public cash has been ADVANCED.

Since 2017 Northumberland Conservatives both Council and MP’s have been keen on promoting the building of a Giga plant to build car batteries on a huge site at Cambois in the river Blyth estuary next door to the giant power converter bringing hydro electricity from Norway and directly opposite Northumberland’s deep water port facility.

The first speculative ‘partnership’ was with the company Britishvolt the company was said to have a vision supported the UK government’s narrative of “leveling up”—supporting the development of struggling, often postindustrial, areas of the country, in the case of this site it was on the edge of a ‘Red Wall’ seat as are many of the ‘levelling up’ projects being funded nationally.

Partners in the development of this huge project with Britishvolt were Northumberland County Council, the Port of Blyth, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the North of Tyne Combined Authority and the Northumberland County Councils regeneration company ADVANCE Northumberland, who had staff working flat out on this project for over two years.

The company was said to have held numerous beanies to attract investors; Britishvolt, a startup hoping to transform UK car production by making batteries for electric vehicles, rented a seven-bedroom £2.8m mansion with a swimming pool and Jacuzzi-style bath for workers and to attract investors, portraying a lavish, well off scenario to all involved, including Northumberland County Council and its ADVANCE Northumberland arm.

Following a summer when people were wined and dined at Goodwood and everything looked dandy, the Company Britishvolt were rapidly getting themselves into a financial position of their own making and by late October, the company was in serious trouble, amid evidence of chaotic management.

It ran out of steam shortly afterwards as Top Tory investors stepped back and levelling down began, secrecy likened to the ‘Seal’ prevailed, with Advance Northumberland clearing out its Board of Councillor Directors from all parties involved in the Council.

Suddenly during the spring of 2023 the Council announced another developer to work with ADVANCE Northumberland to progress the project. Recharge Industries had been found.

They immediately set about changing the plant from a battery producer to a warehouse facility. Recharge's plan for the site was to initially develop battery storage technology, rather than batteries for electric vehicles. The BBC reported that government enthusiasm for the project was cool.

The latest news, that Recharge is being investigated by the Australian Tax Police appears to be the death knell of the project at Cambois with the Tories leaving the area in the doldrums jobs wise and the future of the site now in disarray.

But the public on social media now want to know how much this has cost the Council and ADVANCE Northumberland and who was involved with the beanies organised to promote the business.

Opposition Councillors were not removed from the board of ADVANCE without reason, Come Clean and let us, your constituents, know the truth and we as Tax and Council Tax payers need these questions answered?

1 How much money including officer time has been spent by both Northumberland County Council and Advance Northumberland on the Britishvolt and Recharge projects?

2 Publish copies of the council’s due diligence reports, now they are no longer commercially sensitive, so an assessment of how any decision/s from the local authority was/were made

3 Publish the following:
An assessment of how much in terms of business rates will be lost by the council on an annual basis as a result of the failure of battery manufacture to commence in 2023 as initially promised

1. Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with British Volt and Recharge
   
   

2. Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with the UK Government on the issue of Britishvolt, Recharge and the Cambois Site more generally
   
   

3. Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with Northumberland’s four Members of Parliament in regard to the Cambois site
   
   

4. An explanation of the current legal position with the Cambois site and the council’s options for seeking ownership of this site
   
   

5. An assessment of any threat to a new Northumberland College development given the proposals to use this as a training centre for Britishvolt, Recharge and associated industries
   
   

Notes

https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2023/06/25/police-raid-new-owner-of-300m-car-battery-gigaplant/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/25/britishvolt-buyer-david-collard-raided-australian-authorities

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66012303

https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2023/jan-2023/britishvolt-does-its-demise-mean-trouble-for-the-uk-car-industry

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-blame-britishvolt-electric-car-collapse-william-hague-2092428

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/20/britishvolt-britains-battery-startup-uk-car-production

Staff Confidence so low it's showing in your streets?

 

Empowering staff and building confidence among the workforce is paramount to improving the lives of people across Northumberland with two of the worst issues weakening at a time that enforcement twinned with high levels of publicity could drive improvement beyond the pale, yes this week’s park bench conversations centred on LITTER and DOG DIRT.

Our chat was triggered by a press report from Clean up Britain published in the Times newspaper which said: Data from 261 local authorities in England, obtained by the Clean Up Britain campaign under Freedom of Information laws, has revealed that over the last year, two thirds had issued fewer than two fines for littering a week on average, while 10 councils said they have a policy of not issuing such fines, and 54 said that while they do issue fines, they had not issued any in the last year.

 Campaign founder John Read said most people "have no fear whatsoever of being caught and fined for littering - despite it being a criminal offence. The law is not being enforced." Defra's 2017 anti-litter strategy, he said, has been "an abject failure". LGA environment spokesperson, Cllr Darren Rodwell said councils "run a range of awareness and clean-up campaigns, and fixed penalty notices are generally issued where a person littering has been caught in the act, with other cases hard to prove".

In 2014 the last Labour administration went out full pelt and engaged the workforce in assisting with the new tidiness strategy empowering them with the energy and will to drive the then ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ strategy on our streets with reports from the public growing manifold allowing a greater number of penalty notices to be issued as the public became visibly aware of the improvements to be had with 54 notices being issued by May 2015 and an average of 23 fines each month of the last Labour administrations term of office.

Since May 2017 with the Toxic Tories interests not centering on Urban or Roadside litter and Councillors of all denominations picking litter on a regular and ongoing basis the public as well as staff have gone back  into the shadows and reversed into demonizing the Council for the mess and not the culprits.

Northumberland Labour have had numerous statements about their revitalization of their 2014 policy and the re-advertising of their ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign with their Leader, Councillor Scott Dickinson praising the help that’s been forthcoming from the local services workforce and Parish Councils in giving what help they can to keep places tidy but with the Tories in the shape of Councillor Colin Horncastle making a massive play around the fining of two related people in Cramlington in May 2023 it shows how far the current administration has slipped back over the last six years. And with Cramlington Tories complaining about their cohorts at County Hall in Morpeth getting better service than them, it shows how fractured and unable to galvanise a weakened workforce they are under Councillor Horncastle’s direction.

Notes

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/News/2023/May/Cramlington-Couple-Fined-for-Littering-and-Dog-Fou.aspx

 

I’m not to be challenged? Council Leader who has made fortunes by challenging other councils on behalf of the Local Government Association sacks challenge board from his own Council.

Wednesday 14th June 2023.

A rushed park bench group meeting was held as our codgers team couldn't believe the Conservative led Northumberland County Council had the gall to reverse up a back alley and deny progress to Northumberlands electorate through their dodgy decision making process in front of their new Chief Executive live on TV.

Full Council at the expensively & prestigious, (nearly empty apart from 10 days a year, less if the Leaders of the Council's Administration had their way), County Hall in Morpeth Northumberland, almost had its secrets exposed to public scrutiny by an outside team set up to drive improvement but the Leader of the Council which was shown up and reported to its own Government for bullying staff, decided he and his close associates didn’t fancy any more investigations that may lead to the true stones being unturned.

It's a Council that hasn’t yet achieved Best Value on behalf of the Counties residents in six years of Tory administration, but instead of improving and bettering the public service offer they decided that in order to maintain its secrets the challenge board must go!

Northumberland Labour Group did its best to maintain the current level of challenge by an outside body brought in to ensure public and council scrutiny improved beyond belief and that decision making was shared and openly debated. But their cries were to no avail as the Conservatives and their allies, some of whom have much to hide, ploughed on to vote regardless in the manner of a Boris Johnson speech in the house with the Leader’s body language saying it all live on TV.

 

It was the face attached to that body that told the saga of the ‘Council which Failed’ to deliver on the majority of its key performance indicators yet again. A Council which has now decided not to progress in the manner its leader who is a former lead regional peer for the North East, Humberside and Yorkshire for the Tory led LGA teaches other councils to achieve and a Council which repeats its failures publishing them as wins time and time again.

 

At our meetings over the summer we codgers will have to decipher where this Council goes in future as it is now aligning itself extremely closely to its crumbling Government and its top of the political tree dicey ever changing leaders.

 

Notes:
https://www.northeastlep.co.uk/about/our-boards-archive/councillor-glen-sanderson/

Toxic Tories don't give a damn if your home is repossessed.

 

The where there's muck there's money adage is deeply ingrained in their mindset.

Recent news that Northumberland is well rooted in the top ten Council areas with the highest rate of repossessions nationally doesn't come as a surprise to many.

 The results released by housing action groups and charities only ran to the five years from 2017 up to 2022 and those five years have had a toxic group of ultra right wing Tories running the County Council. 

 Those same interest groups expect the rise of repossessions to be massive during the current administrative period with the Toxic Tories well publicised failure to control raging inflation and the Bank of England's attempts to offset the Government's slack grasp on economics by concentrating on raising interest rates and borrowing costs. A policy which is compounding the problems with families losing their homes after previously losing their cars and other possessions in attempts to steer their way out of debt.

 National press reports in recent days show repossessions are set to soar further after mortgage rates nudged 6% yesterday.  

The average two-year fixed-rate deal rose from 5.92% to 5.98% yesterday, with five-year deals up from 5.56% to 5.62%, Moneyfacts data shows. 

Repayments were already taking up the biggest slice of new borrowers’ income in 15 years, at 20.4%, according to banking trade body UK Finance – and rates have continued to rocket since then. Repossessions surged by 50% in the latest quarter, and housing charities worry that we could be in a spiral of repossessions.

Those same charities are showing great concern that social housing is not available to assist those caught in the new poverty trap and that housing companies and councils are labeling a repossession of your home by your lender as making your family intentionally homeless and washing their hands of your problems when you and your family are suffering one of the worst periods in your life.

In Northumberland the Council has not built any new family homes to raise their dwindling stock since 2017 and are planning very few new family homes in the future.

The Council has also recently reported that it is home to 2000 void properties which have sat empty for more than a year.

When coupled with the fact that Northumberland does not have an early warning system set up with charities to bring those close to repossession in to assess their need. Many local housing authorities have and use it to keep numerous families in their own homes instead of them becoming homeless. They do it through slowing progression with banks and building societies by agreement or by using housing benefit to advantage those able to claim to pay it directly to their mortgage provider.

With not enough buy to rent investors waiting in the wings any longer to carpetbag peoples homes cheaply Northumberland County Councils Toxic Tories need to come up with something shortly with the resolution foundation predicting that mortgagees may have to find an additional £53 per week over the next two years to cover off the Bank of Englands enforced interest rate rises, house prices falling as a result and with a similarly toxic government in charge who are hell bent on wage capping it doesn't bode well for those in the new poverty trap.

When does fighting your political corner become bullying of Council Officers?

The Blue on blue rants from the various factions among the Conservative group/s on Northumberland County Council wanting to ensure spend and service delivery is enhanced on the ground in their patch has spilled out into the open in recent weeks.

This Conservative led Council still reeling from the myriad of investigations into the high level bullying of staff with Councillors denying any involvement (as one would expect from Conservatives using Boris Johnson as a fine example of honesty and integrity) has turned Northumberland’s political scene completely on its head with a public rant from Cramlington Conservative Councillors against officers working for the Councils local services department.

Cramlington, Northumberland’s largest township under Tory control at both Parish and County level, with its Councillors playing all edges and sideways to illustrate how they are the ‘it wasn’t us mister’ legion it’s those from Morpeth to blame for all the bother, showed by their latest action that their volume level may be turned down but the equaliser tone is identical in that bullying and the Civil War actions by Northumberland Conservatives cannot be segregated between townships nor individual Councillors and splitting away from the core does not cure the epidemic and itus of bad behaviour developed in line with their National representatives over the last 13 years of dreadful treatment of the public at large and both Civil Servants and Council employees in particular.

The nub of this most recent act of bullying is the fact that Cramlington conservatives tried to highjack schemes paid for by other parish councils without paying for them, using cash pots levered into local services from parish and town councils to safeguard local employment and pressurise the County Council local services into providing similar levels of service in Cramlington to those areas who coughed up the double charging cash. Unfortunately after six years of not achieving best value on behalf of the Counties residents their service thefts failed and Cramlington ultra-right wingers took umbrage in public.

They have probably undertaken this threatening exercise as they have lazyboned it politically and instead of putting in some effort to pour oil onto the factionalised Tory groups at County Hall and get the factions to work together and drive the secrecy out of Northumberland's Council treatment of the public and its officers and staff they have sat back like ancient residents of Lincoln and turned yellow into the bargain until they have been forced to show their meanness and underhand ways in public!

Constituents countywide are now taking notice and polls show the Tories are slipping away from their traditional voters across huge rural counties like Northumberland and now they are definitely out of touch in townships like Cramlington, as they can’t define a difference in attitude with their moron colleagues who keep the ‘secret code’ closer to their chests and only let their outbursts be heard in secret.