This week's budget meeting at County Hall in Northumberland shows full well how Northumberland Conservatives have given up on ever getting the opportunity to run this Council ever again.
Being kicked from pillar to post by the public and spinning out a cuts budget following a £42m+ increase in income (£20m for general services improvements and £22m for education, children and young people) from the Labour Government shows how their injection programme to increase the level of ‘Osborne’s austerity virus’ among the Tory faithfull still hasn’t worn off.
The budget from County Hall also includes a medium term financial plan or should we call it a trap for the next council of a £25m debt interest payment next year. The net effect is that the next Council will walk into County Hall and locate a huge ‘BLACK HOLE’ that will damage services further.
We codgers who check out a good number of Council’s cuts programmes cannot find another similar sized Council who needs to find further efficiencies this year following a budget increase from Government on the scale of Slasher Sanderson’s cohort.
If we take a little cursory glance at Councillor Sanderson’s 2020 project when he named himself the ‘Climate Champion’ for Northumberland. His list of projects he was going to deliver stands as a testament to spin and no substance.
1 Mines water district heating schemes Not delivered
2 Carbon heat networks Not delivered
3 Battery storage site for energy storage Not delivered
4 Restoration of peat bogs and plant more trees
Other organisations have ditched his Council and begun this work without him.
5 Renewable energy funding from Borderlands Not delivered
In fact Borderlands may be an incredible risk for the next Council
6 Supporting potential on land solar hydro and wind sites. His group are and have been set against on land wind and solar arrays are only just rearing their heads while stuck in the planning mire of Northumberlands Local Plan.
7 Increase access to affordable warmth to reduce fuel poverty
Not delivered
8 Increase waste reuse and recycling Only hot air from County hall has been delivered so far on this commitment.
9 Schools go smarter travel initiative. It's a good job that's now the responsibility of Labour’s North-east Mayor who is delivering on this issue.
10 increase the number of vehicle chargers by 2021 Delivered, but only because he didn’t issue a percentage target or numbers involved.
11 Identify Cycling and walking infrastructure plans.
Cycling and walking plans have been a well advertised failure and their construction has caused four years of road closure in the town of Blyth, Northumberland’s largest enclave.
Slasher’s future plans include the narrowing of Northumberland’s busiest and most congested highway Cowpen Road, the removal of pedestrian safety islands and all right turn pockets leading to traffic chaos.
The opposition to this project which its expected has been designed to further increase shopping footfall outside of traditional South East Northumberland and increase unemployment as Cowpen Roads shopping areas suffer the same blight as Blyth Town Centre must have caused Slasher’s grey matter to twitch a bit as at the Council’s budget meeting Slasher passed cycling and walking responsibilities over to Northumberland Conservatives spin master Councillor Richard Wearmouth.
Local Tories have also spun out a story that the Cowpen Road project has been halted. Halted but not stopped according to Labour Councillor Eileen Cartie who is running a petition supporting a Sustrans designed safe route from Blyth Town Centre to Bebside Station known as the ‘Academies Route’ that will halt the increase of road closures, stop the closure of Cowpen Roads shops, save jobs in Blyth and allow people to cycle in safety, bypassing Northumberland’s busiest road.
Its still essential that local people sign Councillor Carties' petition now that the Tories have moved the responsibility for Cycling and Walking over to the ‘dark side of politics’.
We codgers who also support Councillor Cartie and her road safety challenge would like to ask our readers to support this petition as if you have ever driven on Cowpen Road you will understand why an alternative cycling and walking route away from this highway and its dangers is essential.
Her petition can be found here:
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