The do nowt Tories running Northumberland County Council showed at the last full Council meeting how anti-democratic their latest close down of the other elected members on the Council has become and how disgracefully insolent the words from their top politicians sound now they have shifted the rules to safeguard their kingdoms.
Edits of The youtube video slashed out the Labour Leader, Councillor Scott Dickinson's questioning of the dreadful handling of the Council's budget plans with the editor centering on Councillor Wearmouth's nasty attitude towards being questioned as if it was the polite answer to a question.
So this article has been set out by the codgers group to ask the question that can’t be asked in the dark regime’s presence with the blame game being spun towards other people instead of the Council’s cabinet, that may cause angst between Blyth folk and Berwick residents.
The spinning spokeless wheel was turning more rapidly than usual when the completely untrue statements regarding regional strategic planning were put forward by Conservative Council members with the new rules of cancelling out opposition replies and points of order blanking the truth from being exposed.
With planning being the prime weapon in the ‘lets conserve and never renew’ outside of South East Northumberland an unwritten policy well practiced by those in office even though the sitting Government increased the new build numbers and delivered an increased spending allowance to pump charge the changes.
The Conservatives' statement that the Mayor for the North-East can call in any planning application she wishes too is complete and utter spin from Councillors who should know better.
The true extent of the Mayor's powers are enshrined in Government policy and they add up to:
Under the new framework, Mayor Kim McGuinness and other English mayors will gain the authority to "call in" and overrule local council rejections for large-scale developments. The powers specifically apply to proposals that meet any of the following criteria:
More than 150 homes
More than 15,000 square metres of commercial space
Buildings over 30 metres in height
But those changes from the Government not delivered will certainly damage development companies who support and donate to Northumberland's Tories.
Those same Tories will live on to rue the attacks and spin regarding the regional mayor simply to deeply influence NIMBY supporters across the County.
The spin of the spokeless Tory cabinet wheel hasn’t put forward the true picture of County-wide development with the new build numbers having been exceeded most years over the last decade (but that’s now a secret) with their new rules over debate stifling democratic scrutiny allowing Tories to speak openly about matters that have little to do with transparency and candor. Northumberland County Council's draft government-assigned housing target has increased by 222% to 1,768 new homes per year, up from the previous local plan target of 549 homes per year with the council having delivered over 1700 in a number of years and at least 1600 in slow development years.
Any act by the Council’s Leadership Group will lead to increased cost to the public as the cost of increased numbers of planning applications lost to planning inspectorate appeals. The huge costs of legal matters tied up in applications lost to planning appeals hasn’t been published by the Tories although it would be nice to know as a decade of costly failures may have led to the debacle that's about to unfold between two of Northumberland’s prime towns.
The cash shortage brought about by a decade of Tory rule in the County to develop schools in Berwick and Blyth will lead to choices that won't benefit both communities and the chosen Towns have no recent links to Northumberland Tories.
With the Leader of Council openly stating that he can’t afford to put in an additional £7m to build a new school in Berwick even though educationalists have spoken often about their needs to safeguard and succour children from the North of the County, whilst at the same time announcing another SEND school in Blyth, a £6m+ school for older SEND pupils and students from surrounding towns to Blyth.
So who will get Caesar's thumb?
And where has the cash disappeared too?
NOTES:
Scott Dickinson MBE
·
One of the most terrible Council meetings I’ve sat through in a long time.
Far too much time was taken up by political point-scoring and national political arguments, rather than meaningful discussion about Northumberland and the issues that actually matter to the people we represent.
Today I spoke about homelessness, road crossings and other practical issues that residents raise with us the things that affect people’s everyday lives and where they rightly expect their County Council to focus its time and energy.
By the end, I did suggest a few new KPIs we could perhaps start monitoring… 
How often is Question Time abused?
How truthful and relevant are the answers actually given?
How much Council time is lost debating national political arguments rather than Northumberland issues?
Residents deserve serious debate about Northumberland, its communities and the services they rely on. That’s what I’ll continue trying to bring to the Council Chamber. See less
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-concern-over-move-give-34510448
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw07lkvjr2dxt
https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/education/its-worrying-new-fears-raised-as-department-for-education-responds-to-berwick-academy-funding-call-8928150
Another SEND school in Blyth that covers young people moving over to adult care?
https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/council/blyths-former-civic-centre-to-be-converted-into-education-facility-as-planning-approval-granted-9057286
https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/26088710.northumberland-scrutiny-committee-set-council-housing/
https://northumberland.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s9762/02.1%20Appendix%201%20-%20Northumberland%20Local%20Plan%20-%20FINAL%20ADOPTED%20VERSION%20WITH%20PHOTOS%20AND%20COVERS%20March%2020.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment