More square pegs in round holes damaging Prudhoe?

 

The damage being done to the Conservative Party in Northumberland through the series of investigations into the standards expected from democratically elected representatives and the regular and ever ongoing changes required at the top level of the Tory Party at County Hall to cover for those lost through bullying and intimidation of both Council Officers and other councillors appears to be unique in local government, although it does mirror the sleaze antics of the Conservatives in Government.

A number of those enforced changes at the County Council have thrown up completely inadequate people, but the most recent shows that the Council's leadership duo of Councillors Sanderson and top regional Tory, Councillor Wearmouth have taken no notice of the needs of residents, and those needs are quite simple, that of having councillors who can deliver for the people without their own hangups and personalities getting in the way of progress. From their most recent debacle we can assume that no vetting of Councillors has taken place before they brought in the latest and arguably most unfit person to help manage the portfolio for community services. 

From information openly available on public websites the replacement for the allegedly bullied Councillor Dunbar has been named by the Leadership team based at Morpeth as Councillor Gordon Stewart.

What makes us believe he is unsuitable?

Last week those of us who watch Council committee videos noticed that at the West Area local committee, Councillor Stewart made a big thing of praising the County Council's youth service employees from Prudhoe in a manner befitting someone in love with the service newly under his control. Yet the day after his slobbering two faced statements information was passed out to staff that the County Council believes enough voluntary provision for youth was available in Prudhoe and the service under his control was being disbanded.

Following the release of the information to abandon young people in need from Prudhoe, passing them to the four winds in an area of high social deprivation combined with an underlying low wage structure, the release of information on social media has shown the decision was made by Councillor Stewart in conjunction with Councillor Renner-Thompson prior to the meeting of the aforesaid Area Committee taking place and letters had been issued to a number of people citing councillors Stewart and Renner-Thompson as the culprits for change illustrating in our eyes how unsuitable or is that unethical he is?.

The other role Councillor Stewart has picked up is the heady responsibility of community safety and that is where vetting would have really shown the Conservative leadership pair why they should have had their new incumbent vetted prior to making and supporting a proposal to move him up the ranks and be responsible for community safety and therefore liaison with the Police.

A simple viewing via the Internet would have exposed Councillor Stewart's former life as a cop and his membership of a group who tried to drag the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police through the courts. The case was lost and cost Councillor Stewart thousands.

The case is openly available and shows why the Leader of Northumberland County Council and his team should not only reconsider youth provision in Prudhoe but also the responsibilities endowed onto Councillor Stewart as the remarks exposed in his lawsuit appear to sit well outside the Nolan principles to which County Councillors should always operate. 

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/six-police-officers-lose-bullying-1421598

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff7e260d03e7f57eb29de

So our message to the Leadership at County Hall is, following your recent press release to ditch joint working with the Mayoralty of North of Tyne and therefore ruin opportunities for regional devolution, 'why do you not care at all about the needs of families, youth's and the wider cooperation of people who need to have their communities voices heard at a democratically elected senior level and their messages relayed to the Police without the possibility of undeclared personal interests clouding matters on the public's behalf?'

Regional bus plan, Will Northumberland miss out as its Leader drives on towards independence.

 

With Northumberland's political leadership acting without democratic mandate and blanking themselves off from all commitments to work with other regional leaders and the North of Tyne Mayor, who holds the responsibility for transport over the largest geographical part of the region, may leave northumbrians living in an Independent Republic with less public transport than the meagre offering they already have.

The plan, thought by transport experts to be the most people centred offer outside the Capital if all councils agree to pick up the mantle and run with it is the offer being put before residents of the north-east region to ask everyone how they would like bus transport scoped in their areas. The visionary initial outline plan looks like this:

A single ticket that would allow unlimited travel across all bus, metro, and ferry services across Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland plus rail services between Newcastle, the metrocentre and Blaydon*.

The multi-model ticket will be capped on a two zone basis at between £4 & £6:50.

Cheaper tickets for under 19's with a target £1:20 single fare and a £2:50 multi model regional cap.

A trial of free travel for under 12's will take place in 2022

A pledge to run zero emissions buses where they can be sustainably managed and the cleanest engine models where distance dictates need. With a trial of hydrogen busses as soon as practicable.

More early morning and late evening and overnight services across rural Durham and Northumberland.

*Talks still have to be agreed to organise cross ticketing on the Northumberland and Tyne Valley train lines but the reluctance or is that intransigence from the leaders of the new Republic in Northumberland who refuse to look outside of their own back gardens will lead at this moment to Northumberland missing out from what is after all an amazing green and pleasant offer. 

Is the growth of ASHINGTON being deserted by Northumberland Conservatives?

 

Just prior to the public enquiry being held in Blyth Civic Centre on the validity and essential need for the reopening of the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Northumberland  rail line we need to ask about the stand being taken by the Leaders of Northumberland County  Council?

Ashington had a lot going for its future, with the North of Tyne combined authority and its elected Mayor Jamie Driscoll working tirelessly on the project of helping an area which has been badly affected from the loss of its mining and heavy production industries with Alcan once sited on its doorstep along with Universal Credit cuts and frozen Triple Lock links with wage inflation currently damaging the area badly.

The North of Tyne combined authority, made up from North Tyneside, Northumberland and the City of Newcastle councils were challenged by George Osborne and David Cameron to design a Combined Authority with an elected Mayor to handle transport for the region and devolution issues and its opportunities as they arose.

The people elected Jamie Driscoll who has shown other areas how good an elected Mayor can be.

Most recently one of the prime projects for the North of Tyne group has been the reopening of the former Ashington, Blyth and Tyne line AKA the Northumberland Line which would bring immense growth to Ashington and open up opportunities for its residents to reach their goals and aspirations across a much wider area as places like Northumberland will be hit hard through the greening processes of our nation, with Mayor Driscoll writing to the Times along with a number of other concerned politicians to note research from the Centre for Progressive Policy which "identified 74 areas across Britain with a combined population of nine million people that are at particular risk of job losses and reduced earnings owing to decarbonisation". The group calls for "targeted interventions'' to protect vulnerable people and communities from the impact of a bad transition to net zero", and announces a five-point plan to "help our areas to build back greener and more prosperously after the pandemic". 

Northumberland, particularly the South East and the Tyne Valley will be negatively affected by net zero changes as the essential varied public transport choices are currently not available to maintain incomes once their old jobs disappear.

Yet with all of that knowledge openly available, the Leader of Northumberland Conservative Group, Glenn Sanderson whose deputy leader Richard Wearmouth, is the leading Conservative in the North-East region, being their Chairman, are backing off from working on any devolution deals with the North of Tyne combined authority.

Councillor Sanderson only wishes to keep 'normal relations' with Mayor Driscoll and the other authorities, leaving the combined authority in major difficulty in drawing down devolution cash from the Conservative Government in power to further expand the reopening of the Northumberland line as 'all the ducks aren't sitting in a row'.

We here at murky are unable to find any minutes to show that the Council has discussed this backdown from a Mayoralty at either its secret one party cabinet or its Council meetings, but we have found support articles from Anne-Marie Trevelyan the nations business minister and MP for Berwick upon Tweed and Councillor Wearmouth supporting more stopping trains at Morpeth and Berwick. Funny that they don't want them stopping in Ashington (not!).

Northumberland Splinter Group shrinks as professional investigation results leech out.

 A Christmas bye election in Hexham

A no-shock resignation of a Northumberland County Councillor took place on Wednesday November 3rd 2021 following long term investigations on behalf of the County Council standards board being sent on to Councillors and interim results being placed before them.

The results of the investigations by the Council into the standards required in public life to represent communities as a County Councillor saw Councillor Homer who holds a seat in Hexham resign with immediate effect. Following resignation standards investigations stop and cases are shelved without a public airing.

This set of events brings about the first test for the people of Hexham who showed in May 2021 that they are less than enamored with Conservative antics in the west of the County when the public voted off their stranglehold on Hexham Town Council for the first time in 60 years. With the exposure the Government has had through voting to support sleaze and corruption in Parliament this week, their lack of support for livestock farmers who eke a living on the marginal extremes on the edges of the Tyne Valley spending less in Hexhams shops are just two reasons why its not looking good for the Tories and Labour in the Tyne Valley who proved in May they are making a rapid comeback are off to an early start to muster support from Hexham residents.

A strange rumour broke out from County Hall in Morpeth yesterday linked to this item: Apparently a suspect package was left at reception, the Tories ignored requests to find out what was in it and didn't call security or the bomb squad. The Hexham independent Councillor Kennedy opened it up after the Tories had fled and reception was full of unsuspecting Labour Party councillors. Luckily for them it was Councillor Homer's laptop and phone. It's been said that the sadness that County Hall had not disappeared in smoke in order to bury information to be investigated by the standards board dampened the spirits of the Tories but we need to ask if further 'suspect packages' are being wrapped up in brown paper at a number of other Tory councillors homes as the investigations into Councillors and Advance Northumberland directors gather pace.

Blyth Valley Tory MP Votes to support sleaze and corruption over honesty!

 

03/11/2021, A discussion was heard in Parliament today to suspend Owen Patterson MP for a breach of the rules banning MP’s being paid backhanders for lobbying. He should have been banned for 30 days.

 

This is the first time since the Second World War that the House of Commons have rejected a recommendation from its own disciplinary committee to suspend an MP for misconduct. It’s expected that this historic vote could dismantle the standards regime that has been in place for MPs since the cash for questions scandal in the 1990s.

 

Andrea Leadsom MP proposed an amendment to stop Patterson being suspended supported by a slim majority of Conservative MP’s who stepped forward to support sleaze and corruption. Blyth Valley’s ‘redwall’ MP was one of those.

 

13 Honest Tories voted with the opposition and 60 went to the toilets and dodged the vote.

 

Labour MP Chris Bryant chair of the standards committee, said the move would “be dismantling the rule on paid advocacy which has been around in some shape or form since 1695” and that the public would view it as parliament having “licensed cash for questions”.

 

A committee is now being set up to consider a new system, and to decide whether the Paterson case needs to be reviewed, but the opposition parties say they will boycott it - which means it may never get off the ground. (The amendment passed today says it has to include opposition MPs.) Sir Keir Starmer says that this amounts to corruption and that Boris Johnson - who took the unusual step of ordering Tory MPs to vote down the standards committee report - is the source of the “rot”.

 

https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1125

What will Northumberland look like in 10 years time?

 

Leader? and the Glennettes try to get 'Misty' back in the charts!

The stand in leader at Northumberland County Council who epitomises the words to the song 'Misty' is trying openly to get his group, the Glennettes back into the charts.

He and his backing group as usual 'is as helpless as a kitten up a tree' as he leads out on a commercial motion this Wednesday hidden under the 12 days of greenness being pushed out through COP 26 in the media to back the Glennettes move to make more people richer, particularly farmers as Glenn wishes to alter the Government's new energy policy and ensure its designed to let farmers and local businessmen grow energy locally and sell it from the farm gate or corner shop to local users as if it were eggs or potatoes as currently it's more profitable than growing food? 

Or is it, considering the number of small energy suppliers who have gone under recently, and when they go bust in this very volatile market, friends of the Cabinet may be waiting to buy the land they are currently guardians of where the turbine or solar bank sits, as land, apart from expensive properties in London is one of the few things the Tories in Government haven't managed to sell off in great numbers to anyone other than UK house-builders and agri conglomerates since the second world war.

The Leader of the largest Group on the Council, the star himself, Glenn, is a farmer and possibly should declare an interest, but in 'not knowing his hand from his glove' the resolution to his motion simply wishes to get glamorous Glenn and the Glennettes into the media and then tell all MP's how well he and his group have done. But this County is still without a ‘County Plan’ after fourteen years of Tory domination in planning the whole County is still reliant on outdated planning issues put in place by former District Councils which offers no protection to those Councillors who may be in denial that this motion is nothing but a misty smokescreen to cover up commercialism and have dreams that it will deliver ‘green outcomes’; Also the County can’t deliver this through the localism agenda as without a ‘Local Planning’ document in place what is local? as they are reliant on National Planning Policy and outdated former Councils wishes.

The motion may simply be to provide a future dream to owners of businesses who can sell this energy locally. Those businesses in recent weeks have had the Tories slash the spend of low paid earners and pensioners and with the drop in middle class incomes being rated by a think tank the IFS as being 40% down on where they should currently sit, dreams are all that's available to the majority of County residents.

Being a long serving Councillor and former Castle Morpeth stalwart the Leader and his band are famous for sitting in smoke filled rooms but since the tobacco bans 'Misty' is as bad as it gets but whatever this motion is dressed up as, ratepayers in northumberland need to know if in those misty rooms plans for new nuclear power plants set against our wonderful coastline whose end produce, energy can be sold from your corner shop or farm gate sit on the drawing boards? and will that be the trade off the Government wants for buying a copy of Glenn's latest CD.

This abomination of a motion is expected to gain universal support from this Tory majority Council even without any information as to the end result or how it will affect where you live, but this motion could set a precedent nationally ‘that major change can be accepted by a major Council without any knowledge at all of how the impact of this motion will affect people's lives’, also what infrastructure will be built across northumberland onshore or what will change in how you live in the future without any public debate on the matter when the policy of this Council is simply to support offshore energy infrastructure and supply, battery plants in the River Blyth estuary and an undersea energy cable from Norway to Cambois.

Residents need to remember the noise the Glennettes made every time planning inspectors passed onshore wind farms, what makes this change of rhythm from the Glennettes any different to the former tune, oh! the supply, distribution and sales weren't owned by their farming and business buddies maybe?

‘Secret Council’ has no idea who is affected by their own Government cuts.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed that the cuts by slasher Sunak of £1040 per year to those on Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits will leave 5,500,000 families worse off whether they have children in those families or not.

Slasher Sunak’s supposedly generous 8p in the pound cut to the taper calculation for those people working to try and help their families whilst claiming benefit, still amounts to a 55p in the pound tax on low paid workers and their families.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that over 200,000 families with children will be disproportionately impacted and worryingly, 6 in 10 of all single-parent families in the UK will be severely impacted.

The Labour Party tell us that in the 140 constituencies with Wards that sit in the 10% of most deprived Wards nationally some 25% of families are negatively affected by the cuts in some shape or form and that this is the biggest reduction in living standards through the benefit system since the welfare state began. In Northumberland areas defined by the acronym LSOA have a number of wards in the lower category especially in Blyth Valley and Wansbeck constituencies, areas that have not seen many improvements in family incomes for decades.

With inflation expected to rise to 5% many families who believed they were immune to cuts will feel the pinch very badly indeed and those in multi-car families are already beginning to feel the strain from the Government's badly managed grasp of the energy markets.

We Know that Newbiggin by the Sea, Cowpen, Hirst and Cowpen/Kitty Brewster LSOA contain the highest number of families whose children will suffer most at this time but many areas which contain hidden poverty in Northumberland have residents who do not know where the next meal is coming from as this Government turns the nation into a series of modernised Charles Dickens novels. Yet the Council has no idea which children and families are affected.

It's been revealed in the mainstream press that the Government has done no research at all into who is affected, how the rise in energy costs will affect families and which children will suffer and definitely miss Christmas this year. Many Councils including Northumberland County Council have not managed to collect the data on children as the cuts to all forms of care bite Councils deeply and the lack of understanding regarding what is protected data and what isn’t is not understood at all by pressurised workers leaving data collection to simply slip by the wayside in fear of making a mistake. It's so bad nationally that the Doomsday book was more accurate than the locked away data sets by secret Councils like Northumberland who operate under massive serious financial constraints brought about by 11 years of Tory austerity cuts and can’t be blamed on Covid.

We're also aware that even though we have two Government Ministers among the four MP’s in the County their knowledge of this fiasco which will turn into a disaster for many very rapidly indeed is almost nil and we should see the portfolio holder for children's services Tory, Cllr. Guy Renner Thompson and his Community Services Partner Cllr Jeff Watson have their very handsome allowances frozen until they can truly say they know who needs help and can honestly say that they have had that help by the bucket load to offset the pain and suffering being piled on those who cannot defend themselves, the children of this County!