Is the Mob’s Budget lawful Other Council’s think not?

 

Joshua 6:1–27

In a hail of trumpets from the Morpeth Mob in charge at county Hall in Northumberland the 2023/4 budget slipped through on the back of indifferent abstinence from Independent Councillors, the broken LibDems and the Greens. 

Luckily for the Labour Councillors they voted against the budget for several reasons including the raising of Council house rents by 7% and maintenance charges by 11.5% supposedly to move £17m into Council house repairs. Surprisingly (not) Michael Gove turned up the very next day and gifted the area with the most Council housing in the county the same amount to, wait for it, repair Council Houses. Showing up the mob less than 24hrs after they conned acceptance of the budget.

Labour talked about the cuts to social care packages already in place and the lack of benefits for those in need etc., in their speeches against this budget but they also had a little bit of luck or it may be lucky in the future, the budget contained a doubling of Council Tax on second homes across the County. A decision that could possibly lead to court for those who supported this decision.

One of the newly formed giant unitary County Council’s Westmorland and Furness Council, which covers most of the Lake District, the local authority voted to double council tax bills for second homeowners. It is the latest council in an area popular with holiday homeowners to introduce such a measure as part of efforts to prevent local people from being priced out of the places they grew up in. 

Unlike Northumberland Westmorland and Furness had taken professional legal advice over this decision which led officers to advise Council that they can only introduce it from next year if Michael Gove, the minister for levelling up changes his levelling up bill, to give local authorities more powers to levy this tax locally.

Pressure is now on Gove from second home owners nationally of whom many are also members of the Tory Party, to sink these ideas and force Councils who believe they have problems with second homes to apply for a share of the £1Bn unspent affordable homes fund and build new homes in villages which will enable those who feel pushed out to get back to their roots.

It's certainly a space worth watching and we all know that Northumberland has a long coastline where the Home offices suggested hulk-ship jails can be sited to house any law breaking Councillors.

Politicised County Council Leadership have let down Ashington, Bedlington and Prudhoe say residents!

Our regular trawl of social media sites around the County has thrown up some interesting comments on the Government’s ‘red wall’ funding for the Town of Blyth in South East Northumberland.

Residents of Prudhoe have expressed their opinions and are asking why they have been overlooked by the Conservatives when they have had a Tory MP pulling the strings of the County Council over the last six years yet Blyth has been seen by many residents who have commented as being looked after because of the ‘Red Wall’ MP Ian Levy and his need to save his seat in any forthcoming general election. The question of ‘Where’s Our Share’? Of levelling up funding and ‘Why are we being overlooked as a base for a culture centre’ now the Tory led County Council has applied for planning permission to build one of these multi-million pound developments in Blyth.

In Ashington the e-noise surrounds the broken promises from Northumberland Conservatives whose then Leader, Peter Jackson promised them a cinema in 2017 yet all they have been left with is a famous ‘hole’ where their ‘culture centre’ complete with Cinema should be sited. On top of that comments on the hidden costs of County Hall’s six year modernisation in Morpeth and that Ashington lost the opportunity to have a new modern cheap to run County Hall sited in their Town at the terminus of the much vaunted Northumberland rail link the loss of the new Council building is letting the town slip down the rankings, moving towards oblivion in economic terms as retail is lost through the lack of job opportunities for local people while Blyth gets all the help it needs.

Bedlington’s comments on levelling up money being poured into Blyth centres on the fact that residents from the Town aided Northumberland Conservatives into office through their Tory led ‘make a noise’ campaigns and Bedlington has now been dumped by those same Tories they grafted for seven years ago. The feelings of being let down and having been set adrift once their cargo is unloaded is grieving Bedlington residents and the demands for a Culture Centre investment on the redundant Town Centre redevelopment site is loud enough to be heard in Morpeth and they now feel they have been left with a ‘hole’ to match their neighbours in Ashington.

 
The Council’s leadership of Councillor Wearmouth and his puppet Councillor Sanderson need to get their act together as this latest pressure of leaving some of the Council’s largest Towns in limbo without any real investment that benefits local people will certainly lead to the downfall of the Tories across Northumberland over the next couple of years.

 

There’s no options left for Haltwhistle residents

 

Twice resigned Councillor will struggle in future.

Some readers of this blog may think we only wish to criticise elected representatives, that’s not true, it’s the policies and secrecy surrounding your council that are and have been reshaped to fuel the few, while everyone else is treated as fodder that we bring to your attention.

We also really appreciate the role most councillors play within their communities across Northumberland as the far too large unitary council has numerous responsibilities.

Your Councillor works hard resolving issues for you their residents on education, social care, elderly care, highways issues, public transport, leisure, museums’, the arts, adoption, fostering, regeneration, housing, fly tipping and waste management, planning, grounds maintenance and highways/council trees, to name but a few services. A number of them also guide the less fortunate towards benefits aid and work with your parish councils on local issues.

To really get top class help your Councillor should live within your community area and be on hand when needed.

Councillor Ian Hutchinson represents Haltwhistle ward in West Northumberland yet dwells in Blyth 48ml away from his constituents in the Deep South East of the County.

He’s locally famous as he has had to vacate his highly paid job as the Chair of the Councils licensing committee after being caught drink driving. You couldn’t make this stuff up!

This is the second time he has been forced out of high office as he was booted out of a chairs job for planning for bullying another Councillor.

With bullying, mysoginy and political hatred being endemic within Northumberland Conservatives many voting constituents appear to overlook it as ‘well that’s how Tories act’ but losing your license when living (according to google) 4hours and 48minutes by bike when your sober and fit from the patch you have been placed in is deplorable and shows that in Northumberland the Tories are only interested in Morpeth leaving the west of the County leaning towards Gods will.

We’re sure here at murky we will hear the arguments from him that he can do his job over the phone. Shush Councillor Hutchinson otherwise all Councillors will want to be highly remunerated for listening to a few complaints when people who need you to be there for them eventually track you down.

Help the people whose pockets you have picked for three decades get someone they can seek out when they need them and as Tory policies are stripping them of both their savings and their dignity they need their Councillor more than ever right at this moment in time.

Resign NOW.

 Haltwhistle Conservative councillor banned from roads after admitting drink driving charge - Chronicle Live

County councillor Ian Hutchinson banned from roads for drink-driving | Hexham Courant (hexham-courant.co.uk)

Glen has it wrong on Climate Change

He's not taking Climate Poverty into account?

Councillor Glen Sanderson, Conservative Leader and portfolio holder for climate change on Northumberland County Council is holding a revision of the Councils 'Climate Change Action Plan' for the next three years. The public harvesting of information is being heard at a prestigious event in Alnwick Gardens on Thursday, March 30, between 5.45pm and 7.30pm.

Being the Leader of the UK's most secretive Council were very surprised with Councillor Sanderson's latest press release on this matter for several reasons, his communications on the matter begin with 'The council is keen to hear public views on climate-related issues in the county in order to develop plans in place to become carbon neutral by 2030'.

Its followed by "Climate change is one of the greatest threats of our time. We know the importance of acting on climate change in our county and have already made good progress to help mitigate its effects".

“But we cannot do this alone and need everyone to do their bit, however small. This event is an opportunity for us to go out and speak to our local communities and find out about their challenges on the ground and explore ways we can work together to overcome these". 

“I hope to see as many faces there as possible and seeing what solutions we can come up with together.”

To attend this event you must register via the 'secret councils' website, we can only presume that may be to vet attendees beforehand.

We codgers discussing this on our park bench ( today in Bedlington ) 'do not believe that a plan can be formed against or accommodate the world's biggest problem into a local mitigation report lasting three years before revision can be resolved in one and a quarter hours in one of Britain's most prestigious settings'. 

As a rich farmer and top bod for the Tory led Local Government Association as well as a well paid Leader of a huge Council Councillor Sanderson appears to, (unlike most other Council Leaders nationally) accepting of the results of the 2021 census which as a snapshot tells us society is getting wealthier. 

He seems to have missed what's happening all around him since and that not only climate change but climate poverty needs to be urgently taken into compliance by his officers dealing with this matter.

Let's take a look at a single snapshot just like the 2021 census to illustrate why he needs to change his ideas? 

Northumberland is huge. To attend this event if you live in say Haltwhistle towards the western section of Northumberland will be a 132 ml round trip, with all its attendant costs. If you wish to travel as green as you can, from say Prudhoe to Councillor Sandersons chosen hideaway at his peak time travel consultation by train, will cost £108 single Prudhoe to Alnmouth and £9 taxi over to the venue, and of course you may wish to travel home again. 

Travel from Northumberlands largest and poorest Town with the highest rate of transport deprivation in the County, Blyth, takes a minimum of two buses and a £9 single fare. With these enormous time stealing and unfriendly pocket stripping costs for those already bound into climate poverty through national conservative policy debacles his consultation will only include those who can afford an evening out in Alnwick.

He obviously hasn't noticed Grocery prices have risen by a record 17.1% year-on-year, or that  in the four weeks to February 19, prices increased at the highest rate since records began in 2008. The increase means consumers’ annual bills will be £811 higher, on average. Or that  non-food inflation rose to a record 5.3% in February. Overall inflation in shop prices rose to 8.4% in February, up from 8% in January this is a snapshot of climate poverty in the uk today that's been completely been overlooked by Councillor Sanderson and his decision to hold a beanie for the upper middle classes and whatever Tory Councillors he can whip to attend to lower the tone, to form an ante ordinary folk policy to dominate people until 2026 in the full knowledge that his party have cured many of the nations Co2 emission problems by making heating your home completely unaffordable for millions.

His administration's fear of really talking to its voters needs to be ditched on such a needy problem and he needs to move back the date of his plan by six months taking this whole consultation through two cycles of the Councils local area committee process and hold a conference with the parish councils across the County, to ensure full debate and idea sharing is undertaken with a much wider audience than he's currently planning.

Go for it Glen and open up your council to public scrutiny and show you can be bothered to work in tandem with opposition politicians, something that Max Caller would love to see from you.

 

Rural Poverty Growing out of all proportion as Tories pour cash in only to save their urban MP.

Several happenings and announcements over this month show that the Tories in Northumberland have missed out on helping their long term supporters who live in the countryside while spending huge amounts in their ‘Capital City of Tory Culture’ in Morpeth and their national warchest voting fund of levelling up, gifting cash to renovate desperate homes in urban Blyth that  the community has been waiting to arrive for 14 years of austere free market twisty Government in office in Westminster.

The glamour developments in Morpeth by Northumberland Conservatives of a massively costly 6 year modernisation of County Hall rapidly moving towards another two year scheme to finish it off and the unique design and focus on building the ‘Palace of Leisure’ in Morpeth Town Centre while ALDI delivers 130,000 meals to the Counties poor via food banks shows how out of touch the ultra-right Morpeth centric Tories have become now they hold ultimate power in the County of Northumberland.

The dreadful announcement that Iceland ltd., are to close their Hexham store has also been ignored and with their low cost frozen meals and their £1 range becoming the staple for many older state pensioners who live in rural areas and their bargain meat packs helping less well off families still put meals on the table in these austere times this closure is a blow below the belt for many.

With the Tory Government’s stripping out cash from transport services; and bus companies removing even more routes that cannot survive without Government support has left residents who live in the Countryside and who need public transport in limbo and the budget setting exercise in County Hall Morpeth on Wednesday 22nd February 2022 forced up Council Tax to its maximum once again while services are slashed to cover the additional payments of responsibility allowances for Tory Councillors adding up to an additional half a million pounds in a Johnsonite style raid on the public purse, cuts to the bone when discussed in our market towns.

With veg prices about to soar in line with everything else as agi-millionaires and investors dream of joining the ranks of billionaires from the banking and energy business both the Tories in Westminster who encourage a free market economy that is stripping the dignity never mind the cash from local folk in Northumberland and the local Tories who were given £9m by Jamie Driscol, mayor of the North of Tyne combined authority to support the delivery of essential services across the Counties rural areas then decide to spend it on consultants, probably from Morpeth, have badly let down their long term supporters from rural areas.

The NFU came out to note that small rural farms who relied on handouts from the EU and those farming marginal land needed massive Government help to aid the move from agriculture to horticulture yet the Tories in Government have missed that obvious needed change to lower import costs, turned their faces away whilst leaving rural dwellers exposed to carpetbagging companies who want land cheaply especially on the edges of market towns. As recession hits and bites more local people much harder, developers will want the Government to expose more green belt to concrete over and will blame the wishes of many who dream of moving out of cities as the catalyst for their change of protective heart and not the developers pockets.

The Tories at all levels need to wake up to the problems they have caused in England's northernmost County before the countryside is left to God and good neighbours. But we don’t think they can backtrack from cash at all costs and even begin to think of putting people before profit.

 https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/23342235.iceland-store-hexham-set-close/

 https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/big-money-promised-rural-northumberland-25588129

 https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/council/northumberland-council-to-spend-ps9m-on-consultants-as-part-of-modernisation-plan-to-achieve-ps17m-savings-3991654

 

 

Dozens of Councillors sitting in shock and not one could find a pin to drop!

 

Proverbs 10:19

Tell us silence can help us avoid sinning.

The avoidance of sin reached epidemic proportions on Wednesday 22 February 2023 when the Leader of Northumberland County Council bowed to pressure from his ultra right sidekicks to gift a Tory who was removed from their top-ranks two years ago an additional £1000 per month of cash from the public purse.

Councillor Glen Sanderson proposed that Councillor Nick Oliver was to be promoted to the position of scrutiny chairperson pouring extra cash into his pockets from yours.

Two years ago the same Leader removed Councillor Oliver from his top team as the press had let the public know he owed the Council £thousands through taking another one of his family companies to the wall. The Tories knew about his loose ways with business when in 2017 the disgraced Councillor Peter Jackson made him his finance guru, shocking many who had come into contact with him outside the Councils environment.

The Council chamber in Versailles, Morpeth Branch Hall (it's all smoke and mirrors) fell silent when the nomination was made and it was noticeable when the Cramlington Conservatives and a number of older county Conservatives snuck out of the Council chamber during the stunned silence, leaving only Tories and those receiving extra cash in allowances this year, (half a million pound extra has been found to fill their pockets) remained and smiled prettily when shouting agreed, to follow their leader and support the rise of this person.

It's been said by a top Tory businessman from within the County on his social media that this decision sums up why the nation is sliding over to Labour more rapidly than the new Mercedes F1 car travels.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/top-councillor-northumberland-county-council-18796382

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/politics/councillor-booted-from-committee-job-3444828

https://northumberland.laboursites.org/2020/10/05/cabinet-member-responsible-for-debt-recovery-owes-money-to-the-council/

What a pathetic shambles Northumberland Tories delivered on ‘Budgie Day’.

It was far too cold for us codgers to sit at our park bench today so we visited a community facility in Ashington that the Tories who set their budget today refused to sponsor.

Over a few cups of tea we watched the events on social media unfurl at County Hall and could almost smell both the fear of deselection or the failure to pick up and pocket a valuable increase in their special allowances from the Tories assembled in Britain's most expensive half refurbed almost unused County Hall.

As usual the meeting formula dragged on a bit as top Tory, Dodgy Dick Wearmouth kept sweeping his team with his laser eye in case a smirk of descent or a single dot from his ironclad script slipped from the pages and onto the lips of those he controls. Today possibly took his focus from deselecting regional Conservatives who aren’t fully locked into the return of Boris Johnson. We codgers noted those forced out, both men and women in North Tyneside and Sunderland are to be replaced by ultra-right Johnsonite men.

The move towards the budget itself came with opposition Councillors bringing out the negatives against its acceptance LibDems, Labour and Independents waxed lyrical about Job Losses, the impact of this budget on Communities, the lack of risk assessment and public consultation and the secrecy with which this budget has been put together does not bode well for people County-wide as the Caller report on joint responsibilities went out of the window at its first test. Dodgy Dicks mates took no notice.

The speakers pointed out that this budget which may pay off hundreds, take borrowing through the roof and deliver less of what people need and more of what Tories want.

It was said people need:

An equality impact assessment to see how this Tory budget affects those who already find themselves suffering from dodgy Tory national policy debacles.

A series of risk assessments on the effects on Council workers to give them assurance on matters including workload once their colleagues leave the service or are forced from their jobs.

A risk assessment on the nonsense of not consulting correctly on this budget with the public before releasing it to be voted on.

Opposition speakers pointed out how service slippage had reached epidemic proportions and one wit also alluded to the social media rants about the ignorant parking of the Leader of Council blocking off peoples drives and not owning up to it.

With such obvious matters as road gully cleaning falling back from twice a year to once every thirty-six months in a County where in recent memory the river Tyne has burst its banks twice and Labour found funding to properly finish Morpeth’s flood defences to protect homes from the ravages of the river Wansbeck as well as repair bridges and bunds in Wylam, Corbridge and beyond is deplorable and downright dangerous for residents living in a county with so many rivers and the North Sea tides as its Eastern boundary.

This budget pushes families from poorer areas to the limit, more will have to sell homes to pay for care, more will have to wait longer to have work undertaken and more will have to choose paying increased rent or to feed their families. What have these Tories brought Northumberland communities down to?

The meeting which was the first attended by the Council’s new but very experienced Chief Executive will be one to remember for her, as she has inherited a failing authority with an administration where control is all and the majority of Councillors from that ruling administration are like rabbits in the headlamps.

It's sad, but thats what you get from Tories at all levels.