Halt the March of the Developers? Never.

When we read about Peter Jackson launching his manifesto, in early 2017 which featured promises to halt the march of the developers and to transfer power to decide important issues, like planning, to five local area councils. He made statements that have drifted far from his original versions and meaning into what has become a disaster for both the people of Northumberland and the developers he tried to deny a living too.

Over the preceding two years since taking office on a series of falsehoods, his new local area councils have denigrated into miserable affairs that are powerless, have no budgets and are given planning applications to nod through in line with officer recommendations usually unsatisfactorily for the applicant.

I think we all noticed how swiftly after the election he pushed through 500 new houses in Bedlington, not via the Local Area Council system, but via the Strategic Planning Committee, the self same committee he not only routinely denounced but actually removed his members from exploring a new plan to help develop a better County as his mind was and is set to stop any development in villages and Country areas?, ‘sometimes that is the case’!. The serious number of planning appeals lost by the County Council and the serious haemorrhage of public funds to pay developers legal costs shows how hapless his plan was and is.

The only thing more shocking than this U turn was the willingness of Bedlington Independents to stand aside and let It happen after they ran on a ‘NO NEW HOUSES IN BEDLINGTON’ ticket, of course that was prior to then getting a really attractive ‘hole similar to their compatriots and former neighbours in Wansbeck District in Ashington. Poor sods, fancy taking any notice of Peter Jackson.