Northumberland Conservatives Circling Around Blowing Trumpets before a Decision is made.

This week has seen Northumberland Conservatives spinning their plates as usual, attempting to steal the limelight and turn a ‘Take a Break’ style competition into a win-win for the Town of Blyth.

On the back of what is a simple ask by the homes and communities agency to develop a business case and enter into phase two of a competition in an attempt to harvest cash from the ‘Governments future high street fund’ we find the Head of the Decision Making body for the County of Northumberland, Councillor Peter Jackson, a Conservative from Ponteland claiming a deceitful victory on social media.



The Council have simply received a very small amount in the production of Government business case terms of £150,000 to be used by the County Councils Business programming team to work with the Blyth Town Forum, a group made up of Town and Local County Councillors along with agents from the larger group of landlords and companies working in the Town.
The problem with this fund is the history of the Conservative Party when it comes to progressing the work required and the investment needed to bring life back into Blyth’s Town Centre.

Peter Jacksons one party cabinet none of whom live or even have connections with the Town have not began to invest in the highway network expansion required to link up with the Blyth Relief Road. They proclaimed the fact that they put a bid in for the Construction of the link road itself, a usual Tory publicity stunt, but have not even began to set aside the borrowing requirement to develop the work the people of Blyth need to lower pollution across the Towns most populated areas and ease the traffic problems of Cowpen Road and Laverock Hall Road through opening up the network.

The heralding in of the next step in the reopening of the AB&T Line also takes the biscuit with the announcement of no new transport hub at Blyth Bebside, no new station in the first phase and ensuring that in the area of Blyth with the highest number of people sitting in negative equity no rise in house prices to brighten their future hopes, leaving thousands living in fear of monetary problems carrying on for many years to come.

They have dropped off the planned building of a new Leisure Centre and Swimming Baths sited in the Town Centre to increase the economy through a greater footfall, instead they are conning the public with a refurb. of Blyth’s sixty year old facility on the edge of town

They have stopped the planned development of a new Phoenix Theatre on the Dun Cow Quay site which would have enriched the night time economy of the Town Centre.

We have reproduced Labour’s ideas below along with the letter out to the press from the Government, Labours manifesto plans were well developed and did not include an increase in bail hostels across Blyth, as it was centred around a Core Strategy that protected Towns from shabby development but the Tory decision makers removed that from inspection by Government in order that the Developers had to work hand in glove with the Council.




Future High Streets Fund – Northumberland

I am delighted to inform you that this local authority, within your constituency, (Blyth Valley) has been selected to go forward into the next phase of the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF). Blyth has a desire to energise its town centre through the integration of historical, industrial and natural assets with a mix of uses. This would be achieved by creating a new, sustainable environment for residents, businesses and visitors, with investment in commercial and residential infrastructure and spaces. We will now be inviting the authority to submit a full business case to the FHSF, and plan to announce the list of authorities that are successful in obtaining capital funding for their transformational schemes by spring 2020. The FHSF will provide capital funding to places to invest in infrastructure, housing and work spaces. These projects will transform our high streets and town centres, bringing long-term economic benefits.

Last month, we were delighted to set out this Government’s plan to unite and level up across our country, turbo-charging our cities, our towns, our coastal communities and rural areas. We committed to a £3.6 billion Towns Fund demonstrating our commitment to prosperity in towns across the country, which included increasing the FHSF to £1 billion. As such, we will be able to extend the shortlist of places progressing to the next stage of assessment for the FHSF.

 There was a very high degree of interest in the FHSF, which received more than 300 expressions of interest and was heavily oversubscribed. It is a great achievement for the authority to have made it into the business case development phase of the FHSF and demonstrates that its expression of interest document was one of the very best that my department received.

To help the authority to develop a compelling business case around its ambitious plans to renew and reshape its high street and town centre we will be awarding a revenue grant of up to £150,000; this will be paid shortly and will enable the authority to commission expert advice or commit internal resources to assist in the development of its business case.

In addition, we are setting up a High Streets Task Force as part of our wider offer to high streets and town centres. The Task Force will provide hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven, innovative strategies, provide training and connect local areas to relevant experts. This will include providing support to some authorities in development of their business cases.

I know that you will want to congratulate the authority team for getting this far and wish them every success in the next phase of assessment. I will write to you again if the authority is successful in obtaining funding for its scheme.

RT Hon. Robert Jennick MP


Labours Manifesto Plans for Blyth
Blyth
1. A new Blyth relief road will be constructed leading to the creation of 600 jobs in the wider economy through the additional employment that will be created in the Port of Blyth through easier traffic movements.

2. A New Town Centre Plan will regenerate the town, it will include shops, a new theatre to improve the night time economy and offices and homes increasing the number of people living and working in the town.

3. A new Leisure Centre will be built as close to the Town Centre as possible to replace the existing one and will include modern facilities that are being heavily used at our other sites.

4. Two new stations will be built on the AB&T Line to increase the use of public transport for those working in the conurbation and beyond.

5. We will work with partners like Blyth Town Council and the National Market Traders Federation to improve Blyth market contributing to increasing commerce to the town.

6. Energy Central is a 218 Hectare site nestled around the river Blyth estuary, a deep water port the project to refresh the renewable energy sector, training for the sector and expand the catapult program. This will be locked in through the arrival of the 430Ml long 1.400KvA cable from Norway bringing green energy ashore in the estuary. Energy Central will create an estimated 3000 over the lifetime of this administration.


What did Peter Jackson’s Conservative Manifesto offer the people of Blyth?

Read the link: they promised NOTHING and their delivering everything they promised.
https://www.northumberlandconservatives.org.uk/sites/www.northumberlandconservatives.org.uk/files/2017-03/Northumberland%20Manifesto.pdf



 

Historic Repeat of the ‘Bedlington Cheat’

SOCIAL Media has been running red hot in the Town of Blyth in Northumberland against a planning application for a home of multiple occupancy being sited right beside the centre of the Towns most historic area, its Market Place.

The Town which includes many of the poorest and most deprived wards in the County of Northumberland already has a large number of Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s) many being used by those awaiting sentencing by the Courts, local people use the term ‘Bail Hostel’ when referring to them and accuse the Unitary County Council for allowing as many HMO’s to be developed as the majority of people living in these properties are NOT from the Town of Blyth.

A local facebook page has been running a campaign for a number of weeks and an electronic petition was run to show opposition to the latest development. It is to be heard at the Unitary Councils area committee meeting, called the ‘Ashington and Blyth Area Council’ at 17:00hrs on 11 Sept. to be held at Newbiggin by the Sea, Leisure Centre. and the Councils announcement that it has been chosen to put a second stage bid into the Future High Streets fund has led to messages being posted by known local Tories and ex-UKIP members whipping up an ad-hoc public meeting on the back of the public interest in this matter on Saturday 7^th Sept. 2019. five days before their petition is to be heard.

This is not new ground for Northumberland Conservatives about whom its said pulled the same scam on the people of the nearest Town to Blyth, Bedlington, during  2016 when the then Labour administration for Northumberland County Council were busy putting a land package together to build a new Town centre for Bedlington. Grief was whipped up by local Tories and a march and wild public meeting held to demand change.
Labour put together the land package and plans then through the massive amount of false news put out lost the seats to ‘Secret’ Independents who immediately took the ‘shilling from the Conservatives.
The Conservatives have not delivered for the people of Bedlington and won’t deliver in time for the next election in May 2021.

The same tactics are now being used in Blyth, even though the subject is really a planning matter over an HMO, its expected the Northumberland Conservatives and their allies will run this as an attack against Labour and the way the Town has run down in the last decade. They wont mention that the Tories have been in Governmental power for 90% of that decade and that none of the Tories in power at County Hall live in the Town of Blyth.

The matter is quite complex, to stop a planning application going through, because planning is a quasi-judicial function of a unitary Council a planning reason has to be given.

Is that planning reason available? It was, the Labour Party when in power had developed a planning document known as a Core Strategy and it was under examination by Government. The Core Strategy, which discussed within it the development of unsuitable domestic dwellings in certain areas was removed from inspection by the Tories as soon as they got into power at County Hall.

In place of the Core Strategy which looked at all aspects of planning and development and ensured they aligned with the needs and wishes of Communities the Tories have developed a ‘Local Plan’ its a simple planning only document that can be challenged by developers who don’t get their way.

The costs of running a ‘Local Plan’ are enormous and challenges cost the Council Taxpayer a fortune for lost planning appeals. Northumberland loses the majority of its appeals as their plan is not robust and simply unsuitable for communities.

Its expected that the hearing of the petition will swing the way of the Community on 11^th Sept. But the Councillors who will hear the appeal are not the same ones who will hear the planning application as the ‘Strategic Planning Committee’ of the Unitary Council does not contain a single elected member from Blyth, Northumberland’s largest Town, and normally simply accepts the views and recommendations of Council Officers, but does seem weak when farmers want to develop buildings in greenbelt areas.

This is one to watch as the Tories exploit both the people and their allies to grasp hold and cling to power even if its through ‘fringe benefits' to so called false ‘independent Councillors’.