Corrupt, dodgy 'Secret Council' want to spend more £millions on an empty building?

Northumberland County Council Conservatives, currently operating under a tarpaulin from a farm in the green belt surrounding the only town which has any meaning to their mob have let the Cabinet member for failed finance run his mouth off and insist he is going to spend ever more millions of pounds on County Hall, Morpeth.

Very similar to the antics of the Tories secondary prime minister Dominic Cummings, the member in focus, Councillor Oliver of Corbridge has failed his constituents by not paying the taxes he owes to his employer, the Council on a business he and his wife allowed to fail. Then low and behold an extremely similar if not identical business opened up and this isn't the first time they have been involved in similar activity. His unpaid debt to the Council being reported in County weekly and regional daily newspapers as £31,000.

This is Councillor Oliver's first run as an elected member. He was immediately targeted by the ex leader of the Tories Councillor Peter Jackson who was kicked out of his leadership post by a coalition of fellow Councillors after revelations of corruption, bullying, racism and dodgy land dealings from and by members of his Tory Group were revealed in an email to elected members from a whistle-blower, Councillor Oliver as a true loyal Jacksonite disciple who would shoulder the weight of hades and deliver the message needed to con the public into accepting deceit and secrecy as a norm.

This week a number of other blogs reported on his televised outburst where he attempted to perpetuate the myth that the former Labour administration was going to spend £80m on its proposed move to a new much cheaper to run office block in the nearby town of Ashington one of the UK's most seriously deprived areas. Those other blogs also issued links to a Government Freedom of Information site which proves the real and true total fixed price cost was to be £32m.

We won't repeat that further, instead we will look at the need to hold onto such a gigantic costly building in Morpeth and the published estimated costs of the final outturn bill of staying in County Hall, a currently almost empty building as most of the staff are currently working from home.

Opened in 1981 to house 2000 staff. Situated well out of easy lunchtime access distance from Morpeth's many retail outlets. Freedom of information and media reports inform us that the maximum number of people working at County Hall since the formation of the single Unitary Council for the County for Northumberland in 2009 is 732. During the Labour administration 2013-2017 it fell to around 500 as their market towns strategy increased the number of staff but placed them in the communities where their skills were needed most. New outreach offices were created in Cramlington and Eddie Ferguson House in Blyth saw many social services staff housed in the Counties prime area of need.

The Labour plan was to bring centralised services staff to a site the County Council already owned just off the High Street in Ashington a massively deprived area and not far from its planned station terminus on the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line (Northumberland line) to lower car use and develop ever more sustainability. This it was hoped would bring 400 staff in daily contact with local retail and strengthen hope for that High Streets long term survival.

The Jacksonite Tories created and perpetuated a lie that the new building in Ashington would close down shops in Morpeth and cost the Taxpayer £80m.

This is the true picture as it has unfolded for the Northumberland Conservatives and they have placed the full weight of blame on the myopic disciple Councillor Nick Oliver for the almost uncontrolled escalation of costs as confidence in their long term political grip grew. Now that they have been exposed and are being subjected to internal and external investigations including reports to the Police that grip is slipping on the wet anchor rope and they are being stuck fast on their own kedge.

 

·         Labour had a buyer for the County Hall site for £20m

 

·         The new office block in Ashington was to be built for a fixed price of £32m

 

·         Cost to the taxpayer of £12m.

 

Current list of costs at the Morpeth site

 

·         Loss of the sale of the County Hall site in Morpeth £20m

 

·         Current cost of essential repairs at County Hall including its new roof £21m

 

·         Cost of stopping the contract on the Ashington site with Galliford Try the building contractor and remediation of the site £5.6m

 

·         Cost to the taxpayer for the planned Eat Street and Cinema is estimated circa £7.7m

 

·         Cost of Advance Northumberland (part of the Council) of building a highway to open up the site for potential private development which will kill off and run down the High Street £9m.

 

·         The cost of building an artistic atrium at the front of Morpeth County Hall £7m

 

·         Cost of solar panels in the Car Park £3m

 

These are the current true planned expenditure costs cleared by the Portfolio holder for Tory finance Nick Oliver since May 2017:

 

Cost to the taxpayer of the Tory Model £73.3m and rising.

 

Cost to the taxpayer of the Labour Model £12m fixed price.

 

Therefore the true cost of being a Jacksonite Tory disciple who is incapable of understanding the term 'best value' for the public who pick up the Councils outstanding debt and is solely responsible by signing off the reports that have created the 

waste of £61.3m of public money to ensure the world revolves around EX CASTLE MORPETH.

 

No wonder a major investigation into alleged corruption, bullying, racism and dodgy land dealings is taking place!