Watching the on air Council meeting
beamed from Morpeth last Wednesday observers like ourselves may have asked why
the Labour Party, the LibDems and the Tynedale Independents were so against the
transfer of a planning obligation to the Labour controlled City of Newcastle
Council for a small patch of land lying between Ponteland and Throckley that is
a minor element of a major coal extraction within the bounds of the City.Well for those in opposition at County Hall in Morpeth this isn’t an attempt to stop any decision being made by the City Council it is about the protection of the villages that surround the City and the future needs of both the region the Country and the Government. As a nation we still need coal, will do for the next decade whilst we build a renewable future and the extraction of English coal is the least costly in the terms of human safety and transport mileage.
So why all the furore? The answer is manifold but today we the Laymen wish to put some scenarios to those who live near this planning proposal and show why the Leader of the Conservative Group on Northumberland County Council may have let down the Town and villages he represents.
This small patch of land is the exit route for the coal that may be extracted from this huge site and that exit route will not be through the City of Newcastle, who through being the regional hub of the North-East has huge traffic and pollution problems that could lead to ever more vehicles being routed around the City and not through it by costly environmental charges being placed on the Tyne crossings within the City Centre areas.
That of course will mean any coal extracted from this site will be routed through Northumberland to its railhead or the Port of Blyth to be transported by sea.
You may ask why that’s a concern as similar scenarios have been happening since the second world war? It has and the County of Northumberland through being the largest planning authority in the region has controlled that traffic very well indeed but by ceding its planning obligations a change stuck on the back of an item on managing the County Climate Emergency the Tory led Northumberland County Council has allowed another authority to manage the exit of this coal onto the County highways, an exit that could be extremely difficult for people who commute from Ponteland who complain about the highway in that area on a regular basis.
But what about the future if this coal is extracted?
On becoming the Leader of Council in May 2017 Councillor Jackson had two planning applications in his ward stopped and had the Council withdraw its ‘Core Strategy’ planning document from inspection by Government. The two sites Clickerman and Dissington Garden Village were to pay for a new high school and leisure centre in Ponteland, Councillor Jacksons team have gone ahead with Labour’s planned new school and leisure centre without the income from those sites to contribute towards the considerable costs of such a venture, leaving the County Council to borrow capital finance to pay for it.
Borrowing capital finance puts pressure on the revenue budget of the County Council, revenue funding pays for the services you receive as a resident of an area, Councillor Jacksons Conservative Group have just agreed to cut revenue and services by £16m leaving the villages and towns affected by this possible coal extraction with rapidly worsening services.
Also, the extraction of coal from this site leaves the City of Newcastle with possibly the most sought after building land in the North of England right on the doorstep of Darras Hall in Councillor Jacksons Ward and leaves the city with the ability to develop a fantastic future in rateable value terms not only for this land but right up to Newcastle airport, which can be developed alongside this site leaving Northumberland in the embarrassing position of having to provide a green belt buffer as they have ceded this area over to the City in planning terms.
The replacement for the Councils core strategy is the Conservatives new ‘Local Plan’ in which they reduced the housing numbers in Northumberland in order to protect Ponteland and Darras Hall’s exclusivity. So Northumberland gets to service any growth in this area, which we expect to be considerable, without the revenue stream to improve the services its currently cutting.
Running alongside this issue is the ‘climate emergency’ that is being actively pursued in the City of Newcastle through proposed direct action on vehicles will lead the Highways authorities to require the building of a new road that will connect the A1 north of Newcastle to the A69 trunk road as the western bypass is already at a stand still at peak times. Any development on this new site will mean that the future link road will sit in Northumberland and not in Newcastle leaving the villages Councillor Jackson is cutting services too vulnerable to traffic pollution at a much higher level than they currently suffer from.
Therefore in conclusion we the Laymen believe the opposition parties were right to challenge this decision as it’s the people in Northumberland’s future they were thinking of before being voted down by Tories and Bedlington Independents.
