Government announce 'support promises removal' to organisations through an attack on refugees.

Its only been a couple of weeks since we laymen brought up the issue of the replacement for EU regional and national funding in the form of the UK shared prosperity fund and how we hoped our suspicions that Sajid Javid would claw back huge sums of money from Councils in order to finish off local democracy once and for all if we crash out of Europe would not occur.

Recently our fears were finally upheld through an article in the Guardian newspaper regarding the removal of any future support through the UK shared prosperity fund entitled: No-deal puts refugee funding at risk

The UK Government has told the Refugee Council that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, millions of pounds of European funding to support vulnerable refugees will be lost. The Council, which was initially assured that the grants would be secure post-Brexit, said the threatened withdrawal was a “disgraceful U-turn.”

This hardening up of the Governments position shows that the supposed ending of austerity was as we always believed a sham and the halt to internal spending for one financial year by Government departments will not happen and austerity still sits in place.

If the nation crashes out of Europe which now seems to be a very likely situation the loss of employment will be immense and we will descend rapidly into recession hence the reason for the announcement of more police officers to be recruited. As the UK spins out of control the cash we should all share will be used to control the people. It looks ever more like the nation will go back in TARDISTIC time to the miners dispute only this time the Government will be fighting women who will be desperate to feed their families.

 

 

Bloodthirsty Councillors Criticised for ‘Gentlemanly’ Attitudes.

As the Northumberland layman contributor who lives in the most rural location in our beautiful County I spend a great deal of time on the telephone each day making contact with my neighbours, family, local businesses and the authorities. As I don’t have access to high speed broadband yet (although the authorities are working hard to bring it on) it has taken me a little while to pick up the noise on social media surrounding this matter.

A report in the Newcastle Journal on 19^th September 2019 explained the activities at the Morpeth and District local area Council on the 16^th September, where the subject brought up by the Gentlemen farming Councillors who run Northumberland County Council, Chairman Richard Dodd, Leader of Council Peter Jackson and Glen Sanderson, head of Local Services three of the pack who cut down the number of democratic meetings of the County Council to suit their money making business interests and the agricultural calendar in order that they are not brought to task regarding their seemingly hooray henry decision making by the public at large. The subject they wanted to discuss at this publicly reported meeting was the Policing of poaching from their land.

Not content with acting themselves in front of the press, boasting that their businesses include the bloodthirsty activities of hunting shooting and fishing they unbelievably criticised the Police for not personally informing them of whom their local policeman is.

This release of how their gouty lifestyles have evolved since taking office as a Councillor on the public’s behalf is what led to the crescendo of activity on social media particularly from the South East of the County and some of the Counties most deprived areas. People who may not be averse to the Country lifestyle are disgusted at the laziness of these Gentlemen Councillors and Farmers who employ staff to work their land whilst they take part in their pursuits and tweed and barbour coated activities all the time holding positions at the County Council which warrant the supply of secretaries and teams of admin staff at their disposal. My friends in the Morpeth Rural areas all have access to high speed broadband and I suspect their farms would be some of the first to be equipped with this communication medium yet here we have three snobby people living impressive lifestyle’s who admit they cannot press the keys on their PC, use a telephone nor even ask the staff who work hard for them on a daily basis to phone the Police to find out who their local bobby is.

I only have the telephone and basic internet to help me, I am not a Councillor yet I made it my business to speak with a local policeman following the last reportable criminal activity near my home and the Police have been very kind and kept a little bit of contact with me ever since.

I’m sure the County Council who offer evening classes through their adult training arm on every subject under the sun will have a course on ‘how to feel confident using the phone’. It’s important, in fact essential that these three people who are obviously too posh to dirty their hands or pick up germs from a telephone receiver are sent on that course.
 

 

 

Deprivation concentrated in post-industrial areas of North and North East

A new Government report shows that the that the most dense concentrations of deprived neighbourhoods in England are still to be found in the post-industrial areas of the North and North East, such as Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Blackpool.

The Seaside village Jaywick in Essex, has been named the most deprived area overall for the third time in a row since 2010. Meanwhile wealthy incomers moving into new-build apartments in regenerated neighbourhoods has altered the socio-economic profile of some of London’s traditionally most-deprived areas.

The latest official indices of deprivation in England shows that the high concentrations of deprivation found historically in the boroughs of Tower
Hamlets, Westminster and Islington appear to be becoming significantly diluted. However, one inner London council leader said the deprivation data did not appear to reflect the reality of poverty in local communities or the pressure on local authorities who had to deal with its effects.

In Northumberland, the Unitary Council and its attached partner Clinical Commissioning Group from the County NHS have ignored the Government invitation to locate the pockets of serious deprivation that can be found across this huge County, allowing it to slip to 122^nd in the current list. This major cock-up by the Tory administration in County Hall and their medical allies who are hiding the truth on so many issues will see deprived areas across Northumberland lose £Millions in aid to help the less well off while the number of families who need to use food banks and the number of children who are undernourished grows.

U.K. shared prosperity fund and its effects on Council funding

U.K. shared prosperity fund is not a matter on everyone’s lips and ‘We’ as laymen suspect the majority of people reading this blog won’t have heard about it, in fact it is the scheme that will replace EU Regional Funding.

In the recent one year funding round exuded from the lips of one of the losing contenders in the recent Tory leadership race, Sajid Javid, losing to the known, according to the Supreme Court, liar and charlatan Boris Johnson hasn’t set a budget line to support the U.K. Shared Prosperity Fund but has uniquely spun out a situation where his electioneering single year budget hasn’t gelled with anyone other than those who want to see rapid free market economic growth and those who will benefit most from rising inflation.

Javid has also changed the goalposts in regard to funding with his promises for help in three areas in order to gather the headlines, health, police and education, leaving the other services we all rely on high and dry. He knows that the last spending round for Councils comes to an end in 2020 but has not begun to assemble a spending review that would allow councils to form new medium term financial plans.

The last fair funding spending review 2014-2020 allows councils to plan and spend up until 2023 to give them time to complete late projects. It’s expected that Javid will claw back all funds not spent by November 2020 to pay for the two high street funds, the stronger towns fund, of which the issued list of winning bids lines up with the Conservative marginal seats list and the future high streets fund whose dates of acceptance are quoted as being after the next general election. It’s expected those towns who are not won by the Tories will be struck off the list.

Charities are also expecting to be battered by the Government as EU funded projects unspent cash, not earmarked cash, as has been the case previously, will be clawed back at the rate of 66p in the £pound.

We all need to remember that under this Tory Government austerity is only eased for a single year leaving your Council without financial stability prior to the completion of a new spending review period and the current announcements will put local authorities into the hands of the free marketeers as they struggle to manage without medium term funding security.


 

 

 

The unbelievable Cath Homer extends library austerity an additional two years.

Last week the public across Northumberland were asked by the Comms and Press department of the Council to expect an opportunity to contribute towards a consultation to shape the future of the library service in the County. Today we learn that this consultation by Northumberland Tories is simply one with a pre-determined outcome in order that they can slash another £200,000 from the service. Library services nationally have taken some of the most severe hits through the Tories nine year austerity program and have become after the third sector, the most damaged service across most councils yet just two weeks after Tory ministers announce the end of austerity a leading Tory Councillor in Northumberland announces a slash and burn cuts package agreed by the single party Tory cabinet in Northumberland. Cath Homer is seeking a two year cuts package of £100K per year. Labour attempted to offset the austerity cuts to library services by sharing property costs with Active Northumberland but under the watch of the same Cath Homer, Active Northumberland has slipped into secret privatisation mode and Councillors removed from the board with the workers pension schemes slashed so that in the future, pensioners from Active will not have the same remuneration as their equivalent colleagues in the mainstream Council. If you have any interest in learning, history or the future education of people from more deprived areas including rural areas, you must ensure that we are wrong and when you complete the current consultation make sure you strongly comment about these further cuts. We do want to be wrong but we would like to get a bet on that were right. https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/News/2019/Sep/Public-asked-to-help-share-future-of-library-servi.aspx

 

 

Stop the Lies, Spun News and Smears against My Town, My MP and My Football Club.

(By telling the Truth )

I am 71 yr old and have lived in Ashington all my life and have always been proud of my heritage and the way my local Council's, both County and District have managed things until now.

I can not stand the way my Town and my MP have been treated over the last four years by people who call themselves Tories. As their professionally adapted lies began the rounds in 2015 well before 2017 when they took power in Northumberland on the back of deceit and false news.

I have worked on both Colliery engineering and private engineering projects around the County and have worked for some of the most ardent Conservatives, the majority were a little bit tight with their cash but I suppose that's what conservatism is about, but none were as aggressive and nasty as the new breed of Tories running Northumberland County Council. It is my considered opinion that they are only pleased when setting communities against each other instead of trying to manage the needs of everyone who lives here which is what they are charged to do by the Acts of Parliament that formed this new and awful Unitary Council. Parliament should have demanded a different name so that people could not hide behind the old County Councils solid and untainted history.

This story is as close to the truth as I can recall so I have spoke with my pals from around Town and Ashington Community Football Club to try to fill in the gaps.

The story really begins in 2004/5 when the former Wansbeck District Council was approached by the grocery chain ASDA to sell Portland Park and develop a huge superstore on the site.

This was a huge project for the District Council who hadn't seen this coming and did not have the introduction of a shop of this magnitude into the urban setting of the Town in any of its planning documents. The Council sat on this matter for a few months, took advice and eventually released the information to the public and began a consultation that led to the production of a supplementary planning document by Northumberland County Council in 2010 that steered a new shape for the Lintonville area of the Town.

For the football club this was probably an ideal time to look for a new home, the Council were in receipt of regeneration funding from one North-East and had formed a regeneration and development arm which looked after the Colliery housing in Ashington, 'Wansbeck Life' it was busying itself with the remodelling of the Hirst Welfare and managed to secure land for a Community Football Club at the Woodhorn Lane end of their massive sports site.

Eventually ASDA moved forward with the purchase of the site and I attended the clubs last game in February 2008 at Portland Park before moving over to Woodhorn Lane when unfortunately Seaham Red Star beat us 3 goals to 2.

Because during 2008 the District Council was rapidly racing toward the formation of an interim Council which would eventually become the new Northumberland Unitary County Council a sum of money to help the football club relocate correctly and build a new stand, changing rooms, seating area, club house etc similar to Portland Park was not immediately available the money known as Community gain funding, or section 106 funding for this type of development and the club was given a grant and planning permission by the closing district council to erect a temporary pre-fabricated home which it duly did.

The section 106 funding worth many £M's at the time reported as £6.5M sat in the County Council coffers but was earmarked to develop a new Stand etc., for Ashington Community Football Club and draw down funding to assist in renewing the Leisure Centre in Ashington. A matter that the Tories in Northumberland would like to keep secret but unfortunately sometimes the 'truth will out'.

Late Councillors, John McCormack, and Jimmy Sawyer along with Jimmy Lang and Ken Parry took up the cudgel to locate this funding within the County Council's coffers and begin the good works for the community it was designed and given to produce.

The LibDems ran the new Council Council then and closed down Wansbeck Life renaming it ARCH who were given the task spend the section 106 money in the correct manner.

This is when the spin doctors from Northumberland Tories began their attacks on my Community and decried ARCH and our MP at every turn, inventing lies that I've been told the Councils and Arch's external auditors and the Police were not able to locate and attempting to criminalise the workers and board of the regeneration company. They weren't that successful as people could see with their own eyes the quality work that was being undertaken right across the County and although they threatened to close the company down in their pre-election manifesto it was so good and so effective they simply had to do as the LibDems did and change its name.

When at school I enjoyed my history lessons and it was said by Jospeh Goebbles the top Tory spin doctor of his day “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” I wish this story was going out to a newspaper and not to a blog but the power of social media is hopefully such today that by sharing this story the reputation of My Town, My MP and My Football Club can be restored, I hope enough dissent against these lies and liars is generated so that the stability of my Community can be returned to normal and the attacks on communities and the lies told about them right across this County should be highlighted against these dirty game players and they should be forced to cease immediately.

https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NorthumberlandCountyCouncil/media/Planning-and-Building/planning%20policy/Consolidated%20Planning%20Policy%20Framework/Section%20B/Part%201%20-%20Adopted%20LDDs%20(Not%20Statutory)/Ashington%20SPD/Ashington-Town-Centre-SPD.pdf

https://issuu.com/mandybarker1/docs/arch_corpstrategy_web

Councils to land grab in Town Centres as Tory Government changes planning policies?

Rumours and the construction trade have been concerned for some time about how the current government will kickstart its regeneration of high streets plans, and as the cowards they are they have decided to blame parents for the need to change planning laws and remove parental responsibility regarding their children’s dietary needs and stop shops being sited near schools.

 

In the many towns who qualify for future funding to regenerate high streets particularly those on the nation's eatern seaboard, councils have been building new schools near new housing developments over the last twenty years and by coincidence grocery chains also began to move out of town centres in order to gain access to larger sites to develop better car parking space for their customers over the same time period, taking shops ever closer to new schools on new estates.

 

Not allowing future development of shops within five minutes walk from schools is the desperate camouflage of nanny state cover Tories are using to make sure parents are seen as unable to look after their children’s dietary needs and that shops need to be put back on the high streets away from regular contact with children.

 

High streets in run down towns have a huge number of commercial landlords who own the vast majority of available space. This new change of planning emphasis from the money grabbing Tories may be sold to landlords and developers as the panacea to get the building trade and commercial property sector moving again using government cash to redevelop high streets and save children from obesity.

 

Will it happen like that, we think not. Tory Governments have shown over the years to deliver their plans whether it hurts people or not and this new idea could really hurt to commercial property sector as to resite a large store into a town centre will require Councils to use their compulsory purchase powers to assemble land packages to comply with what will become law.

 

Being on the sidelines as lay people we can watch this flower unfurl and see what nasty insects and nectar sucking Tory donors line their pockets with government cash being made readily available to do so.