Tories make DWP Complicit in Closing more North East Post Offices

 

Save our Post Offices:

Social media is alive with messages from local Councillors regarding the letter sent out from the Department of Work and Pensions to thousands of people on benefits and pensions that the Government intends to close all access to Post Office Card Accounts in November 2021.

Fears that this enforced change from a Conservative Government hell bent on central control of your data will be the final nail in the coffin for many sub post offices. 

Hundreds of thousands of people still get their pensions and benefits paid into POca accounts and manage from week to week on the cash they draw down locally. A change away from that system will place untold pressure on some people whose financial position is only managed through easy local access to funds to pay their way and would struggle to manage or even afford the bus fares in the case of younger people on benefits to travel into their local large Town Centre, the only places where some banks have survived. 

The Conservative Government's policy to run down the number of ATM machines is also heavily quoted as to why this Government needs to think again.

Post offices have suffered badly over the last decade of Tory rule. Councillor complaints on social media are currently most prevalent in rural parts of Durham, Cumbria, Gateshead and the massive almost completely rural County of Northumberland as well as the Tees Valley, but we have begun to notice a livening up of Councillors whose voters live on large densely populated housing estates in the Tyneside and Tees Valley conurbations as their post office branches begin to smell the damage this change will do to their businesses and that if service customers are steered to banks, estate based sub post offices and the shops which support them will not survive the change.

Across the whole of the North-East region post offices are an institution where under normal circumstances people like to meet their friends and neighbours and the weekly visit has become for many a real social event.

In Northumberland many community based social media sites are reporting that its three Tory MP’s are not interested in taking up the fight to stop this massive change and are steering their constituents towards making complaints to their local councillors.

We need to ask and receive answers to the question of why does this Government want to close your local post office? and why is it supporting banks over local post offices and you the people who rely on those post offices? as in most cases banks have deserted the people whilst sub post offices have remained loyal!

Cheapskate Antiquated Bridge Design Being dumped on Blyth's communities?

Last week the Ashington and Blyth Area Committee was held out of kilter on Thursday 11th February 2021 In order to

facilitate the special council meeting called to discuss the leaked report into the administration's handling of the suspension of its Chief Executive Officer.

The meeting followed its usual lines of raising issues of importance to local people and reports from officers on progress made in between meetings.

In the time set aside for any other business to be raised, Labour County Councillor Grant Davey of Kitty Brewster ward, reminded the committee that he was retiring from office as a County Councillor at the May elections but that he thought it was very important he brought the issues surrounding the recently released bridge planning application over the A189 to facilitate access to Blyth Bebside station to the attention of the Committee as the application would probably not be brought to committee before that date.

When discussing the bridge design Councillor Davey said: “This new Bridge design is antiquated and not suitable for the 21st century. Its been heralded as the access route for cyclists and pedestrians by the current administration yet doesn't meet the needs required for the disabled or families with pushchairs etc., never mind cyclists.”

Councillor Eileen Cartie joined in the debate to discuss the matter and told the Committee that “as a keen cyclist I was happy to see another cycle route being planned that would benefit people right across Blyth as the new bridge route links in with cycle ways and footpaths from Newsham farm estate and well as Cowpen and Blyth Town but to end in a flight of stairs is very disappointing indeed”.

During the wider debate Councillor Brian Gallacher spoke and told the Committee “I am also concerned about bridges planned for the Wansbeck area and have spoken with network rail as well as the Council about them and that if returned at the election in May I will keep an eye on the the matter as it is of great importance to a large number of people to get these matters right first time, the reopening of the AB&T Northumberland Line is a rail project for the future not the past.”

After the meeting we contacted Councillor Davey who told us: "I believe that an1881 style of footbridge is not what is required in this location, this new bridge should be designed as the safest of access routes for families with pushchairs, pedestrians, the disabled and cyclists to the new station  at Blyth Bebside".

"It services the population of approximately half of Blyth and is the only way to arrive under your own steam at the station without being exposed to the dangers of the Bebside roundabout." 

"The development of this bridge needs to comply fully with the disability acts as enshrined in law as is the the Bridge spanning the East Coast main line in Cramlington commissioned by the last Labour administration at County Hall and not be a cheapskate provision that locks out huge groups of users from easy access to a railway station in 2021."

"We have bridges in South East Northumberland which do comply and even one designed in the last century in Blyth over a disused rail line in the Isabella ward which is more user friendly than the proposed structure".

“At the earliest opportunity I will be speaking with the current Mayor of Blyth, Councillor Warren Taylor  on the matter as he has been selected as the Labour candidate for Kitty Brewster ward at the May elections and I know that he will fight tooth and nail to bring the right infrastructure project forward at this location.”

 

END

Newbiggin Sports and Community Centre Phase Two, a ‘Garden of Eden’.

The modernisation of Newbiggin by the Sea’s Sports and Community Centre is now underway. The project driven by County Councillor Liz Simpson and the Newbiggin Community Trust is designed to bring back much greater Community and visitor use into the Town and has the full support of the County Councils ‘Communities Together’ initiative.

The community centre which has degraded into a run down neglected space over the last few years primarily due to the impact of Advance Northumberland’s concentration on sporting activities and health & wellbeing work contracted by the County Council in partnership with the local NHS trusts, is about to be reborn and hopefully return to its heydays in serving not only the local community but also the huge increase in summer population as visitors flock into its caravan parks and with a new large caravan park gaining planning permission quite recently the need to prepare the centre for a post covid future is visionary indeed.

 Councillor Liz Simpson who is fully supportive of the project has also put forward plans to brighten up surrounds of the centre and has set aside £20,000 from her small schemes money to develop a public garden area at the centre which will be central to phase two of the current modernisation scheme.

 Councillor Simpson spoke with us and said “I’m so pleased that our Community Centre here in Newbiggin is being modernised and being brought back into full use once the pandemic is behind us.

As a Community Trust, we have been working behind the scenes for quite a long time to keep our community front and centre in the County Councils thinking”. 

“Working with the County Council’s Communities Together team has been a dream as they fully understand the problems we face and how a deprived area such as Newbiggin by the Sea needs to have a central hub in order to assist people face to face”.

 “The modernisation plans are so strong that I decided to add a second phase using my small schemes allowance and along with the Community Trust wish to develop a community garden at the centre”. 

“Myself and the members of the Trust believe it will not only enhance the centre but will give people the chance to mix with others who like to be in the fresh air and garden in a safe and secure environment and will be central to our grow and eat scheme.”

Its planned to complete the modernisation works by early summer and dates for an official opening will be set once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

 

Public Warning from Labour Councillor

 Leopards never change their spots.

As Laymen, we noted this week on her social media pages Labour Councillor Eileen Cartie who represents Wensleydale ward in Blyth has brought the issue of Car Parking charges to the fore.

Her motives are well meant, she has brought the savage imposition of the Conservatives answer to overspending on pet projects such as their massive cosmetic luxury and waste of cash on resurfacing underused roads in the Countryside, by dipping their hands to cover the cost of those projects deeply into the pockets of the motorist.

The Tories who run the County Council have pushed car parking charges as an easy way to manage budgets since 2008 when the interim unitary county council for Northumberland was formed as the history of the former District Councils under their control was to charge as much as they could get away with to cover off the incompetence of former Tory administrations.

Councillor PeterJackson the then Leader of the Conservative and Independent Group on the County Council proposed to back free parking if every motorist in the County paid the Council £45 per year. After much debate and negotiation at a political level, records show that the Labour Party backed a motion to make all car parking free to helps trade CountyWide. they were beaten in the vote but managed to push an amendment through to keep parking free in South East Northumberland where it had been free for decades, a number of south east based non-Labour Councillors broke their whips and up until 2013 things remained unchanged.

After doing their sums in 2013 the Labour Group ran a report through Council making all car parking free unless a Parish Council objected on parking management grounds and that why for four years Seahouses, Craster and a few other tourist hotspots retained charges while the rest of the County was free. This was an enormous help for shoppers and increased the tourist pound spend in the County massively.

When the Tories won the 2017 election the charges began to creep back on. Led by the portfolio holder for Highways and Car Parking the current Leader of Council and farmer who stays on his land Glen Sanderson.

Councillor Sanderson who can probably afford to pay for any hike in charges is at it again on car parking and has run out his vision for extra charges from May this year.

 

Councillor Cartie is right to warn people about this huge issue as the Beach car parks in Blyth are in the Ward she represents with the Ranch car park close by. Labour are committed to retaining free parking Countywide. 

 

How Safe will Law change to help Covid patients vote in local elections be?

          (Postal Voting is the only safe way 

to protect Democracy!)

 

The Government is about to alter proxy voting laws for May's local elections to allow people suffering from coronavirus to nominate a friend to vote for them up to 5pm on polling day. 

The date for registering a proxy voter will be cut from April 27 to 5pm on May 5, in the hope that those suffering from the virus will not feel they have to risk spreading it by going to polling stations. 

The change applies to local elections in England and Wales, and has been supported by the Electoral Commission, which will work with the police to ensure the move does not increase the risk of fraud.

Critics point towards how difficult it is for Election Officers to guarantee the signatures of voters who will be allowed to vote late and are ill as peoples signatures vary depending on circumstance and proxy voting as late as 5pm on a polling day will exacerbate the problems of ensuring the May elections are both covid free and democratically safe as unlike the use of postal voting checks will be difficult to fully verify.

Support for a major Government backed take up of postal voting and a reframed message via TV advertising over the next few weeks would gift Councils, Police, the Public and the Electoral Commission the comfort that authenticity can be correctly clarified ensuring a safety net of knowledge that these elections will be both covid free and democratically safe.

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/934119/Postal-vote-application-form.pdf

 

Council Chief Executive s unlawful suspenion

Northumberland Tories caught acting unlawfully and bullying staff.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-county-council-suspension-report-19665886

 

Members of Northumberland Conservatives have been exposed in a report to a Council Committee by Chronicle Live for acting unlawfully and bullying members of the staff working at the County Council by trying to interfere with due process.

 

Councillors from any administration in power have a duty of care to ensure they safeguard the workplace and the staff who work in it for them.

 

‘Complainant Members’ have not been named in a report to Council therefore all 32 Conservative Councillors who make up the Conservative Group and  control Northumberland County Council are guilty until they name and deselect any who have attempted to cloud the investigations into their Group members misdemeanours.

 

Those to blame are listed below and should all be treated as guilty for not revealing the truth and exposing those by name those who are responsible!

 

 

Conservative Group (CON)

32 councillors

• Armstrong, Eileen
• Bawn, David Lee
• Beynon, John Ace
• Castle, Gordon
• Cessford, Trevor
• Daley, Wayne
• Dodd, Richard Robert
• Dunbar, Christine Lesley
• Flux, Barry Malcolm
• Gibson, Rupert McLure
• Homer, Catherine R
• Horncastle, Colin William
• Hutchinson, James Ian
• Jackson, Peter Alan
• Jones, Veronica
• Lawrie, Roderick Malcolm Gordon
• Murray, Anthony Harkness
• Oliver, Nicholas
• Pattison, Wendy
• Quinn, Karen Rachel
• Renner-Thompson, Guy
• Riddle, John Robert
• Roughead, Gregah Alan
• Sanderson, Hugh Glen Howard
• Seymour, Catherine
• Stewart, Gordon
• Stow, Kenneth George
• Swinburn, Mark David
• Thorne, Trevor Norman
• Towns, David James
• Watson, Jeffrey George
• Wearmouth, Richard Watson

 

 

Labour to step over the threshold and help Northumberland families in need

 Criticism from Northumberland Conservatives about Labour's plans for an increase in Council Housing stock of 1500 homes over the next four years shows that they have no idea how much they have spent since May 2017 and on what?

During the run up to the 2017 local government election its well recorded that people actually believed the lies being spread by Northumberland Conservatives that Labour was going to increase public borrowing to £1.4Bn and spend £80m on a new county Hall in Ashington for vanity reasons.

Those ‘new conservative’ lies along with their spin regarding the money tree in 2010 have been proven by their own actions that borrowing both national and local has spun out of control under both a Conservative Government and a Conservative County Council in charge in Northumberland.

At the recent budget meetings led by Cllr Nick Oliver (yes that is the same Councillor who had to be told off by members of his own party in public last week for breaching Councillor etiquette and law on a planning matter) spoke about his group borrowing £800M of new capital cash so far and his need to borrow a similar amount to deliver their own vanity projects. A figure well in excess of that his group said Labour would borrow and yet look around where you live and ask yourself what have they done with all that cash. The only big cash item they have spoken about in public is their spend of £100m on rural road resurfacing. Not a great help to those in need!

 

This week the Labour Leader Susan Dungworth and her Deputy Scott Dickinson have spoken about their manifesto promise regarding the need for a major increase in Housing Stock to help those in need across the County. The Tories hit back with the ‘money tree’ tosh immediately.

But we laymen believe the Labour Group is right to be determined to increase stock under their control as the experience of people who find themselves exposed to rogue landlords or having to extend the number of overcrowding incidents by young families having to camp in their parents homes due to the endemic low wage economy across the County. It is growing rapidly even though some retailers are about to reward staff with higher wages mortgages are now much harder to get, making a County-wide increase in housing stock essential to help those in greatest need become independent and feel safe with the Council as their landlord.

Labour Group’s big ambitions could not have come at a better time for the private rental sector. Its vibrancy has completely fallen away and rent recover is reported as being down in the low 60%’s during 2020 and 2021 hasn’t begun much better with many small landlords sitting on former Local Authority stock across the County looking to shed their responsibilities and cut their losses. They could find themselves with a cash ready buyer in a Labour Council after May 2021 if they market the stock at the right price and even though the Councils current housing stock sits mainly in the former Alnwick and Blyth Valley areas bought in homes in former Wansbeck and Castle Morpeth and up the Tyne Valley in areas such as Prudhoe and Bywell would be simple to manage were told, as maintenance craftsmen and housing officers already work and travel between their traditional sites.

During the last Labour administration at County Hall 2013-2017  Labour built just over 300 brand new homes to a very high standard indeed costing just over £32M and that included four of the sites being opened up from scratch. They used contractors to develop those sites but are aiming to begin training the construction workforce for the future and ambitiously hope to build using direct labour who can develop sites very reasonably indeed.

With the final link in their ideas being put in place by Government very shortly as the inspection and hopefully acceptance of the local plan giving at least a decade long supply of housing land to work on, much of it already in Council hands, Labour would not need to borrow much more than has been spent by the Tories on rural roads to get very close to delivering their much needed plans.