Milburn Park is what us locals call the tennis courts

 

After all the rumours, posts on social media, here it is in black and white!!!!  No consultation with the public, no consideration of what the community have been through this last year, no thought to the fact Newbiggin needs repair work in a lot of places, the beach needs to be managed it's turned into a hill and is pushing onto the prom.  Nothing  not one thing that would actually benefit residents!!!  I am furious!!   

 Report of the Town Clerk

Council 17 March 2021

1. Project Plan 2021-24 and Partnership development

1.1 Against a background of lockdowns, Pandemic restrictions and home working in most

organizations for the past year there has been some progress in developing the Project Plan

in line with the Town Council’s expectations following last year’s consultation.

1.2 While understandable in the national circumstances it is still disappointing that so few

schemes are yet on site as anticipated although several should be during the Spring. There

has therefore been little expenditure in the current financial year so the revised 3-year

Project Plan shown in the Appendix contains the carry-forward of those current allocations.

Members should also show ongoing commitment with future contributions from the Town

Council up to 2024 to add match funding.

1.3 While work has continued with various partners to progress the regeneration of Milburn

Park to include vastly improved play facilities; beach huts; accessible bankside boardwalk;

observation platform all are at different stages of development with some requiring further

grant contributions. These should accelerate throughout this year.

1.4 Recent support from Economy and Regeneration Service at the County Council and

impending grant applications has focused attention on the need to formalise and

strengthen local community arrangements. It is felt that the time is now right to build on

recent joint working and support and commence the formation of a local partnership

Coastal Community Team as encouraged by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and

Local Government to continue to build on:

Enhancing the attractiveness and accessibility of public areas;

Providing increased community facilities;

Promoting the visitor economy;

Encouraging sustainable uses of heritage/cultural assets;

Creating links to support the growth and performance of the retail sector.

All of which fit well with the Town Plan and will be supported by and build on the Economic

Plan developed by Newbiggin Community Ventures Newbiggin Community Trust and County Regeneration and agreed

as part of the Neighbourhood Plan process.

1.5 Newbiggin by the Sea has is an ancient coastal settlement and as a seaside town has a

very strong coastal community and coastal economy which needs to be identified to

external funders. There are Coastal Community Teams for the coastline areas of Amble,

Berwick and Blyth. It is suggested that the Town Council lead on the formation of a CCT 

with Newbiggin Community Ventures, Newbiggin Development Trust, initially working with County Regeneration Service and subsequently

look to bring on-board appropriate business interests and stakeholders.

RECOMMENDED that the Town Council:

i) Agree the carry forward of project allocations and the extension of the 3-Year

Project Plan 2021-24 as shown in the Appendix 1;

ii) Confirm delegated authority to the Town Clerk to make payments of contributions

to schemes as appropriate;

iii) Confirm that the partnership working for the regeneration of Milburn Park and the

town be accelerated with cross support of individual projects;

iv) Agree the formation of a Coastal Communities Team as outlined in the report.

 

Dodgy Tories Spinning Like Tops More leaked emails from the Morpeth’s Collander.

 

 

Why should public funds be used to bail out
shocking Tory decision making?

 

Councillor Bridgett to Councillor Oliver:

Dear Cllr Oliver,

 

Please forgive me for having taken 36 hours to respond to the evidently rushed proposals that went through the cabinet on Tuesday morning that switched the funding of the bailout of Advance Northumberland from using COVID-19 funds (as agreed at the cabinet meeting on the 23rd February) to using funding from budget underspends in the 2020/21 financial year.

 

Something didn’t sit quite right with me when you casually mentioned in your preamble that the £11.1 million going into this reserve fund to bail out Advance, was coming from “finance and corporate service budgets”.

 

As someone who actually read the 50 page report, based on what I had read in that report at the time, it sounded like you were being very liberal with the truth.

 

So, you’ll forgive me if I did not take what you had said at face value. I have since spent the last 36 hours seeking clarity and fully researching the matter further.

 

And would you believe, it is exactly as I thought and had originally interpreted the report.

 

For those members of the council who may not have seen the report and for those members of the cabinet who maybe haven’t read it properly either, the report can be found by following this link to the council website:

https://northumberland.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s2140/Financial%20Performance.pdf

 

You see, the money to bail out Advance is no longer coming from unringfenced COVID-19 funding but is instead coming from budget underspends as outlined on page 4 of the report.

 

Now would you believe, the biggest contributor to those underspends is not actually the “finance and corporate services” budgets as Cllr Oliver might like you to believe but is in fact the Adult Social Care & Commissioning budget. To the tune of over £8 million.

 

Now as I understand it and I have sought clarification on this, the total budget underspends within the council are around £18 million.

 

And as agreed at cabinet only 36 hours ago, rather than invest that underspend in “Recovery Northumberland” and use it to improve council services as we come out of this pandemic and as I think the general public would expect us to do.

 

Instead, you have chosen to use those underspends to bail out the mistakes made by individuals at Advance Northumberland. Mistakes that went against the council’s shareholder representative advice, mistakes that were based on no visible external legal advice and mistakes that only got board approval after the actions had been taken and enacted.

 

But what really is disgusting about this whole thing is the fact that the Adult Services & Commissioning budget has only had these underspends as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Either from the revenue generated as a result of Covid or as a direct result of the council not having to meet the care home fees of some of the poorest, most vulnerable residents of Northumberland, who have sadly passed away as a result of COVID-19.

 

I am genuinely interested as to how you are going to deny this one or spin it as some sort of falsehood because the information is there for all to see in the publicly available report that went to Cabinet on Tuesday morning. 

 

To quote: "Due to the unprecedented level of turnover in purchased care in the first half of the year an underspend of £6.038 million is forecast".

 

Is "unprecedented level of turnover in purchased care" the administration's way of saying "the deaths of Northumberland residents in residential care as a result of Covid-19"? You don't need to respond. I already know the answer to that question - I've done my research!

 

Or the extra £101,000 that the council has generated due to "the increased level of vulnerable people who require help making decisions regarding their welfare and/or financial affairs."

 

I thought your attempts to use the Covid-19 funding for this were bad enough but is bailing out the mistakes of Advance Northumberland, with money saved on the back of some quite horrific and traumatising circumstances such as the loss of family members in care homes, really the way the residents of Northumberland and those husbands, wives, sons, daughters and grandchildren would really want that money spent? or would it not be better used improving our frontline services across the council to help them and us emerge from this horrific pandemic. Or better yet! Use it to help residents and businesses that have fallen through the cracks because of the criteria for other forms of support. 

 

I would say I am shocked but after the last 9 months, very little seems to shock me anymore.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Steven Bridgett

 

Councillor Sanderson to Tory Members:

 

 

Councillor Bridgett to Councillor Oliver response to above:

Well given that no one has been willing to respond to my email (below).

 

And the Leader of the council only feels it appropriate to communicate with conservative group members on this subject matter.

 

I will respond to the Leaders email to conservative group members.

 

For the benefit of those who are not members of the conservative group - I have attached a copy of the said email.

 

I will respond to the points accordingly.

 

1,) I genuinely could not care that there is an election on the way. What I am bothered about is the fact this council is proposing to use money that could be spent on council services in the forthcoming financial year, to bail out Advance Northumberland.

 

2,) You use the word "us" when referencing so-called instances of people allegedly having a go at the conservative group. I am not having a go at the conservative group! I have always found a majority of the conservative group to be decent individuals! What I am raising are issues and decisions that are being taken by a small number of the conservative group that impact this whole council and the services it delivers.

 

2,) As for the leaks, it's evident that they are also coming from within your own ranks! Perhaps some of your members no longer believing some of the denials and outright lies.

 

3,) So you've admitted there is a claim (we all knew anyway) and the reasons for that claim. And that you are evidently looking to settle that claim. What happened to the statement in the press that the council will vigorously defend this claim?

 

4,) So you're allegedly now not going to use underspend from within the Adult Social Care & Commissioning budget to meet the cost of the bailout for Advance. I'm not sure how this is possible given the levels of funding required but the fact you're willing to use funding from that department, along with Children's Services and Local Services underspend given that it is not possible to create the reserve fund to bail out Advance Northumberland without using underspends from those departments is appalling in itself.

If there are underspends, these underspends should be being used to support and improve our frontline services in the forthcoming financial year as we emerge from Covid-19. Or better yet, use this money to support local businesses that have fallen through the cracks in terms of support from the government.

 

It is these services that our residents care about! Not bailing out the council's own company because of the monumental mistakes that have been made as a result of certain decisions.

 

If you, as Leader, are happy with using council service underspends to bail Advance Northumberland (which is the exact decision the cabinet voted unanimously to do on Tuesday) rather than spending it improving our own council services or supporting local businesses, then at least have the backbone to come out and defend that decision! A decision that you voted in favour of.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Steven Bridgett