Newbiggin suffers most from the ‘Oliver Tax’

 

During 2018 a report was ran out by the Council in the name of Councillor Nick Oliver, reducing the amount of benefit families in need could claim from the Council.

Newbiggin by the Sea has the highest child poverty rate in Northumberland and suffers most from the effects of this dreadful cut in benefit As a percentage of population Newbiggin is currently also home to the largest number of those striving to help themselves on minimum pay, claiming top up benefits and thereby suffering the effects of endemic poverty worsened by Councillor Olivers actions.

Due to the current situation with jobs, furlough and large scale redundancies other areas across Northumberland are very close to joining Newbiggin by the Sea and families falling into the poverty trap. Areas such as Hirst, Cowpen, Croft, College, Kitty Brewster, Prudhoe, Newsham, Widdrington, Lynemouth, Hadston and Amble have seen the gap between the haves and the have nots grow rapidly in recent months with them being joined by others as clusters of poverty are widening in many other wards once thought economically secure.

With support for the Tories fading in Northumberland through the revelations in the press of corruption, bullying of staff, racism, and with Labour calling for a special meeting in the press to ensure at least elected councillors from outside the Tory party are made aware of whats been going on in their name. 

We expect a change of administration in May 2021 and hope that the ‘Oliver Tax’ is the first thing changed by the incoming Council. 

Boris may have won the War but has he lost the peace?

                  Pre-common market nostalgia may save UK business yet!

Brexit, a phoenomina driven by those who hankered for a return of the Billy Cotton Bandshow on the radio, 12 pennies to the shilling, cheap fish and chips three times per week, 2 O’clock closing on a Sunday with the harassed little wife waiting for her man staggering home to place his dinner before him and Newcastle United winning the FA cup!

Times have changed a bit since then but the sentiments the same, hankering for the past has caused the anguish of the present day and whose paying for it? not the top 7% who hold our nations wealth, its us the common people who find ourselves wading through the mire like Dickens description of Abel Madgewick’s escape in Great Expectations.

The Guardian has summed up the position the nation is in with a massively prospective shrinkage of our economy caused by the ‘smelly’ supposedly ‘oven ready’ trade deal accepted by the Tories in a story about the position a cheesemaker finds his company in.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/23/cheshire-cheesemaker-says-business-left-with-250000-brexit-hole

So you may ask how can nostalgia and history help the UK now?

Britain became Great Britain through our unified nation being an island and the use of ships and shipping to bring in and export goods from our manufacturing bases across the Country, there was no major highways use for mass edibles and manufactured goods until the mid 20th century. a simple look at a map shows the rail and canal networks link manufacturers with ports both big and small on both sides of the North Sea.

On our Eastern seaboard ports sit fairly and squarely facing the ports in Europe many of which have sat semi redundant since the 1960’s. Those with ferry terminals  on the continent are locking down and burying transport companies in red tape in a huge snub of the UK that may last decades. 

But how can we get this blockade like situation eased to the satisfaction of our now geared to road transport industry on both sides of the briny pond which separates our nations and is damaging to all. We believe its quite simple, lets get our ports working with each other and increase shipping via the former short routes as opposed to most goods being transferred to and from the Continent via the South East of England and Hull.

Northumberland and the North of Tyne combined authority area has wonderful ports that face the Baltic with historical imports and exports to Denmark, Germany, Eastern European Baltic states including Russia and Poland. Traditional trade routes are still open, in some cases a little run down. Roll on roll off facilities and lorry parks are simple add ons that can be quickly developed, but its our historical shipping agencies that we need to grow back rapidly to beat the red tape blockade.

Currently red tape is being used to slow goods in and out as every single lorry must have its correct paperwork sitting in its cab, but is that really necessary? European Countries pre common market had massive amounts of red tape in place to protect their own national identities and jobs yet British shipping agents overcame the problems and goods flowed in and out of our ports both big and small and on across the country very rapidly indeed. 

The DTI and Government business advisers are telling companies they must set up businesses on the near continent to handle the red tape but we believe that by using modern IT and transferring containers directly onto short route shipping via a larger number of ports road transport and shipping companies on both sides of the North Sea will thrive and the problems facing run down eastern seaboard towns will ease as as businesses begin to cluster around the historical powerehouses of the past.

So for those who hanker for the revival of ‘workhorse Britain’ lets get our giant Northern transport companies talking without ports and set up unified shipping agencies and not a myriad of different offshore companies to diminish profits and get our nation moving and trading again! 

£80m Liars Widespread Bullying of officers resignations sought by Councillors

 

North East Politics has been rocked this week with a call on live TV from Northumberland Councillors demanding resignations from the current Tory administration following the release of a confidential report to the media regarding investigations that Council Officers including the Chief Executive of the County Council had been bullied and coerced into situations fabricated by the Tories.

Both an Independent Councillor and the Labour Party spoke about the dreadful situation and position the Council’s reputation has been placed in and that heads should roll.

The position the Council finds itself in through the action of releasing a confidential document believed to be by a member of the Administration is intolerable. It's been said on social media that only members of the Tory Group had access to the confidential report, making its release untenable and against local government law. 

We have read that the Council’s administration sought to have the council placed in ‘Special Measures’ by their own Government  in order to stop the public gaining access to the myriad of reports from a multi disciplined task force sent into the Council to investigate the lies and cover ups leading Tories have spewed out since 2015. Its well known that their success in 2017 was based on a lie regarding the cost of the Labour Party’s wish to move from the current County Hall, hidden from public view behind a housing estate on the outskirts of leafy and very wealthy Morpeth to a site five miles away central to the diminishing commercial activity in Ashington a town well set among the top ten most deprived areas in the UK. This was to stabilise and then improve the ability of a well occupied public building in bringing relief from endemic grinding poverty and only low paid employment opportunities to a halt, and change an area forever.

The same Tories who lies are being investigated currently ran out at every opportunity that the Ashington move would cost £80m when its development actually totted up to £38m over twenty five years but other available Council reports show that when the sale of the old county hall itself was resolved it was only costing the taxpayer £12M with Ashington gaining an improvement in trade of +£23M over a period of years and of course the move towards reopening the AB&T Line (northumberland line) being pushed by the regions mayor, first phase, terminates in Ashington Town Centre a hop skip and jump from the proposed new County Council offices.

We expect that the local Ashington based MP, Ian Lavery is working up the future plans for the Town with the current leadership of the County Labour Party as we know from social media that Labour’s candidates for the May 2021 local government elections are very keen to ensure that both Ashngton and Bedlington, two towns ignored by the Tories since 2017 are revitalised by Labour after the elections and both sit in his constituency.

Were led to believe that the biggest lies from the Tories are still to come out especially the problems that the Tory Councils trading company ADVANCE Northumberland finds itself in but we hope that the reports from investigators are open for public view and not required to be leaked so that the taxpayers of Northumberland can find out from investigators the extent of corruption purveyed in their name.

 

Fingers in every Pie?

 Was Shakespeare thinking about Newbiggin?

Here at the nutters, were not quite sure whether to solidly link our story to Shakespeare’s description of Cardinal Wolsey or Charles Dickens Great Expectations, after tea and biscuits in the office we thought we had better stick with Shakespeare and his description in Henry VIII  “The devil speed him! No man's pie is freed from this ambitious finger!”. So lets speed on by explaining to the unsuspecting residents of Newbiggin by the Sea whats happening in their name and the people behind them who wish to see the Town of Newbiggin by the Sea change to their own personal specifications.

Lets start with the Town Council who are working towards the roll-out a neighbourhood development plan for Newbiggin by the Sea using a local planning consultant at great expense http://www.newbiggintowncouncil.gov.uk/neighbourhood-plan/  which we hope does not include too many toilets and the expense of running them, but at least via the link above it shows they are working their way through the process and if enough local people get involved the resulting plan may be shaped towards the needs of both the Community of Newbiggin and the County Council who sit as the planning authority over the whole County and also manage the grant aid cash to deliver the plans.

But it appears that the consultations are being coloured by a number of individuals and groups who are seeking access to the pots of cash that deprived areas may be gifted over the next few years (as we move towards the next General Election) to drive their own agenda’s. The public in Newbiggin by the Sea deserve to be told about these agenda’s and ensure that they get themselves involved and colour the changes their way.

For our second pie dippers we appear to have NEWBIGGIN VENTURES a group which has links with Town Councillors and Labour activists, appears to be a spin off from the Portas Pilot scheme and has produced an economic plan without any delivery funding behind it. This may be the plan used to drive the Town Council’s consultation unless enough people get involved and look at it.

The ‘improvements’ centre on the southern extremities of the beach and cliff area and will inevitably have to have the Town Council ‘dog ban’ extended to the whole beach area, driving out many cash tourists who like to spend a little time and plenty of money in the Town’s shops and leisure industry outlets as ‘ventures’ introduce camping areas, industrial pods and beach huts onto or near a very narrow promenade and turn the bay into a marina for the yacht society. 

The same group of yachting people  who have had very little influence on expanding Amble or Blyth’s shopping and cash turnover  so someone needs to explain and that’s really explain how they expect that to be different in Newbiggin? (by the Sea). To get a copy of the Draft economic plan you can write to the Ventures company at the address in the link to companies house: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08395585

 

The other group Newbiggin Development Trust or is it person? Involved with the future of Newbiggin by the Sea is one Hilton Dawson. Mr Dawson’s career is well documented. In 2003 he quit as a Labour MP after calling for Tony Blair to resign https://wwwlancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5883845.mp-hilton-quit/ to move back to his native North-East.

Later he slipped into a job as secretary and CEX of a pseudo trade union led association and quietly slipped out to return once again to his native North-East.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2012/09/25/basw-chief-suspended-following-allegations-about-his-conduct/

https://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/article/basw-chief-executive-departs-following-investigation-into-conduct

He then went on to form his own Political Party the North East Party which he is currently advertising on Newbiggin Community sites. It had a short run of success in the Durham Coastal Towns as at the height of Brexit mania it attracted those who couldn’t get selected by UKIP to stand in Town Council seats.

Meanwhile in July 2020 the Town Council managed to get all three groups to agree to a ‘Masterplan’ it doesn’t seem available online at the moment but Alan Thompson, Mr Newbiggin (by the Sea) as he likes to think of himself let things slip on his Wansbeck Matters blog: http://wansbeckmatters.org/a-strategic-plan-for-2020-in-newbiggin-by-the-sea/

 

And his Marina plans: http://wansbeckmatters.org/newbiggin-bay-project/

Newbiggin by the Sea people who are interested in what the few keep secret while the many pick up the costs need to get an electronic copy of the ‘Masterplan’ via the Freedom of Information process from the Town Council and circulate it. Were led to believe it contains plans to double the number of public loos in the Town and expose residents to costs and projects that they may not be able to afford to participate in. 

Shakespeare was right after all, too many fingers in too many pies.

 

Councillor Deirdre Campbell asked the question we all need an answer to and was Pooh Poohed by the Tory Council.

Wednesday 6th January 2021, the nation is in the grip of the worst pandemic in UK History, we are all in lockdown and a public meeting of the prime Council for the huge County of Northumberland was held remotely by ZOOM and televised on YouTube.

The meeting included the usual round of committee minutes for ratification and one of the most boring lectures on record regarding how the pandemic has affected the County. The matter rambled on, delivering every detail of how people have been affected without a single condensed element that could be picked out by newshounds like ourselves to inform a news hungry public in need of some cheer.

The lecture wandered into question time and it was noticeable how the Tories on the council were able to wax lyrical and farmers of which there are many, spoke with the authority of medics on the subject of inoculations defending their Governments system of spin spin spin, asking questions to which there were no answers.

But from the crowd and throng of well privately briefed agriculturalists stepped Councillor Deirdre Campbell of Newsham who asked the simple question on every residents lips “once we have had our inoculation how do we prove we have had it?” “My husband and I like to travel and we will probably be asked at customs to prove we have had it”.

There was stunned silence and the Tories who had just been cut off at the knees decided that the reception was poor from Councillor Campbells internet link and that they couldn't get the gist of her question. The chair rapidly moved onto the next item on the agenda, but at least it stopped the boredom and made anyone watching sure that the administration of the inoculation scheme is certainly not planned out to benefit the public.

 

Blyth to receive half of promised funding to rebuild a decade of Tory destruction on their high street!

Austerity, is a Tory Government enforced program of huge cutbacks to Council budgets. This has led to the lack of local investment into high street improvements, a problem which has been massively exacerbated over the last four years as Euro funding to deprived areas disappeared following the Brexit vote. That disappearance led the current Government to promise reasonable investment levels into East coast high streets taking the data found in the Marmot Report into deprivation levels nationally.

Austerity which drove down prosperity in already deprived areas allowed absentee investors to scoop up commercial property on deprived high streets particularly in seaside towns for a song. Damaging new businesses from chancing startups as Commercial property rents rose to a new unaffordable level and were left empty to blight high streets further.

Following the 2019 General Election where the Tories gained numerous seats from Labour in areas known as the ‘red wall’, Blyth Valley was one of those seats and the funding mechanism spun towards protecting the new Tory MP’s in red wall constituencies. 

The slow handling of this funding through the pandemic lockdowns allowed the Sun newspaper to get off the stocks and survey its readers in the red wall seats one year on. They found that 36 of the 45 red wall conservative seats would immediately return to Labour hands.

 

The cash stream, the Future High Streets fund brought out both Government and Tory Councillors spin doctor teams over the last year, stating the huge amounts they were expecting to receive for their townships with Northumberland boasting about a £25M grant and labeling it as a marvelous kickstart to the £45M the Town Forum needs to bring about outstanding change to the Town of Blyth. The Tory led County Council hired a team of planning consultants to help spend the expected wealth.

 

On Xmas Day 2020, the Homes and Communities agency announced the winners of its Future High Street Fund and in their gift box giveaway Blyth will receive less than half the spun out amount. The Tories scrooges have cut the promises down to £11,121,059 an amount too small for the County Council to bridge the gap. Cash wise, Northumberland County Council have slipped into dire straits through the serious politicised handling of finance under their charge. In the last almost four years they have not had their accounts pass the test of delivering best value to the public by their external auditors and are currently embroiled in a series of investigations into among other matters corruption. Lets see what spin the current crop of Tories put on this derisory amount which certainly reflects their lack of belief that Blyth Valley or Northumberland will remain in Tory hands after the forthcoming local and the next general elections.

Oh! lifes so simple, all Jags and Wardrobes until the officers began fighting back?

Ten days ago rumours began to abound in our office that even after the great shakeup at the expensive to keep Morpeth County Hall things were still not moving forward and that great battles were going on in the civil war within Northumberland Conservatives with the bullying of staff at an all time high as the blue Knights charged forward only to be hacked down by the dogs of war now in charge at Morpeth.

Unfortunately for the dogs they have very little etiquette and most have a history of not being nice even to members of their own team. So toning down the similies a little ‘the scrum is a nasty place to be’.

Several months ago the nastiness of the current crop of right -wingers at County Hall was brought out into the open in leaked emails which exposed the working conditions of staff and the misdemeanours and horror stories surrounding the Councils company ADVANCE Northumberland.

Some of the rumours a list of which looked like the cover of a Fleetwood Mac album sleeve were clarified and personified through a statement recorded by the local democracy reporter for the area who quoted the Chief Executive of Northumberland County Council and single shareholder representative for the Council of ADVANCE Northumberland, at the Councils Audit Committee, Mrs Dajit Lally said “As shareholder representative. I have expressed some fairly serious concerns about the issues surrounding ADVANCE Northumberland currently. I have put into the work programme a report, likely to come in February, about a number of those issues, so it was just to give the committee assurance that we are looking at these issues and reporting on them.”

So the fightback on behalf of seriously bullied officers has begun against the alleged corrupt Tory regime and its arms length company and our rumour miller on the ground thought that on hearing this statement Councillor Nick Oliver looked as if he was going to be sick!

But back to the tale: Councillor Richard Wearmouth is the Chairman of ADVANCE Northumberland and he thinks he is above all when it comes to politics. He is under immense pressure following this revolt by officers and looking at the Fleetwood Mac list we would like to know if its the ‘Chain’ of that office or the ‘Dreams’ of how to avoid the legal proceedings expected to come following release of Mrs Lally’s report but we have heard he is going to ‘Go my own way’ and have a run at becoming the Mayor of North Tyneside on behalf of the Tories at the May election and complete with Jag and Wardrobe will then live happily ever after near the banks of the Tyne.

Even with the poor reputations held by both Tynemouth and North Tyneside Tories they wouldn’t want to consider him as their candidate unless it's already cut and dried or is it just him saying ‘I’m never going back again’ once the lawyers get on his tail?