Berwick Chamber of Trade back ‘fair parking in Northumberland’ petition. Shops in the town to collect signatures before 26 February 2013 deadline

                                                                                        

Ian Swithenbank, Chairperson Grant Davey, Leader Val Tyler, Deputy Robert Arckless, Secretary

County Hall Morpeth Northumberland NE61 2EF Telephone (01670) 533000 Fax (01670) 533072

Press Release

Berwick Chamber of Trade back ‘fair parking in Northumberland’ petition

Shops in town to collect signatures before 26 Feb deadline

Berwick Chamber of Trade have become the first major Chamber of Trade in the county to back the petition to introduce a ‘fair parking system across Northumberland’ and have agreed to start collecting signatures in the shops of the town.

The petition closes on 26 Feb and will lead to a debate on car parking charges across Northumberland after closure at the council’s Petitions Committee chaired by Councillor Ian Swithenbank. It is hoped that the public campaign and renewed discussion about the issue of parking charges which Labour have branded ‘a parking stealth tax’ will send a strong message to the Liberal administration as it considers, what could be its final budget.  

Labour councillors have highlighted that the petition would be a ‘very visible way to send a message to County Hall’ about the current inequality which underpins parking charges across the county.

For instance, visitors to Morpeth, Berwick, Alnwick and Hexham have to pay parking charges while areas like Blyth, Cramlington and Ashington pay nothing. This raises between £1.96m and £5m in income from charges and fines but Labour disputes the figure. Labour also dispute reasons given by Lib Dem Cabinet member Andrew Tebbutt that ‘charges are needed to deal with congestion’ pointing out that there is no evidence that the council have undertaken any recent study into problems of congestion in Northumberland’s towns.  

Berwick Chamber of Trade’s John Haswell said

‘After printing out the petition form today, I have personally collected just over 280 names and signatures in one afternoon. It didn't take long and it wasn't hard to do, Berwick's residents are more than ready to put their name to this partition as they feel this town has been milked to the hilt and it’s about time it stopped. This petition will send out a strong message to the council that it must do more for traders and the residents in Berwick in these tough economic conditions. We will be making the petition available through the local traders and shops of the town so don't hold back, get in and sign it’.

 

Labour group leader Grant Davey said

‘I hope the council will take notice of the campaign to highlight the damaging inequality in car parking charges across Northumberland’.

End

'Bullied' Tory councillor to fight seat as Independent

'Bullied' Tory councillor to fight seat as Independent

• by Paul Tully, The Journal

• Jan 5 2013

Councillor Anne Dale and Councillor Ian Hutchinson (inset)

A LONG-STANDING Tory councillor has quit the party after a bullying row and will contest her seat as an Independent at the next election.

Anne Dale, who has represented Stocksfield and Broomhaugh ward in Tynedale for 18 years, left the Northumberland Conservative group after alleging she had been victimised by a senior colleague in a council chamber exchange.

Planning Committee chairman Coun Ian Hutchinson had to stand down after being found guilty by a standards panel of bullying Coun Dale during a committee meeting in June.

Coun Dale has now resigned from the Conservative party, and last night said: “I have quit the group and am hoping to stand as an Independent in the local elections in May. My honesty and integrity was at stake and I am not prepared to tolerate that for the sake of party politics. After serving for 18 years, I hope to continue doing so.”

Northumberland Conservative group leader Peter Jackson said there had been too many policy differences for Coun Dale to continue as a party member.

Coun Jackson said: “There are a series of policy differences going back three or four months. One was about saddling the new Prudhoe school building with a mountain of debt. She also refused to support our policies on control of wind farms, the Whittonstall opencast and our objection to it, plus free car parking before Christmas.”

But Coun Dale hit back: “There are no significant policy differences at all.

“There was one legal motion on wind farms that a lot of us didn’t vote on, but Peter Jackson has been singling me out.

“And on the issue of free computers at Prudhoe, I was not voting against that – I insist there were no significant policy differences.”

The split in the party has run for more than a year since it was announced that Coun Dale had been de-selected from the list of county election candidates.

Then in June she complained about Coun Hutchinson’s behaviour towards her during a planning committee meeting in Hexham.

Coun Dale took her case to the county council’s standards board and after a lengthy hearing, Coun Hutchinson, of Haltwhistle, was found guilty of bullying and apologised then stepped down as committee chairman to be replaced by Coun Edward Heslop of Wark.

Afterwards, Coun Dale resigned the party whip, though she is currently serving out her time on the authority.

Coun Jackson added: “She has kept on repeating that the group investigation into the bullying incident was not satisfactory, but that is wrong.

“The group did find that there had been a breach of the written code of conduct and Coun Hutchinson had to make a written apology. He then stood down as planning committee chairman.

“Most of the members of the group thought the matter had been handled satisfactorily – and that there should have been an end to it a long time ago. It doesn’t surprise us that Coun Dale has left the Tory group, because she effectively has not been a member of it for months now.”

Coun Dale’s place as a Conservative candidate in the May local election has been taken by Dr Paul Vickers of Stocksfield.

Coun Jackson said: “We are very excited that Paul Vickers is an excellent candidate who will bring a fresh view.”

 

Grant Davey’s Christmas message to the Trade Unions

 Dear All

I’m going to make no apologies for the sentiments expressed in this year’s Christmas message given the very difficult years ahead of us and the strains and stresses many of our members are facing because of the actions of the coalition government.

This message is going to be political and I’m going to give you food for thought.

I’ve always been aware that Labour politicians sometimes have to say things which put strains on our fraternal relations but we’re comforted by the recognition that we’re all on the same side, campaigning to make the country a fairer and more equal place to live.

Looking at Northumberland over the last four years of Liberal Democrat decisions and direction, we’ve seen the loss of 1500 jobs directly and 1000 jobs indirectly, the removal of £105m from the Councils budgets and the absence of a proper plan which heaped unnecessary strain on services already creaking under the pressure. Working under the uncertainty of privatisation and not knowing the real direction of travel of your employers isn’t the way to encourage people to give their all.

The general lack of communication and ‘misinformation’ about the Liberal plans for the council hinders good working relations and 2012 will go down as the year before the ‘storm’.

My background and beliefs may be a little different to the politicians you have lived with in Northumberland, as I am a Trade Unionist at the core. I want to work with Trade Unions because I think it’s the right thing to do. I’ve spent 23 years as a Branch Secretary and I’m proud of that. My colleagues within Labour Group have also grown up as Trade Unionists; many are also members of the Co-op party and from these backgrounds have fought against this administration and the second administration the Tories run through the scrutiny process.

What I’m saying is I want to see an authority that is ‘at ease with itself’ and one that sees its workforce as partners and people not ‘cogs in a machine’ to be manipulated and cast aside.

We recognise we’re in a minority in this council with a Liberal Democrat majority which is often supported and propped up by the Tories. Not a single Liberal Democrat budget would have passed unless it had Tory support and make no mistake; the Tories are still the ‘nasty’ party whichever way they try to ‘spin the facts’. Next year is a big year. For the first time in 5 years the voters of Northumberland can make their voices heard and we need your help to win where it matters, at the ballot box and by winning the battle of ideas.

In 2013, we’ll continue to campaign to make the economic case for ‘in-house’ provision and will continue to tackle the dogma that lies at the heart of the Liberal Democrat decisions – private is best and public means 2^nd class. We’ll continue to campaign on ‘what matters is what works’.

We’ll be launching our manifesto in January 2013 and we can promise it will be underpinned by a partnership between communities and their council. We’ll be setting out our plans to build council houses to tackle a scandalous waiting list, a ‘jobs plan’ aimed at securing good quality council jobs and increasing apprenticeships and the general aim of making Northumberland a fairer place. We’ll be concentrating on getting the basics right by investing in our clean and green services which have been damaged by Liberal cuts.

Labour has a vision for the whole county, and you are a central part of that vision. The last five years have been wasted years.

The people of this County gave a mandate to the coalition parties to make Northumberland a better place to live, work and visit. What the people of Northumberland have got back instead is job cuts in the public and private sector, the imposition of policies from the council’s masters in government, implemented without a squeak of opposition, which have seen working families bear the brunt of ‘austerity’ created in the City by unaccountable bankers and reckless traders and the rise of the ‘stealth tax’ in Northumberland with unfair charges for car parking and rising parish council precepts.

We are able to make the clear case for public services against those who would put their prejudice against public services above the needs of the people and workforce of Northumberland and we can make that case more powerfully by working closely with the Trade Union movement and its members.

Make no mistake, 2013 is a crunch year. It’s decision time for the people of Northumberland, it’s a time when ordinary people will be feeling the ‘coalition crunch’ nationally, it’s the time when the fight back starts.

The spirit of co-operation and comradeship in pursuit of our collective interests has never been more vital. I hope 2013 will be a year for all linked to the Labour movement to look back on with pride and a year we can all say – I was part of the fight back.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

Councillor Grant Davey

Leader, Northumberland Labour Group

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our Readers

Instead of defending the indefensible, Councillor Tebbutt should stop bandying around ‘voodoo figures’ and enter into a mature discussion about why it’s okay to levy charges for parking in towns like Morpeth and Berwick and not in other parts of Northumberland? His answers so far just aren’t good enough and I hope he takes notice of this petition and campaign. It’s Councillor Tebbutt who makes the decisions in County Hall and he needs to acknowledge the importance of this issue. I’m sure local Liberals and Conservatives will back our campaign and I’m calling for them to support the petition and send a message to Councillor Tebbutt in County Hall.

‘

Fair’s, fair – the free parking petition gets underway

Labour launches car parking charge petition

Labour councillor’s and it’s county party have launched a new campaign ‘fair’s, fair’ to tackle the current council policy on charged parking in Berwick, Morpeth, Hexham and Alnwick which has been branded as ‘unfair’ and a ‘tax on motorists and residents alike’.

Northumberland Labour group are pushing a policy which would give local town and parish council’s, the casting say over whether free car parking would benefit the local economy and environment and have launched a petition on the council’s website aimed at sending a clear message to the Liberal Democrat cabinet which is currently drawing up its budget for next year and beyond. Activists will be collecting signatures around the town and residents and traders can sign the petition on the council’s ‘e-petition' section of the website

http://committees.northumberland.gov.uk/elps/token/DvDrK4EjXBYjB92jsyA71ai.

The petition will mean that the car parking issue will be subject to a full debate in the council chamber if the website collects over 1,000 signatures. 

MP’s for Wansbeck and Blyth have backed the plan and Labour hope Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith will also back the call for fair parking in the county by supporting the campaign. Labour is also calling for Councillor Hunter to back the campaign to boost trade in the town. 

Labour is also challenging Councillor Tebbutt, Cabinet member for Corporate Resources who claimed last week ‘that removing charges could cost the council up to £5m’. Comments by Councillor Tebbutt (Berwick Advertiser) seemed to indicate the cost of removing charges would cost between £3m and £5m which are contradicted by figures released to the Labour group which indicated ‘an estimated cost would be £1.95m’. 

Labour group leader Grant Davey said

‘Instead of defending the indefensible, Councillor Tebbutt should stop bandying around ‘voodoo figures’ and enter into a mature discussion about why it’s okay to levy charges for parking in towns like Morpeth and Berwick and not in other parts of Northumberland? His answers so far just aren’t good enough and I hope he takes notice of this petition and campaign. It’s Councillor Tebbutt who makes the decisions in County Hall and he needs to acknowledge the importance of this issue. I’m sure local  Liberals and Conservatives will back our campaign and I’m calling for them to support the petition and send a message to Councillor Tebbutt in County Hall. 

End

Notes for Editors

Paper copies of the petition can be requested from northumberlandlabour.press@gmail.com

Under pressure from Labour and Tory councillors, the Liberals have adopted a 1 week free period for the whole county over the Christmas period.

Press Release

Labour slams Liberals over ‘car parking stealth tax’

Labour calls on council to think again on free car parking

Labour councillors on Northumberland County Council have urged the Liberal controlled council to ‘think again’ on car parking charges as figures show the council has ‘raised’ £1.95m in fees and fines from towns like Hexham and Berwick.

Under pressure from Labour and Tory councillors, the Liberals have adopted a 1 week free period for the whole county over the Christmas period.

Labour are now urging the Liberal administration ‘stop playing politics’ with car parking and equalise free parking across the whole county in line with free car parking enjoyed by the South East area of the county.

Labour says it is unfair and an ‘effective stealth tax’ for areas without free car parking and ‘the shoppers permit has been ineffective, costly and bureaucratic’.

Labour group leader said

‘The arguments put forward by Jeff Reid and his Liberal party show how reliant this administration has become on car parking fees and fines. By taking, £1.95m out of the local economy, they’ve effectively levied a ‘stealth tax on motorists’ which hits local economic activity. At a time when the council should be supporting local economies like Berwick and Hexham, it’s counting on money raised through fines and fees. This is a question of fairness and we’re urging the Liberals to adopt our original plan to let local towns and parishes decide whether free car parking is good for their communities. This shouldn’t be a decision for County Hall’.     

Open Letter to News Post Leader

11 Craigmill Park,

10 December 2012                                       Blyth,

                                                                   Northumberland,

                                                                   NE24 5JL.

                                                                   01670 369725

Dear Sir,

In his Autumn statement George Osborne has announced another round of transport investment. None of it, as usual, is coming to Northumberland, although Northumberland residents might benefit from the generous gift of new roads around the Metro centre to the property companies who own the shopping centre that sucks the life out of the rest of the North east.

What’s clear though is that even if George Osborne knew where Northumberland is, or who Alan Beith, his LibDem comrade in arms is, Northumberland County Council has been so badly run that it had no shovel ready schemes to offer for funding.

As soon as George Osborne indicated that he might have money to spend the Tory party’s leader in waiting, Boris Johnson was ready with another scheme to lavish more money on London at the expense of the rest of us. Gateshead Council were ready with schemes to protect the shopping centre that will shore up their finances once business rates are retained locally. For Northumberland, facing a massive loss of grant once business rates are localised in order to subsidise the south east’s prosperity, had nothing to put on the table as a shovel ready scheme.

Five years ago all the major parties in Northumberland supported the re-opening of Belford station, a simple project given that trains already go there, and stop. It still isn’t ready. No progress has been made on the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line in the last five years. Nothing has been done about the traffic congestion on Cowpen Road in Blyth, Northumberland’s most congested road. The A1 is no nearer being dualled, and the proposed line of the improved A1 is being threatened by other developments.

The most significant projects carried out by Northumberland’s LibDems have been in their Morpeth heartlands, and the less said about the disaster that is Morpeth’s new traffic lights, the better. They’re a sideshow to the central problem; that this hand to mouth government, limping from missed target to missed target will increasingly be looking for shovel ready projects as it finds a few more millions down the back of the sofa. Under the LibDems Northumberland will never be ready.

J Grant Davey
Leader, Northumberland Labour Group.