Ron on the BBC

 

As Gateshead Lib Dems' communications officer, I was pleased that Lib Dem group Leader in Gateshead, Ron Beadle, was invited onto the BBC North East Politics Programme on Sunday 2nd March. Sadly, I was out checking on road signs in my ward at the same time so I missed him. No doubt he will be invited back in the future.

Give us a sign

 

With my two ward colleagues - Marilynn Ord and Jonathan Mohammed - we were out and above in Whickham on Sunday 2nd March checking on the state of street signs. It may not necessarily be the most exciting of tasks to do on a Sunday morning, but for Lib Dem councillors this is the bread and butter of community politics. We identified two signs that were in urgent need of replacing as the posts they were on had either rotten or corroded (depending on the materiel from which they are made). We are currently reporting them to highways officers.

Scrutinising the accounts

 

On Monday 3rd March 2025, I attended the meeting of Gateshead Council's corporate resources scrutiny committee. On the agenda (at Lib Dem request) were the accounts of the council-owned Regent Funeral Services and whether or not there had been a beneficial return to the council, despite the company's eight years of losses which anyone can read about in the company's accounts lodged with Company's House.

Council Leader Martin Gannon has publicly stated that the council has benefitted significantly from RFS as many of the services used by the company are bought from the council itself. We want this claim to be closely examined because the provision of these services comes at a cost to the council. We had something of a breakthrough on this however. I asked for a further report to come to the committee outlining the costs to the Council of providing each of the services used by the company. This was agreed by the committee. It means we can scrutinise the details and arrive at a figure for the actual net benefit to the authority. That should make for interesting reading.

Photo above: Chris Ord, Ian Patterson and Paul Elliott at Monday's scrutiny committee meeting. We have 5 members on this committee. Ron Beadle had to leave part way through the debate because of another commitment and I was behind the camera!

Ryton action day

 

On Saturday 1st March 2025, Gateshead Lib Dems held an action day in Ryton, Crookhill and Stella ward. Lib Dem Leader on Gateshead Council Ron Beadle joined with other members to help deliver a targeted survey and meet people outside the Coop. It was great to see Ione Rippeth, former councillor for Ryton, join us on the day.

Pictured: Ron Beadle, Steve Kelly, Jack Muers and Ione Rippeth.