Housing protest on Thursday

On Thursday I have arranged for a reporter/photographer to come to Sunniside where he will be reporting on the proposals by Banks Group to build 210 houses on the land immediately to the south of the village. Residents fighting the proposals are welcome to join us at midday at the Burdon Park/Burdon Lodge entrance to the Tanfield Bridleway.

Councillor Marilynn Ord and I are opposing the plans because:

• The site is greenbelt which protects land from development;
• Sunniside is heavily congested during morning and evening rush hours as the village is on one of the busiest routes between Tyneside and northern Durham;
• The community infrastructure (eg health services) in Sunniside would be stretched to breaking point with the addition of 210 houses;
• The village's existing drainage and sewage system struggles to cope and especially in winter, there can be sewage overflows into the Blackburn, the stream which runs through local woodland and through Watergate Park.

The planning application has not yet been submitted but it is expected later this year. A final decision is expected next year.

Residents are welcome to join us on Thursday.

Reform's foundations of rubbish

 

In Gateshead, the new Reform administration is learning the hard way how to put one's foot in one's mouth and look ridiculous in one go. Council Leader Nick Allan thought it was a good idea to back a proposal for defense manufacturing hubs to be set up at five locations in the UK, one of which was Blaydon Quarry in Gateshead. The proposals were the work of the Adam Smith Institute, not exactly known for any left-leaning inclinations. Nevertheless, Cllr Allan rushed to back the proposals publicly and the Chronicle, the North East's daily newspaper, carried the story.

Alas, within 24 hours, the Blaydon Quarry proposal was in tatters. Cllr Allan overlooked a small but rather important point. The Quarry is already occupied - by a landfill site! No rubbish has been deposited there since 2021 and the site has since been capped (under the direction of Gateshead Council). Had Cllr Allan checked with officers, he would have realised the location was a non-starter.

Within 24 hours, the Quarry proposal was abandoned. How long Cllr Allan's red faced embarrassment will continue is anyone's guess!

Dr Who or Terminator

 

Yesterday I went to the Tyneside Cinema to see the Dr Who film released in 1996. The showing was to mark the 30th anniversary of the film. Back in the 1990s there was a great deal of hope and anticipation about the Dr Who film. Nearly a decade earlier the plug had been pulled on the TV series but Dr Who fans, myself included, hoped the film would kickstart the production of a regenerated TV programme. Oh how wrong we were.

In 1996, with high expectations came low returns. There was widespread disappointment with the film which felt too Americanised. Somehow, car chases, bullets flying, shoot-outs and a disturbing lack of Daleks just didn't seem like the Dr Who we previously knew. Kiss goodbye to any thoughts of a return to the small screen. It wasn't until 2005 (in the middle of the election campaign) that Dr Who eventually made its comeback.

So what did I expect when, for the first time in 30 years, I saw the film again? Frankly I went with low expectations this time. As I sat through the viewing yesterday, I felt I was watching Terminator. That didn't help matters as Terminator 2 is one of my favourite films and ironically I have already booked up tickets at the Tyneside Cinema to see Arnie in September!

As for Dr Who the Movie? I'm still disappointed. It seems I haven't mellowed over the past 30 years.

Conference agenda now online

 

Lib Dem conference agenda and directory are now live on the party's website. I will be there for the whole of conference, indeed, for a bit longer still. I usually arrive at conference on either the Saturday or Sunday. This time I will arrive in Brighton on the Friday morning so I can attend an afternoon training session. I've also got a ticket for an event in the evening run by the Social Liberal Forum. This includes a reception and a trip up the i360, a viewing tower on Marine Parade.

What I have to do now is read the conference papers. I will start with checking which training events are taking place. Then move on to fringe events and bringing up the rear will be policy debates. Over 20 years ago I was part of the policy team so I was involved with writing the policy papers that went to conference. Nowadays I'm quite happy to have a more leisurely approach to conference!

You can read the conference papers on this link.

Are food price rises on the horizon?

 

There can be no doubts about it: the drought is affecting the food supply and there is likely to be an impact on prices this autumn and winter. I keep sheep and goats on our farm but we also make our own hay. The hay crop is about a quarter of what it would have been if we had had a bit of rain in the summer. We have enough hay to get us into next year but we won't be selling much. The problem is multiplied across the country. Farmers are already feeding their winter hay to their livestock. Price rises are already on the horizon.

The video above was filmed on our farm earlier this month when we got our first hay crop in.

A successful visit

 

I recently arranged for Sunniside History Society members to visit Ravensworth Castle in Gateshead. The trip took place on Saturday. The Castle was a stately home designed by John Nash (who designed Buckingham Palace when the Prince Regent was around) but it was partially demolished in the late 1930s and then more substantially in the 1950s. Fragments survive including the stable block and a corner of the Nash house (see photo above). In addition, the two medieval corner towers have survived the ravishes of time far more so than the rest of the site.

Ravensworth Castle is in the Ravensworth Park estate and is privately owned. You can't just turn up and look around. All visits must be arranged in advance.

There were about 15 of us on the visit and a good time was had by all. There were two of us able to talk about the history of the site - myself and Barry, the head gamekeeper at Ravensworth. Barry's intimate knowledge of the buildings was especially useful.

I was the only member of the group who had previously been to the Castle so this visit was a new experience for the others.

Stable block.

Stable block

Fish pond.

Good start but....

It seems that Andy Burnham has got off to a good start. I had previously thought of him as something of a lightweight but his performance since becoming PM has made me revisit my opinions on him. This is of course the honeymoon stage of his premiership. We saw with Starmer and Brown that honeymoons can be shortlived. It will be interesting to see how long Burnham's last. Nevertheless I get the feeling that most people want him to succeed, at least for the nation' sake.

But then we come back to the same problems that Starmer faced. Burnham makes announcements on policies but he still has all the restrictions that were placed on his predecessor. All the problems that faced Starmer are still there. He was not able to resolve them (his time in office was after all curtailed). Time will judge Burnham in the years to come on whether he succeeded where Starmer fell short.

Which is the most unworkable policy?

It seems the Conservatives have entered a competition with Reform to see which party can come up with the most unworkable policy. Over the past week, Reform announced that if they were in government, they would use the Royal Navy to forcibly return asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats to France. That would mean Royal Navy vessels entering French territorial waters without permission from the French authorities. The French have already announced they will not allow ships to dock. For an unworkable policy, Reform are awarded 10 out of 10.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have come up with a plan to solve the housing crisis by evicting people. Specifically, they want foreign nationals thrown out of social housing. The patronising claim by the Conservatives is that somehow those living in social housing are not paying their way and should therefore be kicked out of their homes so they are forced to support themselves. But what about the hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals who are paying their way? People who work in the NHS or in vital other local services? According to the Conservatives, they are living off everyone else so they need to be evicted. Another 10 out of 10 for an unworkable policy.

Neo-Nazi and net zero

The Conservatives have really lost the plot. In a desperate bid to outdo Reform, Kemi Badenoch has announced that no one supporting net zero will be allowed to stand as a Conservative candidate in the general election. This led to one former cabinet member (Grant Shapps) being refused permission to stand. Yet at the same time she was standing by a Conservative local election candidate with convictions for harassment and neo-Nazi activities. This candidate has now stood down but the damage to the Conservatives has been done.

Ravensworth Castle visit

 

As chair of Sunniside History Society, I have arranged a visit to Ravensworth Castle (or what is left of it after the demolition squads of the 1930s and 1950s had finished their work). What is left is the stable block, the two Medieval corner towers, the ice house and a corner of the John Nash mansion. The trip will be on Saturday. If you want to join the visit, come to the Sunniside History Society meeting tonight (Wednesday 5th August) at Sunniside Social Club and register your interest. You can also email sun1h1st@gmail.com.

Cornerstone community fair

 

Cornerstone Church recently took over the former Sunniside Methodist Church building. I am delighted that Cornerstone took on this project as it ensured the building continues to be available for use by the community and the heritage of the Sunniside was retained and protected. On Sunday, the church held its first community fair. I was there to run the Sunniside History Society table. My ward colleague Cllr Jonathan Mohammed also popped in (see photo above).

Reform bans the Ukrainian flag

Two flags have been banned by Reform from the flagpoles of Gateshead Civic Centre. Firstly, they put an end to the display of the Pride flag. Now, they have banned the Ukrainian flag, a decision that was confirmed at the last full council meeting in July. A Lib Dem motion calling for the flag to be flown was kicked out by the ranks of largely silent Reform Councillors (other than the deputy leader who spoke against. Her argument was that the union jack flown constantly at the Civic Centre would have to make way for the Ukrainian flag. This is of course nonsense. There are 3 flagpoles at the Civic Centre. We only want one for the Ukrainian flag, not all three.

Meanwhile, I continue to see people displaying the Ukrainian flag at home. Given the improved Ukrainian battlefield situation, Reform could soon be in the wrong side of history.

No DBS checks in Gateshead

DBS checks (Disclosure and Barring Service) are not to be required of Gateshead Councillors in Gateshead. That was the decision of Gateshead Council a couple of weeks ago. DBS is a system to check whether someone has a criminal record so it can be decided whether a person is appropriate for appointment to a particular job or role. Earlier in July, Labour put forward a motion calling for DBS checks on all councillors as a matter of course. Council rejected the call.

Or rather, Reform rejected it.

I have criticism of both Labour and Reform about this. Firstly, Labour had been in power in Gateshead since 1974. They chose to put forward the DBS proposals after losing power. Before May, they had the power to require DBS checks but did not implement them. Then, after losing power in May and no longer having the power to introduce them, they then propose implementing them.

Secondly, Reform responded to the motion by rejecting it. Their deputy leader led their argument against. She made the point that there was nothing in the motion to explain what the Council should do if someone's DBS comes back failing their check. It's a valid point to raise but it was wrong to use that argument to throw out the DBS proposals. They could have moved an amendment or simply worked with the opposition parties to come up with a workable solution.

In the dark days of Labour's one party state in Gateshead, Labour largely voted against our motions (there were a few honourable exceptions). It seems Gateshead under Reform is heading in the same direction.