Another Sunday and another day of putting letters into envelopes. A group of Lib Dems from Gateshead ventured to the office in Consett and sorted the letters for three wards: Whickham South and Sunniside, Dunston Hill and Whickham East and Low Fell. We got through more than we expected so we've had to stand down (for the moment) the people waiting to do the remaining envelopes.
On Wednesday I spoke in support of a planning application to extend the Woodmans pub on Fellside Road, Whickham. Gateshead's planning committee considered the plans for the creation of a function room at the pub. This was a rare event for me - supporting a development in the greenbelt. But I believe there are sound and exceptional circumstances for this development to go ahead. The tourism industry in the Derwent Valley needs more infrastructure and we need small businesses to step up to the plate to provide it. But the planning system greenbelt restrictions can act as a brake on necessary and carefully planned developments.
So, above is a video of my presentation to the planning committee and the thorough grilling I got afterwards, and below is my speech:
I want
to give you three reasons to support this application.
1)we
don’t have enough high quality function rooms in Gateshead.
2)the
plan complements the council’s rural economic strategy.
3)we
currently have inadequate infrastructure for the growing no. of visitors to the
Derwent Valley.
Gateshead
has major visitor attractions, such as the Sage, Baltic and Gibside.
But we
need smaller scale facilities as part of our visitor economy such as small
hotels, restaurants and, as in this case, function room facilities.
Co
Durham, Northumberland and Newcastle have many high quality function room
facilities similar to what is proposed here.
This
proposal helps address that shortage in Gateshead.
It will
generate 15 jobs and more business rates for Gateshead.
The
Woodmans is in the greenbelt but the greenbelt was never established to pickle
what is there.
Businesses
in the greenbelt should be able to grow within the confines of the planning
system.
As a
business that has recently won national awards, it is putting Gateshead on the visitor
map.
We
want more of that and this development will deliver this.
Finally,
the Land of Oak and Iron is a unique project.
Infrastructure
is urgently needed if the project is going to give our area a long term boost.
To
ensure increasing visitor numbers are catered for, we need small businesses to
step up to the plate and invest in the visitor economy.
Most
of the Land of Oak and Iron project area is in greenbelt.
If Oak
and Iron is to be a success, some limited development is needed in the
greenbelt.
Without
that investment and careful development, the visitor economy in the Derwent Valley
will not cope and visitor numbers could fall away.
Oak
and Iron is only one of three Heritage Lottery funded landscape projects.
It
conserves both the natural and industrial landscape of the area.
This application
has the backing of Mick Wilkes, director of National Trust Gibside, who phoned
me yesterday and asked me to put his views to the committee today.
He
shares my belief that additional facilities are needed if the Derwent Valley
and Land of Oak and Iron are to have a sustainable visitor economy.
Fellside
Road is not without recent greenbelt development.
East
Byermoor Guesthouse was given permission to build a storage shed thereby
helping the business expand.
Birdhill
house across the road has recently undergone a major rebuild.
Whickham
Golf Club is now enjoying new facilities, opened by the mayor two years ago.
The
Woodman’s application is a modest extension at the rear of the building which
does not affect the openness of the greenbelt.
So,
this application gives Gateshead an opportunity to compete with neighbouring
areas, complements the council’s rural economic strategy and contributes
towards the growing visitor economy in the Derwent Valley.
We
need infrastructure in place to ensure the project’s long term success.
That is
the exceptional circumstance why the greenbelt restrictions need to be relaxed
in this instance and this application approved.
I'm pleased to report that our Lib Dem action day in Lobley Hill was a success today. We had a street stall (actually my land rover covered with posters) from 10am to 11am from which we I dished out our Lobley Hill Focuses to members who came along to help. All patches were allocated and delivered! So 2000 homes got our message.
Some of us then headed to Dunston Hill to do a survey. We also had an action day in Felling and Pelaw and Heworth wards. Reports from there are positive!
Above, Nick Seaborn (Lib Dem candidate in Lobley Hill and Bensham) and Vicky Anderson (Lib Dem candidate in Dunston Hill and Whickham East) chat to a voter before delivering a significant quantity of Focuses)
Me and my land rover which had the role of street stall for the morning.
The latest edition of Gateshead Lib Dem members' email newsletter was published last night. It features the action days we are having in Lobley Hill and Bensham, Dunston Hill and Whickham East, Felling and Pelaw and Heworth wards tomorow, Saturday 23rd February. Also featured is our tabloid and our "Six to Fix" local manifesto.
We will be in Lobley Hill tomorrow helping our council candidate for Lobley Hill and Bensham, Nick Seaborn, deliver 2000 Focus newsletters. They are all sitting in my sitting room at the moment but they will be heading down to Lobley Hill tomorrow morning when we will also be holding a street stall.
A decade ago we came within about 50 votes of winning the ward bit it slipped back into being strong Labour. We have every intention of turning that around with the aim of winning it in the near future.
We had a gathering in the Lib Dem office in Consett on Sunday to put nearly 5000 letters into envelopes, print more letters, print the Lobley Hill and Bensham Focus and eat sandwiches! A successful day though it became a bit surreal when the talk around the envelope stuffing table turned to memories of the 1908s!
I was in Dunston on Saturday to deliver more Focuses. Key story in this edition was the air pollution levels on the nearby A1. While the government are requiring Gateshead Council to deal with illegal levels of emissions in central Gateshead, ministers are yet to put forward any proposals for reducing emissions on the A1, a road for which the government is responsible. Now is't that odd!
Labour's split today has formalised something that has been gradually underway for months. But how does it affect matters up here in the North East? My main concern is about whether or not the Labour party will back a referendum on the Brexit deal. I suspect the departure of the 7 MPs won't change Corbyn's position - he is a Leaver and has done everything he can to resist a further referendum. I'm not expecting any defections from Labour in the North East. They are too tribal here. Is there a prospect of cooperation between the Lib Dems and Independents? Possibly, though quite how it will function is difficult to see. It's early days and, like Brexit, no one can see the way forward through the fog of confusion.
Our Lib Dem tabloid has started to hit the doormats of Gateshead. Bensham (part of Lobley Hill and Bensham ward, which we will be targeting in future elections) and Saltwell started to receive their copies this morning. Delivery will be rolled out over the next few weeks over other areas of Gateshead.
The lead story is the £700,000 spent on building a car park by Labour-run Gateshead that hardly anyone uses. We also have features on our "Six to Fix" (our local manifesto), on Labour waste and the need to build houses in the right places on the huge brownfield sites in Gateshead, rather than on former greenbelt which is Labour's favoured option.
So look out for Gateshead News coming through your letterbox shortly.
I recorded this at the end of January - it was after a Gateshead Council advisory group that had been held to consider the budget. The Council has a £29 million funding gap to bridge so some painful decisions have to be made. Nevertheless, there were some proposals in the budget which, even in the times of pre-austerity, would have been the right ones to take. A couple of examples spring to mind. The Council has a large fleet of vehicles and therefore a large fuel bill. However, if staff are sent on a training course on how to drive more efficiently, a saving on fuel of £120,000 would be possible. I pointed out that this is something good not only from the financial point of view, but from an environmental perspective as well.
Another interesting example of making savings but also improving the service was with children's services where earlier intervention leads to greater savings in the future as issues are tackled more quickly before they escalate into bigger problems. This is a reform that should have been done regardless of the current round of cuts.
So, while none of us want to be in the austerity suffered by local government, a few very small positive flashes of gold can be seen in the pan.
We are having an envelope-stuffing and Focus printing day today in the Lib Dem office in Consett. There are about 15 of us here. The letters we printed through the week and currrently being folded and inserted into envelopes. And more are churning off the printer, as is our next Focus, this time for Lobley Hill and Bensham ward.
Oh the joy of having a blog that is widely read (and not just by the usual suspects in the Labour Party in Gateshead!) The above news story was taken from my blog and made a full page in the Journal yesterday. It was about a pub being fined for not having planning permission for an advert on one of its walls and then ignoring court instructions to remove it. The problem for Gateshead Council is that they went ahead with building a car park at Quarryfield without planning permission. Two days before it opened, the planning committee gave it retrospective planning permission. It has not put Gateshead in a good light. The Journal loved the story!
I was in the Lib Dem office in Consett yesterday and today printing a load of literature for Birtley, Whickham North and Dunston Hill and Whickham East wards. Tomorrow, I will be delivering some of what I produced. I hope the weather is as good then as it was today.
I was on BBC Look North this evening, talking about community asset transfers, especially as they affect bowling greens. I was interviewed at the green in Marley Hill. I've been helping the club with its community asset transfer. Marley Hill is at the forefront of transfers of bowling greens and the people running the club are very enthusiastic about it. The story starts 10.12 into the programme. If you blink, you will miss my bit but it's on this link.
The green has a nice privet hedge around it and the guys were happy for me to trim it. So 2 birds killed with one stone: BBC interview and food gathered for my goats!
Friday morning was cold and windy. Perfect weather for delivering Focuses on the Glebe in Whickham. 300 Focuses later and the cobwebs had definitely been blown away!
Gateshead Council rightly takes action against those who flout planning rules. If you don't have planning permission for a development that needs it and you go ahead with it regardless, planning officers will come knocking at your door. Continued failure to abide by planning rules can result in legal action taking place. Indeed, this is exactly what took place with a pub in Bensham, Whickham House, which has been hit by a £50,000 fine following failure to remove an advert on the side of the building which had been placed without planning permission.
Sadly for Labour-run Gateshead Council, while applying the rules to the many businesses and residents of the borough, they forgot to get planning permission on place before building a huge new car park at Quarryfield, near the Gateshead Quays. This vast car park was built in time for the Great North Exhibition last year. And then it was pointed out that no planning permission had been granted for the development. Two days before the £700,000 car park was due to open, Gateshead Council granted itself planning permission. To add insult to injury, the decision to spend this not insignificant sum of money on the car park was only officially agreed by the council cabinet three days before it opened.
This rather expensive incident does not put Labour Gateshead in a good light. Residents and businesses could be forgiven for thinking there is one rule for the many, a different one for the few.
And to add even more insult to injury, hardly anyone has used Quarryfield. There is a danger it will become a parking lot for white elephants, though it is unclear whether or not planning permission is required for this change of use!
The Department for International Trade has been hard at work recently and hooray, we have a trade deal that will save the UK from the abyss once we are into the brave new world of Brexit! That economic superpower, the Faroe Islands, has signed a trade agreement that allows fish and crabs to be imported into the UK. It looks like the great British fish and chips dinner has beaten back those hoards of beastly Eurocrats! This is real Brexit - making our own trade deals with the major economies around the planet!
Except that the trade deal is simply a rollover of the existing EU trade agreement with the Faroes. So, far from Brexit letting us negotiate our own trade agreements, instead, Britain is free to negotiate for what we already have. The only difference is that we now have to pay for our own Department of International Trade when previously the EU would have carried out international trade negotiations on our behalf. It would be interesting to see the price we pay to run this department. How much does photocopying other people's work cost these days?
(Photo of me in Torshavn, Faroe Islands, June 2009)
On Tuesday, Sunniside History Society, we had our monthly society meeting, and the speaker was Clive Bowery who gave us a fascinating talk about the DLI (Durham Light Infantry) during the First World War. He focused on the discovery, identification and burial of three soldiers killed during the conflict whose remained were found in the past five years. The most intriguing was 2nd Lieut Arnold Septimus Barker from the Sunderland who served with the 7th Bn DLI, who somehow got to be buried in Singapore! Clive explained that Barker was invalided out of the army no fewer than THREE TIMES through injuries he sustained during the first two years of the conflict. Following his third invalidation, he accepted a role with an oil company based in Singapore, but unfortunately he was still suffering the effects of being gassed and died there in May 1917. The next meeting is on Tuesday 5th March at 7.30pm at Sunniside Social Club where the speaker is Richard Pears talking about the photos of the Whickham area taken by Jack Medcalf.
During the 2016 referendum, the Brexit campaign offered an idyllic future in which we would have all the benefits of EU membership with none of the costs. We were told the EU needs us more than we need them. We were the giant forcing those little Europeans to the negotiating table where Britain would use its superpower status to beat up all those foreigners and make them accept a British dictated future deal. In other words, Britain would leave the club but continue to use the facilities without paying membership fees, and for good measure, wouldn't even have to abide by the club rules.
It all sounded too good to be true. Indeed, it was too good to be true. The past two years have demonstrated clearly that the UK is a middle ranking power having to seek a deal with an economic superpower from which we are removing ourselves. All the cards are stacked in the EU's favour simply because of economic and political reality.
Now it appears that Jeremy Corbyn is putting out feelers to Theresa May, outlining a number of demands that need to be met before Labour will back the Conservative government over Brexit. So let's take a look at their demands. A permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union, including a say in future trade deals. While some form of customs union is possible (after all the EU conceded a customs "arrangement" in the May deal, at least as a temporary measure), Labour are in cloud cuckoo land if they believe the UK can walk out of the EU and then continue to have a say over trade deals negotiated by the EU. If Labour's demand were agreed by the EU, it would mean the UK has been rewarded for leaving with even more say that we have at the moment over EU arrangements. Close alignment with the single market, underpinned by “shared institutions”. This is similar to the previous point. Labour seem to think Britain can create a "shared institution" in which we and the EU seem to be equal partners able to redirect the direction of the single market. So, yet again, the UK would be rewarded by the EU for leaving. The UK can be part of the single market as either a full EU member or under a Norway-style agreement in which the rules are accepted but the UK has no say over them. Dynamic alignment on rights and protections, so that UK standards do not fall behind those of the EU. If implemented, what is the point of leaving as this policy means the EU would decide our employment and environmental law with no say for the UK? Clear commitments on future UK participation in EU agencies and funding programmes. More cake and eating it. Brexit is supposed to mean we don't need the EU, but here we have the UK continuing to benefit from membership of a whole string of EU institutions. No doubt Labour will dream, just like the extreme Brexiteers, that the EU will give the UK free access to these institutions and an equal say with the EU over running them. Dream on.
Unambiguous agreements on future security arrangements, such as use of the European arrest warrant. Even more cake and eating it. So, Labour under Jeremy Corbyn inhabits the fantasy world of Superpower UK. The reality is that the EU is in a far stronger position than we are. And they are living in the same world as the hardline Brexiteers of the European Research Group.
This is my video diary of my council and campaign activities in January, covering the meetings I attended, action days attended, site visits carried out and occasional views on issues such as Gateshead Council's budget.
In 2015 and 2016, Labour's starry eyed members voted overwhelmingly for Jeremy Corbyn as their leader. The 2017 general election rather disguised the problem Jeremy Corbyn is for Labour. What appeared to be a good election result (it looked good only because the assumptions about the outcome were so bad for Labour), turned out to be a much less generous picture for Labour. While there had been a significant increase in share of the vote, Labour failed to turn most of that into a significant increase in the number of seats they hold.
Two years ago, Labour behaved as if they had won the general election. I heard lots of Labour councillors in Gateshead drooling about the forthcoming socialist revolution. All they needed was another general election and they will sweep to power to implement the red revolution (which amounted to forcing Britain to relive the 1970s) and a fantasy Brexit that would give the UK all the benefits of EU membership without the costs.
Nowadays, I hear nothing from Labour councillors about Corbyn walking on water. They can barely bring themselves to mention his name. That's hardly surprising. His fence-sitting on Brexit and his total failure to hit the Tories hardly inspires Labour members (or anyone else). The guy is a waste of space who has significantly helped to reduce Labour's poll ratings to be 6% below what they achieved at the 2017 election. That's quite an achievement for an opposition party that is facing a governing party that is tearing itself apart.
So, as I said last year in this blog, Labour need to be careful what they wish for. Their answer to every policy vacuum is "Hold an election." The danger now is that they could get exactly what they ask for!
It looks likely that in the next few days, Nissan will announced that it will not go ahead with a planned investment at its plant in Sunderland. The Government promised Nissan in 2016 after the referendum something, though what is not clear. Why Nissan executives at the time accepted assurances that ministers were not in a position to deliver is one of the many unknowns of Brexit. I suspect however that Nissan's pending announcement will be the model for Brexit. Major international companies have significant investments in the UK. They won't abandon them overnight, once Brexit happens. But they will be left to be run down over the coming years. Plants in Europe will get investment, plants here will be maintained on an on-going basis until such time as patching up and cannibalising aging equipment is no longer viable. Factories will wither on the Brexit vine.
Last night, I attended Gateshead's planning committee where a decision was to be taken on whether or not to allow in principle up to six houses to be built on Chase Park, Whickham. I will discuss that issue on another post. I am not a member of the committee but was there to film this section of the agenda. In the meantime, let us look instead at the claims of someone else who attended the meeting: Labour's Cllr Chris McHugh.
Cllr McHugh, head of office for Blaydon MP Liz Twist, raised objections to my filming the meeting after the vote was taken on the planning proposals. He seems to have overlooked the fact that filming council meetings is a democratic right enshrined in law. He was told by one of the officers that anyone can film a meeting. Cllr McHugh concluded that I should have informed the chairman in advance.
As it turns out, just before the start of the meeting I chatted to the chairman about various pleasantries. I said nothing about filming the meeting but since I was standing next to him holding a video camera and a very large and obvious tripod while engaging him in conversation, explaining that I was there to record proceedings was somewhat unnecessary.
Interestingly, a notice on the door to the meeting (see above) states that people are welcome to record the meeting. Nothing about needing to inform the chairman in advance! Perhaps Cllr McHugh should read what is in front of him before he wastes people's time with his whinging.
And so we move on to this morning and Cllr McHugh has had time to come up with another silly claim to deflect attention from what he had done over the Chase Park proposals. This time he splashes a claim across residents' Facebook sites that I was somehow "secretly" recording the meeting! The deflection attempt failed. There are countless comments by residents unhappy with his support for the Chase Park proposals.
But a thank you to Chris is appropriate - thank you for giving us a new story about Labour being unhappy about opening up the council to democratic scrutiny by giving residents the opportunity to see elected representatives in action through the medium of video.
On Monday evening I was in Whitehall and spotted a loud but relatively small demonstration. As I walked passed, I heard the speaker attacking "Western colonialism and imperialism" and there were shouts of "Hands off Venezuela". Yes, a demonstration in favour of the socialist government of Venezuela and their reckless destruction of a once rich economy with some of the world's largest oil reserves. I take the view that everyone is allowed to support whatever political outlook takes their fancy but I can't help believing that those in the demonstration were somewhat deluded. One million percent inflation and the devastation of the Venezuelan economy however seems not to have woken the demonstrators from their delusions. But there again, many of the demonstrators were holding Momentum banners. And if you are ever in search of a bunch of deluded people, Momentum should be your first port of call.
A few years ago I made quite a bit of noise about the need to stop providing biscuits to councillors in meetings of Gateshead Council. At the time, the council listened and acted. I instantly made myself unpopular (or even more unpopular depending on a councillor's view of me) when the biscuits disappeared from meetings. After a year of so, suddenly biscuits made a reappearance at meetings. So I started to make a fuss again. And hooray! It now appears the biscuits have gone again. I have attended lots of meetings in January and each one was a biscuit free zone. Chew on that everyone!
I was in Westminster last night for a meeting so I was around when the votes on the Brexit amendments started to come in. Well, we all know what happened. Theresa May scraped through on the Brady amendment, thanks to a temporarily reunited Tory party and, as I predicted last year, a group of Brexit-backing Labour MPs. We were, of course, previously told that her deal was absolutely final, non-negotiable, totally impossible to change, cross my heart and hope to die etc etc etc. Now in survival mode, Mrs May went for her own jugular by backing an amendment that trashed all her previous claims. Having been defeated once, she now leads the cavalry charge against her own plans. Given that the EU are still making it clear that they are standing by loyal and supportive EU member Ireland, and that the existing exit deal was negotiated along the lines of Mrs May's very own red lines, it is difficult to see what "alternative arrangements" could be agreed upon in the weeks we have left that would be acceptable to the EU.
It is likely that she will get next to nothing more from the EU unless she makes a major concession. That looks unlikely. She has snatched defeat from the jaws of defeat. What a record to have!
We had a very positive action day in Pelaw and Heworth today. Lots of surveys delivered and doors knocked on. And a large delegation of residents visited our street stall in Fewster Square (just outside the ward). I think we all came away feeling happy with the progress we are making in the ward.
Our latest eFocus for the Whickham area, edition 112, was published tonight. The lead story is an update on Labour's proposals to build houses on Chase Park. Also included: defibrillator installed at Whickham Library, Sunniside Chapel table top sale and closure of Fellside Road for maintenance.
On Thursday Gateshead's planning committee carried out a site visit to Chase Park in Whickham where the Labour party want to allow house-building. With the park under threat from development, this was always going to be a controversial proposal by the council.
I attended as one of the Whickham councillors and captured the visit on video.
On Wednesday last week, I was sitting in a meeting when an email arrived with the agenda for Gateshead's full council meeting on 24th January. I decided to scroll through to the motions. There were two from Labour and one in particular caught my attention. This was about gender self-identification. You can read the motion at the end of this post.
The proposer was Cllr Leigh Kirton, a Labour member of Gateshead Council I cannot recall speaking at a meeting before. As I read further into this (for Labour) typically essay length motion, it became obvious that this was not a motion supportive of the trans community. Indeed, though dressed up with attempts at supportive language, it was quite hostile. It contained an open attack on the concept of self-identification and demanded no change to the current law without a mountain of hurdles to cross.
Self-identification is the next major reform of the law as it affects the LGBT community (and especially trans people). It has been proposed by the Conservative government. Labour nationally support it. But Labour in Gateshead seem to want to put themselves to the right on the Conservatives on this matter.
Occasionally I expect Labour in the North East to be resistant to change. They are the establishment party here and too many people in Labour's ranks in the region join to keep things as they are, not improve matters through reform and change. Nevertheless, I was still taken aback by the tone of the anti-trans motion. At Lib Dem group meeting that evening, all our members shared my views.
The group agreed that we contact LGBT groups in the region and bring their attention to the motion. I was asked to speak to Gateshead Council Labour leader Martin Gannon to ask him to consider withdrawing the motion. If not, we would vote against at full council. When I got through to Martin the next day, he was quite adamant that the motion would not be withdrawn.
And then the proverbials started to hit the fan. Labour in Gateshead were under attack in the local media. The national LGBT media were knocking at Labour's door demanding an explanation. LGBT organisations were rightly angry. Labour LGBT were demanding answers.
On Tuesday this week we picked up on social media that Labour had decided to "defer" the motion. This was confirmed to me by Martin Gannon when I phoned him. Quite what is meant by "deferred" is unclear, but I suspect Martin will bury this motion and never let it see light of day again.
To some extent, I was surprised Martin ever allowed this motion to get as far as it did. He is on most issues (but not all), relatively progressive. But I suspect he has a council group that has elements that at times are out of control. Part of that comes down to the fact that Labour in Gateshead has a large council group - 54 out of 66. We are of course doing our best to solve that problem for them.
But Labour in Gateshead are now damaged by this issue, and deservedly so. And they have only their own ineptitude and narrow-mindedness to blame. Shame on them.
The motion, now "deferred":
Councillor Leigh Kirton will move the following motion:
This Council believes that, in line with current law, all marginalised groups in our society should be fully protected in ways which ensure freedom of self-expression and protection from harassment, and accords them respect, privacy, safety and dignity.
Current Government proposals to amend the Gender Recognition Act would allow anyone to self-identify as their chosen gender. Under the present Act a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria is required to change gender, as well as living as your chosen gender for a two year period.
Amending the GRA could impact upon current provisions of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the rights of women and those who have already reassigned their gender.
Council believes that the general public, especially those affected by the proposals, has the right to discuss them and confirms that any request for use of public buildings for such purposes will be allowed.
Council calls upon the Government to:
Conduct a full public consultation accessible to all, not just through an online document, on how self-identification would impact upon women only services, facilities, sports and spaces.
Defer any change to the Gender Recognition Act until a review is carried out into the application in practice of the exemptions named in the Equality Act (2010), which allow for discrimination on the grounds of sex in certain situations, such as positive action to improve the representation of women in public life, or when recruiting for jobs which require a man or woman for reasons of privacy and decency.
Research the impact of self-identification upon data gathering – such as crime, employment, pay and health statistics – and monitoring of sex-based discrimination such as the ‘gender’ pay gap.
Oppose the principle of simple self-identification unless checks and balances are in place to mitigate possible detrimental implications for women in terms of safety, dignity, privacy, participation in public life, and political representation.
On Wednesday last week, Gateshead's planning committee considered a proposal in principle (PIP) for up to six houses to be built on the former depot and stable block in Whickham's historic Chase Park. Gateshead Council are keen to sell this part of the park for housing. Members of the Lib Dem Focus Team are equally determined not to allow this to go ahead.
The business entrance to the park is part of the site that is likely to go up for sale in the near future if the PIP is approved. The historic gateway there has just been restored and the single track lane has an awful junction with Rectory Lane. The precedent for building in the park will also be set and there are fears that this will be the start of the slippery slope.
Dunston Hill and Whickham East Lib Dem Councillor led the battle at the committee meeting. Peter spoke against the proposals. The result is that the committee decided not to take the decision at that moment but instead to have a site visit. The decision will then come back to the next committee meeting.
(Video above: Cllr Peter Maughan calls on the planning committee to reject the Chase Park plans.)
On Tuesday 8th January, Sunniside History Society held its first meeting of the year. The speaker was Jane Lowes, an author who had researched the fascinating life of Sarah Marshall, who was raised in Seaham in the 1880s but who emigrated to Australia as part of a programme to boost the number of women in the Australian colonies. There was also a detailed explanation of the events surrounding the Seaham pit disaster in 1880.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 5th February at 7pm in Sunniside Club when the speaker will be Clive Bowery who will give a presentation about the Durham Light Infantry in the First World War.
Earlier this week I attended an advisory group at Gateshead Civic Centre about the council's housing strategy. The old strategy finished at the end of 2018 but during that year, I banged on about the need to get the new strategy in place. From May onwards I raised it at every full council. I got a variety of responses from the cabinet member for housing, Cllr Malcom Brain, as to why the new draft strategy was not materialising, including a claim by him that he was waiting for "ideas from officers" on what to include. I always though politics was supposed to be the other way round - politicians with ideas seeking the advice of expert officers on how to implement them. As the year wore on, the excuses became thinner and thinner until, by October, a draft went to cabinet and approved for consultation with the implementation date being 1st January 2019.
I asked questions about how members could be involved given the tight timetable to bring the consultation responses back to cabinet in December when the final strategy would be signed off. As a result, it was agreed a members' advisory group would be held on 9th January. It then emerged that the strategy would not go to cabinet in December but would go instead in March, getting us round the problem I had raised of giving members a say on the strategy 9 days after it went into operation. Cllr Brain's management of the housing strategy has been somewhat shambolic, though he did try to blame me at the December full council meeting for the delay in implementing it because of my perfectly reasonable request that members have a say on the strategy before rather than after it is implemented!
Anyway, when I ready the draft strategy in October I was concerned about how woolly the document was. This was a point to which I returned on 9th January. In addition, I made the following points:
The mixed market approach is the right one but there is still too much focus on home ownership. The key focus instead should be on providing sufficient homes. Tenure is of secondary importance.
Is the strategy future proof? I'm not sure it is. I've been saying for the past 8 or more years, since work started on rewriting the local plan, that we have lots of family homes in Gateshead but a large number are occupied by elderly individuals or couples who have lived there for decades. Many of them would happily downsize to a smaller property in their existing community but can't because there is nothing available. The Council's local plan requires 60% of new houses to be "family" homes. I think this figure is too high. Building housing for older people actually frees up family homes and allows for a better match between the individual and the home in which they live.
Is the strategy Brexit proof? Given that most building materials and a significant amount of skilled construction labour comes from the EU, how do we cope once Brexit (hard or soft) has cut us off from materials and manpower? The strategy does not address this.
And finally, there is no mention of the future of the council's high rise blocks. Most of our voids are in them. People in the social sector want to live in houses not high rise flats. Maybe it is time to sell off some of the blocks to the private sector (which is able to attract appropriate tenants) and invest in building homes instead. I also made the point that we as a council should also be present in the private rented sector to ensure there is a supply of good quality rented housing that also gives Gateshead a rental income that can go into local services.
Gateshead was all set for a yellow vest (pest?) demonstration on Saturday. I was reliably informed that a bunch of conspiracy theorists and followers of the far right would be gathering on the Sage car park and then the massed ranks of yellow pests would march on the Civic Centre to call for street lights to be turned off and unspecified "corruption" to be addressed. Alas, things did not go according to plan. There weren't enough yellow pests gathered to fill a parking space, never mind a car park. Nevertheless, the massed ranks of 15 individuals headed south towards the Civic Centre only to find one of their ring leaders arrested as they paraded through the traffic on Gateshead High Street. Apparently drivers weren't too happy that the road was being invaded by people who claim the 31,000 lamp posts in the borough are all part of a terrorist plot to kill people (I kid you not!)
As a result of the chief yellow pest being taken into custody, I understand the protesters performed a uturn and headed back north to cross the river to Newcastle police station at Forth Bank. On the public pavement, speeches were made. Alas, no members of the public were there to listen to their ludicrous conspiracy theories.
On Saturday morning I was called at 5.15am by a friend who I had taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Friday evening. He was in a state of distress so I had to jump into the car and head over to calm him down and keep him company. I thought I was about to miss the canvassing we had planned for Dunston Hill in the morning. Fortunately, after 3 hours of doing my caring role, I was able to get away to do the door-knocking. I'm pleased I got there. We were doing a survey and we had a very positive response. No negative comments and a thoughtfully large number of people who recognised me, even though this is not my ward!
Pictured above - me with some of the survey replies from residents of Dunston Hill.
This was the last photo I took of Paddy Ashdown, back in September 2012 at his book signing session at Lib Dem conference in Brighton.
I have some fond memories of Paddy from the early 1990s when I was Lib Dem candidate in Hexham. He visited on a number of occasion. I remember one visit in particular when his office had instructed that during his tour of Tyneside and Hexham, he had to have a rest break. My parents' home in Lobley Hill was the chosen venue. Mam didn't quite get the purpose of Paddy's stay. She cooked and baked a vast array of food even though his next stop was Hexham for the constituency dinner. He was terribly nice about it!
A bit later, in 1998, Paddy came to Whickham when we were campaigning to stop Labour stripping Chase Park of its play equipment (a campaign we eventually won). One of our councillors, Colin Ball, was there and mentioned the name of a friend who lived in Paddy's Yeovil constituency. Paddy knew who Colin was talking about and was able to mention the times he had met the constituent in question. His memory for the details of his constituents and constituency was hugely impressive.
2018 was a good and bad in parts. The bad bits were the paralysis of the political system by the Brexit chaos. On the plus side, personally it was a challenging but constructive year for our self-sufficiency project.
Anyway, we saw in the new year on the Tyne Bridge, watching the fireworks. I captured the whole display on the above video.
So the government has committed £14 million to Seaborne Freight to provide ferry services after 29th March in the world of Hard Brexit. This is a significant amount of money just so that the Conservatives can claim that not all ferry contracts for the Hard Brexit crisis have gone to EU companies. Seaborne Freight now have to spend the next few weeks desperately racing around to find some ferries to operate some services. Good luck to them!
The government say they did all the checks needed on Seaborne Freight before awarding them the contract. How very reassuring. Hopefully they will be equally as diligent when letting the contract to operate the 2nd Channel Tunnel from 29th March onwards!
Labour have made a complete mess of devolution in the North East with half the region, north of the Tyne, going off to do their own thing, and what's left (a glorified Co Durham) having to reconstitute its own scrutiny committee. As a result of this, I am now on the NECA (North East Combined Authority) scrutiny committee. The NECA name will continue to be in use for the now truncated region.
On Thursday last week, I attended my first meeting, at South Shields Tow Hall. I rapidly discovered that I am dealing with something of a bureaucratic body. My thoughts are in the video above.
Published today, just in time for the seasonal break, eFocus for the Whickham area, no. 111. We led with the issue of Labour's plans to build houses on the historic Whickham Chase Park. We also had articles about Jim Robson, the waving lollipop man who sadly passed away recently, and the extension by two weeks of the consultation on fire service changes. You can read eFocus on this link.
Yesterday I attended a meeting of Gateshead Council Cabinet. There wasn't a great deal on the agenda but I was interested in the review of allotment rents (I don't rent from the council). The recommended rise matched inflation so was not in any way controversial. I did however raise the issue of the need to carry out community asset transfers of the allotment sites. I have been arguing for this for years as it will mean the sites are managed by their own allotment holders and they will have access to funding from charitable organisations which do not invest in Council facilities.
I'm not sure the council has significant spare capacity at the moment to do a review of the sites but it is something we are going to have to do soon to ensure the allotment sector in Gateshead prospers.
Delivery of our Whickham Focus newsletter is underway and on Saturday, I delivered a patch in my own ward. My plans to deliver three patches however was shelved. I whimped out after doing one patch to to home, warm up and have lunch! The two remaining patches will be done shortly.
This morning I visited the Woodmans Arms on Fellside Road, not to have a drink(!) but to speak to the owner about a planning application he has to extend the pub. I am helping him with the application as I think it is appropriate for the site and will create 9 new jobs. Currently the planners are recommending refusal. We had a good luck around the site and discussed options. No date has yet been set for the planning committee decision.
Then back home to start work on the next efocus. The latest edition was published yesterday but I had material I had to leave out because of lack of space (I'm aiming to keep efocus relatively short but produce it more regularly). This spare material will be going into the next edition which will go out just before Christmas.
Just published - eFocus email newsletter from the Whickham area Lib Dem Focus Team. Key stories in this edition are the granting of planning permission for executive homes on Whickham Highway, Woodmans pub in line for award, Whickham School turf cutting ceremony, Sunniside Methodist fair, Christmas lights switch on and consultation on fire service cuts.
Yesterday, in between delivering Focuses and attending a meeting of the Whickham Library volunteers, I turned my hand to predictions about the Theresa May confidence vote, knowing that my political projections of the past couple of years have been rather wide of the mark. I suggested she would be fine if she had less than 70 MPs voting against her, she was in a grey zone with 70-100 voting against, and if over 100 voted against, she was in deep trouble. My expectation was that she would be in comfortably (ie in the less-than-70 zone). How wrong I was.
While the Conservatives were tearing themselves apart yesterday I headed out to the Watergate Estate in Whickham to deliver 370 Focuses. The newsletter is currently going out across the Whickham area of the three Whickham wards. I have lots more to deliver in my own ward!
The lead story is Labour's decision to build hundreds of executive homes on Whickham Highway. Other stories include news about the Whickham branch of Lloyds Bank, Whickham Post Office closure and Remembrance Day parade.
On Tuesday I attended the funeral of Andrew Friend at Durham Crematorium. Andrew had been a presenter at Tyne Tees TV, a constituent of mine (before boundary changes) and a friend. He and his then partner Jonathan had experienced one of our self-sufficient dinners at our house. I last saw Andrew in March when I took Richard to an appointment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. We had a quick chat but I had not appreciated how ill Andrew was at the time.
It was standing room only for the funeral. A fitting send off. RIP Andrew.
Yesterday, I was at the Whickham Volunteer Library for their Christmas fair. I was there to sell my preserves. Around £200 was raised for the library's funds.
On Thursday evening the switch on ceremony for the Sunniside Christmas tree lights took place. Two of my goats - Coal and Perky - were there, cunningly disguised as reindeer. They overdosed on Christmas carrots!
Thursday morning required my presence in the Lib Dem office in Consett to do some printing - but not for the Lib Dems. I am helping the Lighting Up Sunniside group to raise the money for the village's Christmas tree. The switch on event was in the evening but I agreed to produce a leaflet that could be handed out to people to drum up support for the organisation. 200 A4 leaflets produced - probably my quickest print run in years!
My council ipad needed to be "migrated" so I lost half the morning going into the civic centre to sort this out. From there I headed to Marley Hill to deliver the last of the Focus newsletters I had. And in the evening, I headed to Sunniside Club where, as Chairman of the Sunniside History Society, I ran the meeting (which included our Christmas buffet - 54 people attended). I used my chairman's prerogative to not do the quiz (name the musical). This was a good move as I would have crashed and burned had I taken up the challenge.
Wall to wall meetings starting with corporate scrutiny (I asked questions about Gateshead Council's carbon footprint), then a seminar on Universal Credit, then a meeting with the director who deals with waste collection and cutting back trees and finally off to Sunniside Club to test the projector for the History Society meeting the next day. Last month the projector would not work so instead of playing a DVD, I had to improvise for an hour by giving a totally unplanned talk and Q&A on local history. I don't want to do that again!
There was a Christmas fair at Lobley Hill Community Centre on Saturday afternoon which was run by Groundwork, the environmental charity. They invited me to bring a couple of our goats to the fair. Sadly, the rain discouraged many people from attending but the goats were popular with those who did come. Alas, we were outdoors for the whole of the afternoon! We were a bit wet!
Gateshead Lib Dems held another action day on Saturday, this time in Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward. We won the seat up for election in this ward from Labour in May and Labour's last seat here is being contested in May 2019. Alas, I was only able to get along in the morning as I had been invited by Groundwork, the environmental charity, to take some of my goats to a fair they were holding in Lobley Hill in the afternoon.
Despite the rain, I was sent out to deliver target mail. I ended up with a patch that had lots of long drives and steps! Members also carried out a survey of residents and got a positive response. A productive day.
On Tuesday, the Christmas lights in Whickham were switched on. The funds were raised by Lighting Up Whickham and they organised the event which started at Rose Villa Nursery and then along to St Mary's Green. The photos I took are on the above link.
On Thursday last week, I attended the turf-cutting ceremony at Whickham School where work is now beginning on replacing the old buildings. I was a pupil at the school some years (decades) ago. It's a small world however - one of the 6th formers told me that his grandfather was a Whickham policeman in the 1970s and remembers dealing with a road accident in which I was seriously injured and ended up in hospital for 50 days. That was over 40 years ago, proving some people have good memories!
Meanwhile, the turf-cutting ceremony was performed by Sir John Hall, who built the nearby Metrocentre.
On Wednesday last week, the final battle to stop Labour's plans for 582 executive homes on former greenbelt land at Dunston Hill took place when the planning application for the development came before Gateshead Council's planning committee. Labour have battled hard to have the houses built though at election time they try to claim they were against them (and therefore against the own plans which they voted through).
Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward has 2 Lib Dem councillors (Kevin McClurey and Peter Maughan) and one Labour. On the planning committee, Labour have 18 members to our 4. Defeating the house-building plans was a long shot and we would need to change the minds of some Labour members. The final voting figures were 10 in favour of the plans, 9 against. It was closer than we expected and one more Labour member switching sides would have given us victory. It was noticeable that Eileen McMaster, Labour Councillor for Lobley Hill, which will be heavily impacted by the new housing, voted in favour. The next Lobley Hill Focus will write itself!
After the decision, the team headed to Dunston Hill and delivered a Focus Special to the 2400 houses there to inform people of the news.
Interestingly, after they voted for the executive homes to be built, Labour announced they were launching a campaign for the houses to be affordable! Too late for that.
Above: Lib Dem Cllr Kevin McClurey speaking to the planning committee asking for the Dunston Hill plans for 582 executive homes to be defeated. Below, Cllr Peter Maughan's speech to the meeting, also calling for the plans to be thrown out.
On Saturday 17th November, Gateshead Lib Dems had another action day, this time in Pelaw and Heworth ward, where Labour are defending a majority of about 100 over us. Lots of activities took place including a street stall, litter pick, survey and Focus delivery. We were spotted by a Labour councillor!
Gateshead Lib Dems have now published their next eFocus. Low Fell edition 23 was published a few days ago and leads on the Gateshead Council budget proposals. You can read eFocus on this link.
Edition 110 for the Whickham area is currently being written.
Our latest email newsletter for Lib Dem members in Gateshead was published recently. Issues covered included the action day in Pelaw and Heworth, the recent regional conference in Darlington and the Gateshead AGM. You can view the newsletter on this link.
On Sunday I took part in the Remembrance Day parade and service in Whickham. For some years, the Whickham event has been the biggest in Gateshead and this year 50 wreaths were laid and over 1000 attended. I laid a wreath on behalf of my constituents.
I was invited to open the Sunniside Methodist Hall fair on Saturday. The chapel are keen to carry out renovation work of the hall and to make it more accessible as a community asset and venue for meetings for local groups and organisations. I was quite chuffed to be asked to perform the opening.
I was in the office last week to print our latest Focus. This is the edition for the four villages of Sunniside, Streetgate, Marley Hill and Byermoor. Issues covered include housing plans being granted in Sunniside and Streetgate, arson attack at Marley Hill bowling club, Whinnies garden bird of prey day, repairs to Ravensworth Castle, improvements to Sunniside Methodist hall , Sunniside Christmas tree switch on and flytipping at Byermoor.
I filmed this video just before and just after a seminar for Gateshead councillors about the Gateshead Millennium Study, a research project that followed 1000 people born in 1999/2000 until they turned 18. There was quite a concentration during the presentation on the issue of obesity, which affected children from all income groups, though it was higher among children from the lowest income households. There are no single solution to tackling obesity and, as I pointed at at the meeting, ready-made meals and takeaways taste great and are packed full of things the body craves and which, naturally, are in short supply - salt, fats and sugars for example. However we don't live naturally. Anyway, my views on this are all in the above video.
Last Thursday the Blaydon Lib Dem constituency meeting was held. I was there to give my report as group leader for the year as a whole as this was the AGM. I talked about our "6 to fix" which we used in the local elections but also raised Gateshead Council's late housing strategy
Officers were elected for the year ahead and we concluded with a report on preparations for the local elections, especially as they relate to the five wards in the constituency in which we have an active interest and the one ward in Gateshead constituency in which Blaydon constituency assists the campaigning to build up to a gain from Labour in the future.
I recorded my thoughts on why I don't think there will be an election last week when I arrived at Gateshead Civic Centre for a meeting. It could be my famous last words but talk of a snap election is, I feel, misplaced. The Conservatives are ahead in the polls but their fingers were badly burnt last year when May lost her majority in an unnecessary snap election. Their poll leads are modest but not enough to risk a run to the country. Furthermore, the Conservatives will want the boundary changes approved before a general election.
I could, of course, be completely wrong! We could end up, if not a snap election, with one in May next year, coinciding with the local elections. Time will tell.
