To FOI or not to FOI

Yesterday full Council saw Glen Sanderson elected as the new Council Leader with a new Deputy also in place alongside some changes in the Cabinet.  Hopefully this will be the beginning of some normality after weeks of upheaval that has got in the way of delivering for residents.

On that very issue of putting residents first, Russ Wallace asked a question about whether the current administration were in agreement about providing funding for leisure facilities in Bedlington given that Newbiggin Sports Centre has recently had £1.5m approved from the Council pot; great for Newbiggin but what about Bedlington was the point.

The response from the Cabinet Member was an extremely positive one and in-line with our previous discussions about the need to include leisure in the town centre redevelopment.  Bedlington was additionally recognised as a town that had been forgotten and there is a definite commitment from the current administration to address a fact that we all recognise.

What was less positive, however, was an intervention from the Labour Leader, who failed to take the opportunity to offer any support for Bedlington and instead was more concerned about asking who had written the response for the Cabinet Member.

A FOI request is apparently going to be submitted to find out and I can only assume that the Labour Leader thinks officers at the Council have nothing better to do at the minute than deal with something that has never previously been queried in my three plus years as a County Councillor.

So, yet again, it appears that Labour are simply not prepared to prioritise Bedlington.  Well, there is no need for anyone to submit a FOI request to confirm something that we already know!

Bedlington Deserves Better

Let me be clear; there is a commitment from the current political administration to develop a swimming pool in Bedlington. It has been discussed and agreed over several months in response to the changes to the town centre scheme.

That an unnamed Northumberland County Council spokesperson has seemingly questioned this is a matter to be resolved within the corridors of power at County Hall and something that needs to happen now.

Russ, Malcolm and I have already written to the Acting Chief Executive to seek answers and clarification. Our message is that improved leisure facilities are a must for Bedlington and are wanted by residents

It is not acceptable that other towns have the equivalent of two leisure centres and smaller places have leisure facilities that our town does not.

After decades of Labour failing to deliver there is at last an opportunity to provide Bedlington residents with a leisure offer that other areas take for granted.

This is through funding that otherwise would have been spent on retail and the additional resources from government which were recently announced.

If more is needed, then that is where the Council’s capital programme comes into play as it has previously for large scale infrastructure projects across the county.

If that can be done for Ashington, Berwick, Blyth, Morpeth, Hexham and Ponteland then our turn is long overdue.

Bedlington should receive equal treatment; in fact, more than that is required given unequal history.

That is why I stood for election and that is what I am continually seeking to achieve.

As a footnote, I have recently received emails from ‘Mary Whitehouse’ and ‘John Profumo’.

That is the level of the murky and ridiculous antics taking place in Northumberland at present. I am not interested in petty score settling.

Bedlington is my only concern and it deserves better.

Putting the Record Straight

As some of you will have read there have been some significant changes to the town centre re-development project as a result of Covid-19.  High street shops have been suffering for some time now due to changes in shopping habits and it was always going to be difficult to attract investment but that had been achieved with Bedlington recognised as a new market by retailers. Sadly, Covid-19 changed that as the retail sector contracted and some businesses ceased trading.  This resulted in my two fellow Bedlington Councillors and myself having in depth discussions with the current administration as to what we could do in order to move the development forward for the benefit of Bedlington residents.

Over a period of months, we developed and agreed a new direction for the town centre that would replace elements of the retail with the leisure provision that Bedlington lacks in comparison to neighbouring towns.  This will include a swimming pool and a new modern library in the heart of the town centre.  A supermarket remains part of the development as do units that will front the market place.  With the extra £2.5m that the Council received from the Government for Bedlington there will now be in the region of £10.5m available for the re-worked project, which given the circumstances is something that I am delighted about.

At the meeting of full council yesterday there was a vote of no confidence in the Council Leader, Peter Jackson, which I did not support.  This was put forward by the Labour Leader who also made a ridiculous accusation that the votes of Bedlington Councillors had been bought by the proposed investment in the town centre.  Let me put the record straight on those two issues as I will not be lectured at by Labour or any other political party.

I did not support the vote of no confidence for the quite simple reason that no evidence was provided by Labour or any other Councillor that spoke to back up allegations and rumours.  In my experience it would be the equivalent of convicting someone without a proper trial and consideration of the facts.  If evidence had been presented that wrongdoing had taken place, then I would have voted differently but there was nothing more than references to what had been reported in the press.  My Bedlington colleague Councillor Russ Wallace put it rather succinctly yesterday when he spoke: “What we don’t have yet are facts. Until we do, we should get on with what we were elected to do.” If other Councillors are happy to be complicit in what I thought to be a kangaroo court that is a matter for them.

On the accusation from Councillor Susan Dungworth that my vote was bought for the investment I find the hypocrisy and irony off the scale.  What have Labour ever done for Bedlington?  How many decades have they had to build a leisure centre in the town?  During the most recent Labour administration the Portfolio Member for Leisure was a Bedlington based Councillor and Ashington got a replacement leisure centre yet Bedlington got nothing.  Whilst Ian Lavery chaired Ashington Football Club it benefited  from more than £1m of investment as part of the Arch scandal that took place under Labour. How much did Bedlington Terriers get?  The answer is nothing and that is what Labour has delivered for Bedlington.

The investment in leisure in Bedlington is the result of the hard work of myself and my two colleagues over several months who are motivated only to do what is right for Bedlington.  Yesterday was a political side show as a result of Conservative party infighting and Labour opportunism. I have no interest in either and will continue to serve Bedlington residents to the best of my ability and to address the complete failure of representation in the past.