Councillor Robinson - May 2017.

[Malcolm Robinson]

May 4^th 2017

 

Friday 5^th May……. and the results were supposed to be out between 5am-5.30am.  Turns out everything is running much later!  Just saw Bill’s result and he has won the Bedlington East ward.  Mine and Russ’s are immanent.   Russ’s ward just declared and he has won it by a landslide.  Because I couldn’t be there Wendy is ringing me with my result.  The phone rings and its Wendy only to say the sitting councillor has called for a recount.  Really is it that close, Damm!  Adam could well have caused the problem I told everyone about and splitting the vote has let the sitting councillor back in.  Wendy let me hear the announcement as it happened.  Bloody Hell I’ve won!   I am quite literally speechless!  Wendy hung up to let me get my breath back and I have loads of people to thank for this.  I started doing that straightaway.   Walked around in a bit of a daydream for the rest of the day but I had to get myself together for work tomorrow, 4.30am quickly comes around so no celebrating.

Over the weekend I was contacted by a constituent who had been promised some highways work by the ex-councillor.  Haven’t even been inducted yet but I did go and see this lady and learn what the problem was.  I will get to see where I have to go and then take this forward for her.  I said give me a couple of weeks to see the lie of the land!

Tuesday 9^th and we had a basic induction to do at County Hall.  Bill and Russ were already there when I got there and had already filled in the paperwork we had to do.  I decided not to fill mine in straightaway because I am still the sitting chair of WBTC until Thursday night and I would have to put all that into my declaration of interests whereas holding off a couple of days saves all of that.  We had presentations off the main departmental managers and while everyone else said nothing in the open session I was able to ask them some questions.

Most people (fellow members) had been very polite and welcoming, in fact some blatantly so.  However some were less than cordial and made quite unnecessary and cutting remarks.  I reminded them that what they were actually complaining about was the result of a democratic election, we were not quite in the Stalinist state some obviously thought we were in, people still had choice!

One thing I did note was who were first at the table when the freebies were being handed out!

We spoke at length to the people who will be leading and forming the next administration and they suggested we come in for a ‘get to know each other’ meeting where we could properly present the case for Bedlington.  Gladly accept that one.

Tuesday evening and I went down to the East Bedlington Parish Council meeting as usual.  I heard some raised voices outside and turned around to see Bill and Russ and one of the members down there arguing outside.   They came in and sat in front of me but said nothing?  The chair of that meeting used his chair’s acceptance to slate us newly elected county councillors and praise the old ones.  He also allowed the member who had been remonstrating with Bill outside to continue his rant in the middle of the meeting.  It was another shambles of a meeting in my view with Party politics being put above anything else, especially the needs of residents!  Straight after the meeting the member who had been doing all the shouting walked straight over to Bill and started on him and his family again!   He also motioned to me so I took him to one side for a ‘talk’ while Bill and Russ got out.  I could see they were visibly shaken by this episode.

Went in Thursday 11^th for IT security training.  Seems we will soon be getting all agenda’s, minutes and papers through our lap tops.  Well I know one or two members who might not like that!

Friday 12^th and after one or two false starts, because of a VIP in the area, we had our meeting with the deputy Leader of NCC elect and the head of regeneration, again elect.  I immediately put the case for the Tesco redevelopment to be reactivated and allowed to proceed because for one reason it was a commercial decision not one based on politics.  Our development had to be commercially sound, in other words ours had to be commercially viable and financially self-sustainable.  I had spoken to the new Ceo of Arch and knew the reason for the delay in seeking planning permission and there was nothing sinister, it was down to a clause Tesco had put in their contract when they sold the site to Arch.   That was now about due to run out so planning permission was needed to progress the development.  I argued quite strongly for this and it seemed to be quite well received.  In fact it was suggested there might be a willingness to include some extra, more social stuff into this project!  Music to my ears!

I also argued for a sports development in the town based on the work I had been doing for about a year.  Using the land WBTC had been bequeathed the option on off Mr Rutherford, the farmer and Burnt Tree Farm.  Again it seemed well received and the only other suggestion was that other Town sites might be looked at.  Fair enough, if anyone can find a better site so be it!

We were told there was sympathy for Bedlington within the new administration as it has quite obviously been ignored and neglected for many many years by successive administrations at all Councils.

We were also given a very slight glimpse of what the new council might start to look like as there is a push to change quite a bit of it around.  Not unnatural for a new administration to want and do.  Introducing more local accountability was something I personally liked and supported.  Other bits like Arch were going to be subject to a review, again given the asset base of Arch and its remit not an unnatural reaction for the new administration.

 

Back to work at the weekend and another long weekend. A posting on social media caused quite a stir…. Seems our meeting was being reported by someone who’s sister-in-law works at County Hall as one where we pledge allegiance to the Conservative Party?  Nothing could be further from the truth really!  Turns out this posting was a complete plant by unscrupulous people to influence public opinion against us?  Now who could that be?  Anyway turned out just about everyone went onto the same page and gave us their support, irrespective of these scandalous allegations!

Monday 15^th and I went in for IT training.  Bill was there too so we had a few hours of a two to one session as no one else had turned up!  Getting to grip with the new kit we have been given to use it not easy because I still have to use all my old stuff too……

 

I did start investigating the seemingly promised extra parking which a couple of my constituents have asked me to find out about.   I found the person dealing with this and now have a definitive answer to the question.  Don’t think it’s what these constituents want to hear though, can’t be done.

I have also been prodding people about restarting the Bedlington redevelopment and I have been promised a press release is imminent!

I have also just had a meeting the Town Council officers.  I offered them the money in my Small’s Scheme, which is for local improvements, as long as they matched it.  Seems to me we both get double the hit for the same area we each have responsibility over.  They liked the idea especially when I suggested over a couple of years there should be enough to think about a new youth venue as well as a building on the land the Town Council have been offered by Mr Rutherford.  That needs to go to their full council for approval of course and I am slightly constrained by the fact that my funding can only be used for capital projects.  Still it should mean we will see well over £100K spent in the West Ward over the next few years and that’s a whole lotta improvement!

I had to put in a holiday for the day of the full council meeting because this meeting starts at 3.00pm and I finish work at 2 then home for a shower and change I felt it would be cutting it too tight.  When I got to County Hall I saw Russ and we went upstairs to check our dockets and see if the contained anything.  When we walked into the members lounge it went from room temperature to sub-zero in seconds!  The members lounge was filled with labour members who stared, grimaced and pointed our way but never spoke to us directly!  I think Russ was a bit put out and he forcibly introduced himself to the other Bedlington Labour councillor.   We then went downstairs into the council chamber; this was filled with Conservative members.  As we took a seat Bill came through and joined us.

The chamber was pretty full not just with public but also some ex councillors who obviously wanted to get a gripe in.  As the meeting progressed it became more and more about ex administration members trying to use their inside knowledge to score points……pathetic!  The Leader and admin were elected unanimously and after a few bits of business the new Leader proposed a change to the way local government, at the very local level, works.   Essentially it was all about giving the Area Meetings some teeth and powers.  One point was that in Bedlington the most eastern ward, Cambois and Sleekburn, was to go with Ashington and Blyth while the Central, East and West wards jointed up with Cramlington in a new Local Area Council.  I voted in favour of this new type of administration for us because the old way of doing things had never been Bedlington friendly!  Russ and Bill voted against but there was a large majority for it anyway.  The problems some saw with the new ‘boundaries’ was mentioned and the Leader said this could be addressed as we progressed.

Near the end of the meeting we had to ask the press and public to leave as there were a couple of items to consider in closed session.

Once the meeting had finished Bill and Russ left while I went up into the reception which was being held in the Civic Head’s dining room, one which the Labour councillors had spurned.  I didn’t want the buffet but I did want to speak to the lady who will be chairing this new Local Area Committee (LAC) for our area.  As I had been ‘given’ the vice chair getting to know what was going on and how it intended to develop was my first concern.  I spoke to Christine D for quite a while and we swapped contact details.  Looks like she is as ambitious for her area as I am for mine!

The very next day it was back to county hall for decision making training.  This was mainly planning training and declaration of interests.   So after talking about pre-determination, pre-disposition and bias we had quite a few questions for the County solicitor.

Another of my constituents has been in touch and again it’s a housing issue of which I have no real inroads.  I will go and see her and look at the problem then try and make my mouth go at the right people to see if we can get something done for her.

Mad weekend at work again and for once I was way behind where I normally am on Sunday.  It did get sorted but while some left early I couldn’t and had to stay to finish my work off.

Tuesday and back up to county hall this time for more IT training.  Our It trainer asked about putting other training on when we get to grips with the county council systems and I jumped at it.  At the moment I’m running three calendars, an almost fulltime job and council work.

It was the annual Meeting of the Town on Wednesday so after a day at work, then catching up on my computer work I changed and went down to the community centre having been invited by the Town Council.  The meeting started at 6.30pm and probably half the people there were there for the presentation about removing Humford Dam.  When that presentation was over there were quite a few questions for the presenter, mainly anti this initiative.

Once that was done the chair asked the new county councillors to talk about our work.  I started and used the opportunity to talk about the new changes to the way local government was about to work.  I used the points which had just been so vociferously talked about to illustrate why I had voted for this change.  Bringing it right back to how it would impact onto people here worked and there was general agreement with the way I had voted.

Afterwards during the refreshments a lot of people said they now understood what I was trying to do and supported it.   Again just being honest with people is clearly the way to go as they do appreciate the candour!  I put this message out on social media to explain why I had voted for the chance to start again with the way the second tier of local government works.

“Seems there is quite a furore about these new Local Area Councils and I can understand why. In fact it was discussed by myself, Bill and Russ before the meeting.

I voted for the change!

Let me explain why and I don’t want to defend or attack the proposal.

First the vote was about change to the way local government operates, the ward issues are only a very small part of that. In fact once the inconsistencies were pointed out and the fact that in some cases it was almost streets which would see dividing lines down them the administration, which had been in office for about 30 minutes by then, admitted it wasn’t all set in stone and changes and tweaks could be added.

There has been what I would consider to be a perfectly sensible compromise suggested for the ‘Bedlington’ area issue.

Secondly, I believe this change substantially benefits my constituents and that was the main reason I voted for it.

Breaking the umbilical cord which has bound Bedlington and Ashington together for 50 years and which has only resulted in our providing the nourishment for the growth in Ashington has to be cut and I would dance with the devil to make that happen!

Thirdly because this is a new structure there are no preconceived positions, it’s all there waiting to be fought for and I would rather be fighting for wins rather than pyrrhic victories all the time! In fact I have been ‘given’ the vice chair and have already discussed approaching this with honesty and openness with the chair and she agreed.

Lastly I believe better decisions are made with local knowledge and some have cited that or the lack of it as the reason there are geographical inconsistencies contained within the proposal. The proposal was that these new Local Area Councils have much more local decisions making powers devolved to them and I would rather that than see our questions, needs and concerns dismissed by people who have never stepped foot in Bedlington! That’s was what was happening and this change would mean for many decisions which affect us we take control over them.

They are the main reasons I voted for this proposal but at the same time I said I would work with Bill and Russ to seek a sensible resolution to the geographical problems this has thrown up for Bedlington as a whole.”

[Andy Millne]

Thanks for the updates as usual Malcolm