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Two males have been charged following a spate of thefts in the Blyth area.
Since June 1 this year 40 thefts from vehicles have been reported in Blyth, mainly within the Crofton Grange and South Shore estates. The majority of the offending took place overnight during a weekend.
A full investigation was launched by the Blyth Neighbourhood Police team and more than 20 hours of CCTV footage was reviewed by officers.
Now police have charged Dylan Woods, 20, of Barnard Street Blyth with five counts of theft from a motor vehicle.
Woods appeared before magistrates in Bedlington where he was released on bail pending a further court hearing later this month. His bail conditions exclude him from entering the Crofton Grange estate.
A 13 year old boy has been charged with two offences of interfering with a vehicle and will appear in court next month.
Another male, age 16, was arrested and released under investigation.
Neighbourhood Sergeant for Blyth, Jonny Pallace, said: "We take burglary very seriously in Northumbria and we hope local people feel reassured by the swift response to the incidents reported to us recently. High visibility crime prevention patrols were put in place as soon as we saw the pattern of offending.
"However, local residents can take preventative measures themselves. Of the 40 thefts from vehicle crimes reported to us, 35 were due to the vehicles being unlocked. Our advice is simple: lock your vehicles, look after your property and always report anyone suspicious you see hanging around streets and neighbourhoods. You could be helping stop thefts from happening and helping us keep our communities safe. We'd also encourage anyone who hasn't reported a crime of this nature in the area to come forward - we will follow up and take action."
Anyone who has information about the incidents in Crofton Grange and South Shore estates should call officers on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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A multi-million pound cash boost from the National Lottery will ensure an historic Ashington park is restored to its former glory.

Northumberland County Council has been successful in securing a £2.29million ‘Parks for People’ grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The funding will ensure that the Flower Park is rejuvenated and landscaped, a new play area developed and greenhouses and buildings restored to provide much improved public spaces.

New training facilities for the community, to be operated in partnership with Northumberland College, will also be created.

The National Lottery grant will be supported by contributions from the county council, the town council and Ashington Leisure Partnership, bringing the total project value to £2.7m over the next five years.

The 100-year old park is renowned as being the place where international football legends the Charlton brothers and Jackie Milburn played as youngsters. The funding will also establish an annual Charlton and Milburn Cup tournament so that local youth groups can follow in their footsteps.

The National Lottery funding will allow play facilities to be enhanced with water play features reintroduced, and the colourful floral displays that the park is so fondly remembered for will also be revived.  

Councillor Glen Sanderson, cabinet member for environment and local services, said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for the park, local residents and the Ashington area.

“Thanks must go to all those who have put so much work into this scheme over the past few years to secure this extremely substantial funding commitment.

“This project will protect the park and its heritage for the community for the next century and enable generations to play, learn and relax in this wonderful space.”

Council Leader Peter Jackson added: "The Hirst Park scheme is all a part of the continued revitalisation and rebirth of Ashington which has our full support.

“Ashington has a bright future and we will continue to support a town that everyone can be proud of."

The coal mining heritage of the park and local area will play a big part in the long term project with events, activities and interpretation resources being developed to explore and tell its story.

Ashington Town Council's Business Chair, Councillor Mark Purvis, added: “On behalf of the Town Council I am are delighted with the successful outcome of the bid.  

“Successful bids of this magnitude require a great deal of work over a period of time with a lot of this work often going unseen. The Town Council, as a major partner in the bid, now looks forward to seeing the exciting plans being turned into reality and the Park being returned to its former glory.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund’s Chief Executive, Ros Kerslake, said, on behalf of HLF and Big Lottery Fund: “It’s difficult to overstate the importance of our public parks. Vital to our well-being and essential to biodiversity, they are highly valued spaces enjoyed daily by people from all walks of life.

“Hirst Park is one of the latest parks to benefit from over £900million of National Lottery funding, which over the last twenty years has played a crucial role in revitalising more than 800 parks across the UK.”

The Hirst Revival project plans to deliver: The lost garden of Hirst will be recreated and links between the recreation ground and Flower Park will be opened up. Horticultural training including courses to help families grow their own vegetables. Research activities and events to engage local people to help us discover more about the heritage of the park, people and the area. A play zone, including a water play feature and wildlife areas. The former site of the Woodhorn monument will be developed into a community performance and interpretation space, telling the mining heritage story of the area.
The major improvements and activities are set to begin in 2018.  
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A comprehensive review is now underway on a council policy which sees some students in Northumberland paying £600 a year to travel to school and college.

The review will focus on delivering the new administration’s commitment to introducing a zero charge within the council term.

Over 100 students in the county currently have to pay an annual sum of £600 for travel organised by the authority, and other Post 16 students who are able to use public transport having to pay for their own travel.

It was not possible for the new administration to bring in any changes to its Post 16 Transport Policy ahead of the statutory deadline for the 2017/18 school year, which came just days after the new council was formed.

However work has now started on reviewing the whole policy and in the interim the council has implemented an additional payment option which allows families to spread payments more evenly.

From September 2017 students can opt to make eight payments of £75 via direct debit - as opposed to paying the whole amount as a lump sum or with £200 up front.

Deputy Council Leader Wayne Daley, who is also Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “We remain committed to overhauling this policy and have begun reviewing every aspect of it.

“The first stage is a comprehensive information gathering exercise so we fully understand the way forward.

“The fact we had a week between forming a new administration and meeting statutory deadlines meant we simply couldn’t make any major changes for the coming school year.

“However we were keen to find a way of offering increased flexibility for those students and families who have to pay the charges.

“Many people find it easier to spread bills evenly in smaller amounts rather than pay lump-sums or larger initial instalments. It’s positive to report people are already signing up to this new payment method.”

The £600 travel charge for students attending their nearest educational establishments where public transport is not available was introduced by the previous council administration.  
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Northumberland County Council has withdrawn the Northumberland Local Plan Core Strategy from Government and to carry out a review of some aspects of the document.

The review will look to further protect Green Belt land and prevent a development “free for all” in the future.

A motion to full council asking for a full review of the housing and employment numbers and strategic land use allocations within the draft Core Strategy was carried by 39 votes to 22.

The Core Strategy has not been scrapped -  it is only certain elements which will now be reviewed.

Members stressed their support for economic and housing growth to support local communities but questioned whether the housing numbers contained within the current Core Strategy are required to meet these ambitions, and wish to undertake a review and any required public consultation as soon as possible.  

Coun Peter Jackson, Leader of Northumberland County Council said:  “Many residents were unhappy with the proposed Core Strategy and have been calling for a review. We are a council that listens and it is vital we get this right.

“The strategy will have a direct impact on future generations in Northumberland and we wanted to propose a review at the first opportunity. This council wants to protect our communities and to plan for a sustainable and prosperous future for our county and the wider region.

“While we believe the vast majority of the plan is fine, information currently available, and anticipated for release by the Government later this year, suggests to us that the requirement for housing in our County may very well not be as high as has been proposed previously.

“We want to use this information from Government and take into full account the latest regional plan in the form of the NE Strategic Economic Plan, to review the need to build on acres of Green Belt land.

“Ultimately we want to improve control of development within our County, not create a free for all which encroaches on our Green Belt.”

Advice has been sought from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the report states that a local planning authority can withdraw a submitted plan at any time prior to adoption, at which point it would publish a statement about this and send notification to consultation bodies.  

The work will be done as quickly as possible, so that the strategy can be re-submitted to Government as soon as is practicable.  
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Residents are being given the chance to have their say on the future plans for Northumberland’s Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS).

The service has produced a draft version of its four year plan, setting out its priorities up to 2021.

Among the priorities are enhanced collaboration and partnership working, expanding and enhancing its community 'Safe and Well' visits, revising its school's education programmes and providing increased resilience with neighbouring services.

NFRS Chief Fire Officer Paul Hedley said: “We have a fire and rescue service to be proud of and are committed to making the county an even safer place to live, work and visit.

“This four year plan outlines the main risks to the communities of Northumberland and how we will use our resources efficiently to reduce those risks.

“We must ensure we continue to provide high quality prevention and protection activity to those most at risk while providing a well-equipped and highly trained workforce to respond to incidents.”

Northumberland continues to be extremely safe and the plan highlights that over the past ten years the number of fire and rescue incidents has dropped by 31%.

And over the past five years the number of accidental house fires has dropped by almost half.

However the service continues to be very busy and in 2016/17 received around 6,200 calls and attended 3115 incidents.

Councillor John Riddle, the County Council’s Fire Authority chair, said: “We want to ensure decisions about our services take into account the views of residents, employees and communities of Northumberland.

“We know we must aim to maintain our focus on regularly reviewing risk to ensure we are using our personnel and resources where they can have maximum impact and do all we can to prevent fires and other emergencies from occurring in the first place.

“By taking part in our survey people can help us understand what they think of our future plans and ensure our services are targeted in the most effective way.”

The draft plan and survey can be viewed by going to http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/NFRplan

The eight-week consultation opens on July 10th and closes on September 1st 2017 and a final version of the plan will be approved by Northumberland County Council later in the year.  
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Children are being encouraged to turn detective and sign up to this year's Summer Reading challenge at their local library.

The Animal Agents Summer Reading Challenge asks 4-11 year olds to borrow and read any six library books during the summer holidays, collecting incentives and rewards along the way.

And it’s a  fun, free way of keeping children occupied during the school holidays, which is top news for parents !

Those who complete the challenge will be presented with a certificate and a medal at a special ceremony in their local library at the beginning of the new term.

This year’s theme is Animal Agents, based on a detective agency staffed by all kinds of clever animals – furry, scaly and slippery – who are out to crack a case at the library with a little help from their friends.

To take part in Animal Agents, all children need to do is to head to their local library where they will be given a collector folder to keep a record of their reading journey.  As children read at least six library books over the summer, they collect stickers which will help them crack the clues and help the Animal Agents find out what's really been going on behind the scenes!

There is to be  a whole programme of fantastic family  events and activities planned at Northumberland libraries  over the summer to celebrate the Summer Reading Challenge. These include animal handling sessions with ‘Creatures Up Close’, lots of fun, games and activities with organisations including ‘Dogs Trust’, Cats Protection’ and Blue Cross for Pets.  Cramlington Library is excited to be welcoming Northumbria Police Dogs - so you can go  along and meet a real life dog detective!  There will also be  ‘Animal Agent Crafty Fun’ sessions at many libraries.

For a full list of events, including  dates, venues  go to: www.eventbrite.co.uk and search ‘Northumberland Libraries’ . You can also book your  free ticket from this website.  

Northumberland County Councillor,  Cath Homer, Cabinet member  for Culture, Arts, Tourism and Leisure said: “Reading is a vital life skill,    yet it is a skill that can take second place to the  excitement  of  computers, television and electronic games.


“ It is one of our aims through the challenge to prove that books can be  exciting too
and introduce children to one of the best free resources for their minds that they
have on their doorsteps – the local library.”


Over 2,000 children across Northumberland took part in last year’s Summer Reading Challenge in libraries and it is hoped  that even more children visit their local library to join ‘Animal Agents’ this Summer.

Children's reading can 'dip' during the long summer holidays if they don’t have regular access to books and encouragement to read for pleasure. This can be a problem for schools to put right in the new term, and The Reading Agency’s annual Summer Reading Challenge really helps by getting children into libraries over the summer. There is no other free reading activity that involves so many children, introduces families to their library, encourages children to choose books freely and independently and is endorsed by parents, teachers and the Department for Education.


Sue Wilkinson, CEO, of The Reading Agency, a leading national charity inspiring people of all ages and backgrounds to read for pleasure and wellbeing said:

“At The Reading Agency, we believe that everything changes when we read and we know from our research how much fun families and children have when taking part in the Challenge. This year we hope the wonderful characters created for us by Tony Ross will inspire more children than ever to take part and make use of their local library throughout the summer and beyond."

For further details about ‘Animal Agents’ or our Summer events, please visit our website www.mylibrary.co.uk, follow Northumberland Libraries on Facebook & Twitter or contact us on: 01670 620250.





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Landmark total for help hub

By Bot, in News,

Bedlington’s Community Help Hub celebrated a major milestone this week when it welcomed its 20,000th drop-in visitor.
First opened in 2010, the facility in Front Street provides assistance to those looking for work – including with creating a CV and uploading it to websites, searching for jobs and completing application forms.
The Community Help Hub also supports people with applications and queries about benefits or problems with statutory organisations or utility companies. Users enjoy free use of computers, with internet access, and they can make free phone calls.
Run by volunteers from Hope Church Bedlington, it currently receives around 20 drop-in users per day.
Church leader and Community Help Hub volunteer manager Dennis Fancett said: “It’s been a pleasure to help the people of Bedlington and wider community in their hour of need over the last seven years and I’d like to thank all our volunteers, past and present, who have given up their time to make this possible.
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New showhomes have been unveiled by a housing developer at two sites.
Miller Homes has marked the official launch of its Barley Meadows development in Cramlington and Broadoaks in Bedlington.
Prospective buyers can see the four-bedroom Seeger and Tressell showhomes at Barley Meadows, or the four-bedroom Tressell showhome and five-bedroom Buttermere viewhome at Broadoaks.
Prices at Barley Meadows – which is less than a mile-and-a-hal from Cramlington town centre – start at £137,950. The development consists of 192 two, three, four and five-bedroom houses.
Prices at Broadoaks – which features three, four and five-bedroom homes – start at £218,950.
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Police have charged two people after seizing a huge haul of Class A drugs in Newcastle.
On Tuesday evening officers carried out a search of a property on Murrayfield Road in the Cowgate area of the city.
Durign that search they found a haul of Class A drugs believed to be heroin and amphetamine.
An investigation into the drugs led officers to two further addresses on Wansfell Avenue in Cowgate and Bothal Street in Byker.
More drugs were found by police and in total it is believed that detectives have taken an estimated £450,000 worth of drugs off the streets.
Six people were arrested following the operation but four of those have been released under investigation.
Now detectives from Central CID have charged two people in relation to the seizure. They are:
- Karl Glendinning, 39, of Wansfell Avenue, Cowgate, was charged with possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply heroin, possession of a drug to supply amphetamine, possession of a drug with intent to supply cannabis and possession of heroin.
- Neil McFarlane, 30, of Waterbeach Place, Slatyford, was charged with posession with intent to supply amphetamine.
They will both appear before Bedlington Magistrates Court tomorrow morning (Friday).
Anyone with any information about the drugs, or information that may help police with their enquiries, should contact officers on 101 quoting log 1174 04/07/17.


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