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20 Most Recent News Stories
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Wed 18th Nov 2009
"People in Wansbeck are disenchanted with Labour and realise that the Conservatives can't win here," says Simon Reed who will be the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Wansbeck Constituency when the General Election date is announced. "Labour has taken this seat for granted for years. Voting Lib Dem will be the only way to stop them winning here again. Because of the way the 'first past the post' electoral system works, voting for other parties in Wansbeck will effectively be a vote to help Gordon Brown back into power."
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Wed 18th Nov 2009
There is no overall majority on Northumberland County Council, so as the largest party, the Liberal Democrats currently run a minority administration. In practical terms this means that all measures taken on behalf of the County's residents have to be supported by one or both of the other political parties. The Council is under severe financial pressure. This is due to the global financial crisis, low interest rates, the usual annual savings imposed by Central Government and additional savings the Government assumes will be made from the new unitary structure. Discussions take place between the parties prior to Council meetings to try to take the best decisions and help the smooth running of the Council. Andrew Tebbutt, Lib Dem Councillor responsible for budgets says: "In order to make this work we need councillors to act responsibly. There must be proper debate, but there is no room for petty party politics."
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Wed 18th Nov 2009
There are now three separate planning applications pending for supermarket developments in and around Morpeth. Salisbury's want to build at the A196/A192 intersection in Stobhill, Tesco on the Coopies Lane Trading Estate and there is a proposal by Dransfield Properties (the Town centre re-developer) for a new supermarket at Low Stanners, which would include additional town centre car parking and the widening of Staithes Lane. Decisions on all these applications will be taken by the County Planning Committee. Whilst it is flattering that the supermarket giants are falling over themselves to invest in new stores in our area, there are fears that the out-of-town stores proposed by Salisbury's and Tesco could threaten the viability of the new town centre development. Additionally the Sainsbury's application would begin to fill the greenfield space between Morpeth and Hepscott. Hepscott residents and the Parish Council are strongly opposed to this. Morpeth Town Council has also formally opposed both of the out-of-town proposals. However, with some reservations, Morpeth Town Council has supported the Dransfield proposal at Low Stanners. If this development was to be approved it is unlikely to be open before 2013. Residents have the right to participate in the planning process. If you wish your views to be taken into account please write to the Planning Department, Northumberland County Council, County Hall, Morpeth, NE61 2EF.
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Fri 10th Jul 2009
Social workers covering Morpeth are to be located with the other much larger teams in the South East of the County, but there will be no change in the level of cover provided in Morpeth. The reasoning behind the decision is that these social workers, who actually spend most of their time working outside of Morpeth, need to be based together with other child care professionals for information sharing, supervision and professional development purposes. This is especially important following the 'Laming Review' concerned with safeguarding issues in Children's Services across the Country. Also, Ofsted have indicated that the arrangement of having just two social workers in an office for high risk work is unacceptable and a closure recommendation for was anticipated after a forthcoming inspection. The accommodation for the two social workers based at Morpeth had also been deemed not 'fit for purpose' which reinforced the decision.
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Mon 8th Jun 2009
In this question and answer session Simon Reed explains why yet another Labour win Wansbeck Constituency is not a foregone conclusion.
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
Network Rail has been lobbied over a number of years by SENRUG, Castle Morpeth Borough Council and Morpeth Town Council, supported by Liberal Democrat councillors, to make improvements at Morpeth Railway Station. At long last, improvements are on the way. Network Rail recently applied for planning permission to provide additional spaces by constructing an overflow car park on the opposite side of the road to the Station to be used when the existing car park is full. The plans involve the introduction of a daily charge. Whilst welcoming the proposals, Morpeth Town Council, has suggested train travellers should be able to reclaim all or part of the charge (this should be possible when the Station Office opening hours are extended) and that there should be designated spaces for disabled people to meet the national minimum standard, a bus only turning circle and appropriate additional yellow lines along adjacent Coopies Lane. In the longer term (probably some time between 2012 and 2015) Network Rail has plans to make the Station DDA compliant. The preferred solution involves installing a lift with an emergency telephone at each end of the existing subway, but this will require Department of Transport support.
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
A massive administrative change will take place on 1st April when the new unitary council for Northumberland takes over all the responsibilities of the old Northumberland County Council, Castle Morpeth Borough Council and the other 5 District Councils. Morpeth Town Council and other parish and town councils will continue as before.
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
Rebuilding of the town centre is progressing well. The new bus station opened in February, along with new premises for the Disability Association. This will allow the existing bus station to be demolished. The first of the new shop units should be open by April, with Marks & Spencer scheduled for mid-November. The developer has announced that most of the shop units have been let and that they are now letting office space.
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
The lack of available capital due to the worldwide financial crisis means that the 'Putting the Learner First' programme, which would have forced the abolition of middle schools across Northumberland, has been suspended. This move also fulfills the Lib Dem election promise that an education review needs to consider each school pyramid individually rather than applying a 'one-size fits all' approach across the County. Morpeth's three schools KEVI, Chantry and Newminster, which are achieving excellent results, are now proposing to increase their collaboration by forming a federation with a single governing body. Simon Reed, Lib Dem executive member responsible for Education and prospective parliamentary candidate for Wansbeck said: "I am delighted by the continuing great results of the Morpeth schools and welcome the efforts of governors and teaching staff to work together to make them even better. I will continue to press the Government to release the money they promised under the "Building Schools for the Future" programme to upgrade school buildings, which in many areas are in very poor condition."
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
Morpeth Town Council will need to take on an increased community role when Castle Morpeth Borough Council disappears on 1st April 2009. The traditional role of Mayor is being taken over when the Chair of Morpeth Town Council becomes the Mayor of Morpeth. Some other services, such as management of the markets and allotments in the town, may also eventually be transferred. As no budget is to be transferred, the Town Council will need to raise the required funding through an increase in its share of the Council Tax. This adds approximately £2.10 a year to the Council Tax bill for a Band D payer. This is in addition to an increase of approximately £4.90 a year to cover increased costs in other Town Council services and a further £3.20 to make good the loss of income due to flooded households not paying council tax this year. Ken Brown, Chair of the Town Council said: "Although Northumberland County Council will now provide the services that were provided by the Borough Council, increasingly, Town Councillors will act as the first point of contact for residents. The close working relationship and dialogue between us and the 4 councillors who represent Morpeth at the County level will be critical in ensuring that we are able to deal with issues and help residents. Plans to meet regularly with neighbouring parish councils are also in hand. It's going to be a challenging year in local government but we will be doing our very best to ensure that the Town Council plays its part in making the transition a success."
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
Simon Reed, the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wansbeck Constituency (which includes Morpeth) has launched his campaign to challenge Labour in the forthcoming general election. Speaking at a rally held in the Ashington Leisure Centre at the end of last year along with Berwick MP, Sir Alan Beith and Fiona Hall, Euro MEP for the North East, Simon argued that another Labour Wansbeck MP doesn't have to be a foregone conclusion and that it is time for a change. In the Northumberland Unitary Elections held in May 2008, the Liberal Democrats polled 47% of the vote in Wansbeck Constituency. Labour only received 34% of the votes and the Conservatives 11%. There has to be a General Election either this year or in 2010. An important Euro election is on 4th June this year. Simon says: "We want to keep building Lib Dem support for these important elections and for the General Election. Fiona Hall has been an excellent MEP and we will be working hard for her re-election in June. Last May's local election results show that the Conservatives can't win in Wansbeck, but the Liberal Democrats can. If everyone who doesn't want Labour to win again uses their vote and votes Lib Dem, Wansbeck can have a Liberal Democrat MP. The irony is that voting Conservative in Wansbeck helps Labour back into power!"
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Wed 18th Feb 2009
The European elections will be held on 4th June 2009. Fiona Hall has represented the North East since 2004 when she became the first Lib Dem MEP to be elected to the region, winning the seat from Labour by only 5,000 votes out of two million voters. Since 2004 Fiona has worked hard to make sure the North East gets a fair deal on a whole range of issues such as energy efficiency and mobile phone charges. Fiona has given her support to campaigns for improvements in Morpeth and visited the areas affected by the recent floods. If you want to help Fiona get re-elected you will need to make sure your vote counts on 4th June. Registering for a postal vote will ensure that you can vote even if you are away on election day (call Castle Morpeth 'First Call' on 535000 for details).
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Sun 14th Sep 2008
It's exactly one week on since the disastrous flooding of large parts of Morpeth. This was the worst flooding for 100 years, as the river came over the top of defences designed to prevent a repeat of the major 1963 flood. About 1000 homes were flooded to depths of up to 5 or 6 feet. It is a miracle that none was drowned or badly injured and we must be grateful for that. Nearly all of the affected homes are in the North Central ward for which I am one of the councillors.
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Tue 2nd Sep 2008
St Mary's Field Post Office is to close despite the huge expression of support from local residents. The Post Office at Mitford which was closed temporarily will not now reopen. Post Office Ltd has ignored the arguments made by angry residents and local representatives against these closures when they were announced on 1st July 2008. There was also a petition signed by 1752 people which was presented to Post Office Ltd by the local MP. The Post Office has been under remit from the Government to close 2,500 branches across the country. Only 1 Post Office out of 57 proposed branch closures in the North East has been saved which demonstrates that the so-called 'consultation' has been largely an exercise in 'going through the motions', with decisions already having been made. In addition to providing postal services, branches are often a vital focus for local communities, but the value of this role seems to have been largely ignored in Post Office's insensitive closure programme.
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Fri 8th Aug 2008
1752 people have put their names to a petition opposing the proposed closure of St Mary's Field Post Office. This is a massive expression of support given that the Kirkhill electoral ward only has just over 2500 voters in total. The petition was handed over by local Lib Dem Councillor Andrew Tebbutt to Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy who is to present it to the Post Office. In addition, lots of customers and local residents have sent personal letters of opposition as part of the public consultation exercise.
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Tue 1st Jul 2008
The St Mary's Field Post Office on Kirkhill has been earmarked for closure in the latest phase of the Post Office's review programme announced on 1st July.
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Sun 30th Mar 2008
In the North East to launch the Party's Election Campaign Nick made his first ever visit to Morpeth to help launch the Northumberland Liberal Democrats Manifesto for the forthcoming Northumberland Unitary elections on Thursday 1st May 2008. After posing for photographs with candidates at County Hall Nick went on to Morpeth Cottage Hospital where he met Jim MacKay, Chief Executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, Steve Russell, Director of Emergency Care (who is heading up the Review) & other staff from the hospital. After being briefed on the extensive Review plans for the hospital, Nick spent time talking to patients and their relatives. He also saw the palliative care beds which are funded by Macmillan, and which are so highly valued by local people.
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Fri 21st Mar 2008
Lib Dem Party Leader, Nick Clegg launched the campaign for the new Northumberland Council outside County Hall in Morpeth on 20th March. He also visited Morpeth Cottage Hospital where he met staff and patients and then held an open question and answer session in the Town Hall. Nick fielded questions from a wide range of people from aged 9 upwards on issues including, education, civil liberties and membership of the European union.
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Tue 26th Feb 2008
CMBC crime and disorder partnership have begun a consultation period with the Public, License holders, Town and Parish Councils and other interested parties about the introduction of DPPO's (Designated Public Place Orders).
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 News Story Feed(v1.0).
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