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20 Most Recent News Stories
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Fri 30th Apr 2010
Last night was the final of the three televised Leaders' debates. Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, debated with Gordon Brown and David Cameron about the economy. Subjects discussed included breaking up the banks, creating more jobs and reinvigorating the British economy.
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Wed 28th Apr 2010
On Thursday 29th April from 8.30pm, BBC One will host the final live Prime Ministerial Debate of the General Election from the Midlands. Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will again be going head to head in the run up to the General Election next Thursday.
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Fri 23rd Apr 2010
An average of five polls conducted immediately after the Sky TV Leaders Election debate on Thursday night put Nick Clegg as the winner, with all instant polls showing him ahead of Gordon Brown. After the Foreign Affairs-led debate from Bristol dominated by issues like Iraq, immigration and climate change, Nick Clegg won 3 of the 5 polls on the night, building on his position after the first debate.
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Wed 21st Apr 2010
The second Party Leaders Debate is taking place this Thursday starting at 8pm on Sky News. Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will again be going head to head in a TV debate in the run up to the General Election on May 6th, this time leading on Foreign Affairs.
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Fri 16th Apr 2010
The polls following the first ever Party Leaders General Election debate on ITV are showing that Nick Clegg has won a convincing victory over David Cameron and Gordon Brown. The debate was the first ever Leaders debate during a UK General Election campaign, and the pollsters are giving it as a big victory for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.
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Thu 15th Apr 2010
Tonight on ITV, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will be going head to head in a TV debate. This is the first of three debates that will be taking place in the run up to the General Election on May 6th.
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Wed 14th Apr 2010
Nick Clegg has launched the Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto. The manifesto sets out four clear priorities of fair taxes, a fair chance for every child, a fair economy, and a fair deal by cleaning up politics.
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Mon 12th Apr 2010
With the General Election on 6th May, there is still time to arrange a postal vote. Voting by post is an easy and convenient way of voting if you are unable to get to the polling station on polling day - for any reason.
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Mon 29th Mar 2010
The first ever TV debate between the three candidates to be the next Chancellor has seen Lib Dem Vince Cable win a clear victory. In a Channel 4 on-line poll carried out immediately after the debate, Vince out-polled both Alistair Darling and George Osborne.
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![Vince Cable [Photo: LDD Pics]](/images/sites/217.160.173.25-3e54d75166df56.63810547/thumbs/316.jpeg "Vince Cable [Photo: LDD Pics]")
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Sun 28th Mar 2010
At 8pm on Monday 29th March, Channel 4 will stage a live debate between the would-be Chancellors, Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, Labour's Alistair Darling and Conservative George Osborne. Krishnan Guru-Murthy will be asking the questions.
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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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Archive of earlier News Stories.
 News Story Feed(v1.0).
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