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Online Surgery - Your Questions Answered

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As part of Local Democracy Week we've been asking you to put your questions to our county councillors so you can hear what they've got to say about the things you care about.

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INDEX OF ABRIDGED QUESTIONS (in date order) Outsourcing of Shared Services in Northumberland " Cuts" and the problems they create Nothing for youths at Stakeford Middle Schools Sunday League Football in Blyth Valley LINKs scheme Domestic violence blyth beach area rubbish along the highways Landfill Extension at Seghill Heritage Wonder Challenge TOMMY'S FIELD ALLOTMENT Wylam Bridge Ski Slope Councillors Getting money to go to school Good Job Back to School Big Brother School Meals Terrorist Attacks Global Warming DETAILED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Dear Councillors Rumours have hit me over the past few days regarding the possible outsourcing of Shared Services within the new unitary authority. I would like your initial thoughts on this if you wouldnt mind. It seems that certain management are anxious to go down this route asap without full consultation with public of Northumberland, the staff of those services and also the relevant trade unions. I realise that the new authority has to make savings but surely every avenue must be explored in great detail before a decision like this is taken. Indeed, shouldnt we wait until after the elections in May and until the new management structure of the new authority has been finalised. It is in my opinion and those of my friends, famliy and colleagues with whom I have spoken to that this goes against the idea of "Local Services for Local People". Our Answer: Thank you for your email concerning rumours relating to Shared Services. The Implementation Executive have agreed that all options should be explored by the new Unitary Authority. The initial priority will be to consolidate all the Corporate Services from the existing seven Councils within Northumberland and to design an efficient and effective service. This service would be provided internally. At the same time the Implementation Executive have agreed management should explore all options to determine whether any further benefits can be secured for the new Council. If a joint initiative with the private sector and / or other Councils is explored it would only be on the basis of job creation within Northumberland. Trade Unions are discussing this issue at present with both management and elected members, and staff will be fully involved in any proposals. The initial priority will be the design and implementation of the internal service. Cllr Peter Hillman    There are many areas in the Blyth Calley area that have huge problems with " cuts" and ASB. Including my own area,i have found within BVC and council officials a " can't do" attitude and in some cases it is apparent the issue is a hot potato and people are shunted from one dep't to another. A common excuse it "all depends on County". Since there is a problem why does either the County or the local authority come to grips with it. So often the problems are ignored and the excuse is that if "only one person objects we cannot close it",again not 100% true. Is the county aware of the problems and do they have a strategy to solve them Our Answer: Our officers investigate the evidence, look at all possible remedies to the alleged problem and if necessary a closure would be considered as a very last resort, although I can tell you that from experience this is not a very likely scenario as it was proven almost impossible to do in the west of Newcastle where the crime and ASB levels are far greater than we tend to experience in Northumberland. Notwithstanding the quality of life impact of course, but really this does demonstrate the difficulty in a closure being granted. I understand that Blyth Valley are dealing with approximately half a dozen complaints of this nature in conjunction with Northumbria Police. There is legislation to do so but it is very protracted and requires a substantive amount of evidence (levels of crime etc). However, we our working closely with Neighbourhood policing teams, neighbourhood management and planning to investigate and avoid these issues for the future. Unfortunately the current issues have no straight forward remedy, however we do work very closely with all partners and residents to try and reach a suitable solution if there are crime and disorder problems, often achieved by very simple measures (i.e. making it less appealing to the people causing the problems and increasing security where appropriate for the residents.) including reassurance patrols by community wardens and PCSO's when necessary. I can reassure anyone we do not ignore any problems in the county and deal with every issue independently where appropriate and countywide where that is appropriate. I hope this answers your question, Cllr Hillman    I understand the council is ploughing a lot of money into the regeneration of Blyth & Ashington. Unfortunatly, places like Stakeford seem to be left out on a limb. There is virtually nothing for children to do. I live at Srakeford and have to walk for almost 1/2 an hour to access the closest park at Sheepwash. We are desperate for more activities which are geared to children 0 - 16. Our Answer: Thank you for your enquiry. I appreciate your difficulty in accessing facilities for your children. I think for this it would be more helpful for you to discusss this with your local County Councillors who have a much clearer picture of the needs of your area. Their surgeries are held on a Saturday morning. Cllr Dave Ledger holds his on the 3rd Saturday in the month at Stakeford and Bomarsunds Welfare Centre between 10-11am. Cllr David Nicholson holds his surgery on the first Saturday of the month at the healthy living centre in Cleasewill Hill from 10am - 12 noon. In the meantime I will speak to both of these Councillors about this matter. If you would like them to get in touch with you, please could you send through your contact details.    I am trying to discover the current policy of the County Council on the closure of Middle Schools and in particular the planned closure date for Corbridge Middle school. Our Answer: The Council’s policy is still to move to primary/secondary school provision with one age of transfer at 11 years of age. However we are now seeing a number of the Partnerships moving to Trust and Academy status with a federation of schools and being managed as one all-age school. Today the Executive have approved a consultation on such an Academy –sponsored by the Church of England and the Duke of Northumberland in the Ashington area. At present the Government will not support any application for a rural Academy –but the Haydon Bridge Partnership is moving to an all-age Trust –details are in today’s Courant. I am at present unaware of any detailed plans for the Hexham Partnership although I understand some discussion is taking place amongst the partner schools. At present there are no dates for any closure of Corbridge Middle School and none has yet been put forward. Where schools are considering federating they are able to discuss plans re the siting of all schools in the partnership, to decide the pattern of age transfers between schools,the management and governance of individual or the whole school – they can plan ahead and inform the Council of their wishes prior to any funding becoming available for new build. The Council has now changed things in Cramlington, Blyth and Ashington –Alnwick and Seaton Valley are the next areas up for consideration So unless the Hexham Partnership come up with any proposals for federationg we are stll a distance (in time) from any moves to close Corbridge Middle School. Alex Kerr    Following the announcement to build the New Academy in Blyth on the Old Ridley High School SITE. Blyth Spartans Juniors have been moved to Deleval Middle School, after initially having nowhere to go. We had previously been using the Pitches at the Ridley SITE for up to 6 games on a Sunday and also for training during the week. Unfortunately the drainage on one of the pitches at the Deleval Middle School SITE is very poor and also the pitch is very small. This leaves only one pitch for 7 teams, that is suitable. Our Secretary is trying very hard to find an alternative pitch for use but this is proving, very difficult. Any help that could be given to aleviate this problem, would be appreciated. We have around 120 boys affected by this situation. Our Answer: I believe you were interested in how Blyth Spartans Juniors were being accommodated for matches now the Ridley site has been closed off. I have managed to get hold of Richard Muldoon who is the secretary of Blyth Spartans Juniors The situation seems to be in control for this season. The Junior teams are playing on a small pitch at the Delaval Middle site - still however awaiting removal of an overhanging tree on goals The Senior teams are allocated pitches as available at Blyth Community College depending on their own needs, this seems to be sufficient to meet their needs at present. The Big lottery changing rooms open on 7th March and BCC have indicated that from next season, with some reconfiguration, there will be an extra full size pitch available on a permanent basis for the Spartans. Richard is hoping that he can get some written reassurance of this so the club have a stable future and Neville Gaukrodger is discussing this with BCC.    What progress is the County Council making in developing the LINKs scheme for the County? How far down the line are they with appointing a Host for the scheme? How can lay people with an interest in supporting improvements in local health services and adult social care get involved? Our Answer: Adverts in the European Journal inviting interested organisations to act as Host were published in Dec 07 with responses by 14th Jan. The situation will be reviewed by the NCC Executive at their meeting on Jan 14th Further details contact Jackie Roll on 10670 533212 Alex Kerr As I am not a member of the Executive or the Health Scrutiny Committee I do not know what preparations have been made.The act of Parliament which set LINKs up is the recent local Government Act dealing also with reorganisation. As the Act was only pased just before Christmas I doubt anyone has got very far with this. It is however important and I look forward to hearing our plans.Links will replace all the other patient involvment bodies. Diana Beith    What do you do to support domestic violence sufferers in Tynedale? How do you make sure people in rural areas can access services that can help them if they suffer domestic violence? Our Answer: If anyone was to indicate a need for support I would provide them with the phone number of the support group –608060. This support group is a member of the Tynedale Community Safety Partnership in Tynedale. Information about access to the Support Group is published in many forms and is available through many outlets – it is a difficult topic and many organisations may be reluctant to openly display the info -- the police; council offices; social service offices and some schools have the info. On Monday 21st the NCC Community Safety Coordinator is giving a talk and presenting a video on Domestic Violence to Hexham Rotary Club at my invitation. And this can be made available to other groups. If your question relates to financial support for the DV Support group –I cannot be specific about contributions from either Tynedale or Northumberland –but I can assure you that both through various channels do support this Group. Alex Kerr    i have three questions for you 1, you have done a great job of developing the beach area, its lovely to see people using it. but why have the council not installed safe crossings facilities at the beach area and approaching roads from south beach estate, the volume and speed of the traffic makes it more and more dangerous to cross especialy with children and for the elderly. 2. why is it taken so long to finish the large building at the beach, the builder across the road has built a housing estate in lease time. 3. has the council done away with the cycle paths adjacent to the band stand?. they seem to have become extensions to the car parking area, forcing people to ride on the road Our Answer: Many thanks for you questions. I agree that Blyth beach area is looking lovely and I know a lot of hard work has been done to achieve this. Unfortunately I am unable to provide you with the answers to your questions as these issues fall under Blyth Valley Councils remit. May I suggest that you get in touch with them on 01670 542 000 or email yourlink@blythvalley.gov.uk Kind regards Peter Hillman    who is responsible for clearing rubbish from along our highways (a1 is a real mess) and when are they going to do it Our Answer: The responsibility lies with the appropriate Highways Authority –the A1:A69 that is the Highway Agency. For other roads it is the County Council. Though both may have contracted another body to do the work Alex Kerr    Hi Peter Its all gone very quiet about the extension ,and if and when it has been approved to go ahead, or not as the case may be ?. Our Answer: Hello, The application to extend Seghill landfill site is still under consideration. It is hoped that a report will be presented to the Members of the Planning and Regulation in the New Year. Kind regards Peter    Hello,I am Jen Murray from Branksome school,Darlington.We are currently participating in a schools county council heritage competition,My team (Magick Bricks) have chosen Alnwick castle as our location. Our idea is to change the castle into a Harry Potter expeirince,including features such as a 3D cinema room,Over night accomodation and an owl sanctury. We are finding it very difficult to find plans for the building and have been directed towards the planning department of the northumbria castle. We'd greatly appeicitate any information or help you could offer. Thankyou Yours Faithfully Jen Murray Magick Bricks Branksome school Our Answer: HI Jen, This is an unusual request! Since the castle has been around for several hundred years I am not aware of plans for it although of course they will exist because of maintenance and so on. Your best option would probably be to contact the Northumberland Estates who run the castle and all the associated properties. The easiest way to access the castle would be via their web site which is www.alnwickcastle.com Or you could ring them: the number is 01665 510777. I hope that is helpful, but if you need any more information please contact me on Rarckless@northumberland.gov.uk Best wishes, Cllr Robert Arckless, Chairman, Northumberland County Council    What can be done to ensure that the Tommy's field allotment remains an allotment once the unitary authority takes over CMBC'S assets?. Our Answer: Hello - I am investigating this now for you and will provide a full answer as soon as I can. Kind regards Cllr Les Cassie    Good evening Mr Kerr, Can you please give me your views with regard to the new safety barriers that are being added to Wylam Bridge and whether or not, in your capacity as Councillor, you willing to listen to the residents of Wylam and do something about it? Our Answer: As I very seldom use Wylam Bridge and haven't seen the new barriers I can not comment at the moment. I will however speak to the officers dealing with the Bridge works and design, I will also talk to people I know who do use the Bridge and if you would like to arrange to meet me to discuss your concerns I will happily do so. I should point out that your local County Councillor is Paul Kelly and wonder if you have spoken to him about the issue? You can contact me direct if you wish tel 01434672816; e-mail akerr@northumberland.gov.uk Kind regards, Cllr Alex Kerr    I wrote to the surgery last year asking about the plans for a new indoor ski slope near Widdrington. Has anything progressed with that? Our Answer: This can only really be answered by the local County Councillor - Cllr Grant. Look him up on our website and get in touch with him. Cllr Alex Kerr    Can you be a councillor with a criminal record? Our Answer: If you have served your sentence there is no real reason why you shouldn’t be elected –though if your opponents and /or the public become aware of your record it may be difficult to get elected—a serving councillor who is charged and will find it difficult but if not imprisoned may even be able to carry on. It is my personal belief that a councillor in this situation should resign and seek re-election. Cllr Alex Kerr Councillors can be disqualified from holding office if they are convicted of an offence and are sent to prison. More minor offences need not lead to disqualification but would probably have an impact if a person were to attempt to stand for election in the future. Cllr Robert Arckless    Have youu ever thought about paying children to go to school? I think this would stop people from not going to school. You could pay us extra if we were at school every day for a whole term or something. Our Answer: No.The money reward comes later in life. Those who achieve good educational qualifications are much more likely to have better paid jobs. However life is always full of unexpected opportunities that allow those who don't do so well at school to do well in life .Some even become millionaires!Money will not convince people of the value of education. Education itself can lead people to a much more fulfilling life, more than money alone can. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North No I haven't considered that. I don't think people should be paid to go to school. School provides a vital start in life for everyone, giving the skills and knowledge essential for coping with the adult world and making a decent living. All of us pay a large amount in taxes to fund the schools and I don't think any one would be willing to pay schoolkids on top of this. The main challenge for the schools is to encourage young people to take part properly and to see the benefit for themselves, so they actively try to get the best out of their education. Cllr Les Cassie Although some schools do reward good attendance, good behaviour and / or good results - I personally don't beleive in 'paying money' as a reward. I won a prize (a book of my choosing) at my school when I left for 'putting the most into school life and getting the most out of school' - this was, I think, a good reward. Just having the school recognise the effort i had put in during my final years. Cllr Alex Kerr    Is it a good job being a councillor ? Do you get lots of money and are you famous? Our Answer: Like most jobs sometimes its wonderful, sometimes its hard and frustrating. When you have success solving a problem for an individual, or when you get something done for a community it is very rewarding.And when people thank you of course it makes you feel good! However quite often you can't get things done or the system moves very slowly in helping resolve an issue.Then you feel frustrated. For me one of the good things about the job is the opportunity it gives you to meet lots of different people from all walks of life and sometimes to have the opportunity to visit and understand places you wouldn't probably have gone to if you weren't a councillor. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North It isn't really a "job" being a councillor. Councillors do get paid an allowance to cover the time they spend on Council duties, but it usually is much less than they would be paid for working the same hours in a normal job. Councillors typically have to fit their council work around all the other things they do in their lives including earning a living. If you don't have the commitment to spend a lot of unpaid time trying to make things better in your community, then being a councillor is not a "good job" . On the other hand it can be very rewarding to succeed in helping your constituents through problems and having an influence on how we run our schools, social services etc. I think you will find that most councillors like what they do (most of the time). Cllr Les Cassie Basically the answer is Yes, it is a good job - but just like anyone else, there are good days and not so good days! Cllr Alex Kerr Being a Councillor is a tremendous privilege. I represent my home town of Amble and it is an honour to have been elected to serve as a Councillor. It feels good to have been asked to do such an important job by local people and to think they believe I work well for them. I have been able to do so many things over the 24 years I have served as a Councillor; I am proud of the work I have done to help schools, to create Amble Development Trust, and to see new projects like the Town Square and the refurbished pier become a reality. I like people and the part of the job I like best is helping people with their problems - probably hundreds of people now. I can still remember the very first people who asked me for help and how I felt when I went to see them. Of course this can be a difficut job too; money is often tight and sometimes really difficult choices have to be made. Sometimes it can feel tough. But most of the time I feel happy and proud to be doing this job. Thank you for your question. Robert Arckless    Do you think it would be better being at school these days, instead of when you went to school? What do you think would be better and worse about it? Our Answer: As I no longer have children in school this is difficult to judge. From what I read and hear,bullying is much worse. The pressure of continual tests on young children seems hard. However in my day at Secondary school we had end of term exams twice a year and were ranked in order in our class at the end of them. It wasn't much fun coming bottom.So I suspect it is not much better or worse just different, but two things that are better I think almost everywhere are no outside toilets and warm classrooms. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North Schools are much better now than they were when I was there in the 60's. At that time we still had an exam at age 11 which determined which kind of school you went to. Only about a quarter of children could go to the top schools, while all the rest went to schools which were poorly funded and gave only the most basic education. Only 5% of children went on from school to higher education . Nowadays all children have the opportunity to do well in a decent school and nearly half go on the further study after school. School buildings and facilities for sports, sciences and languages are also much better now. The only thing which I think has got worse is discipline in the classroom. Too often, one or two individuals are allowed to disrupt the education of a whole class with not enough being done about it. I'm not a teacher though so I don't have any easy answer to that problem Cllr Les Cassie I enjoyed school. I studied and played sport and made good friends that I still have today. For virtually all my school years, we were tested weekly with the results being put up in the classroom, exams each year (external and internal). So not too much has changed! Cllr Alex Kerr.    I watched the big brother thing on the internet yesterday and was wondering why there are no young people who are councillors ? Our Answer: On Big Brother, Thank you for your question. I first got involved in an election when I was 15 years old and was first elected a Councillor when I was 25. I know from experience that it can be a challenge for young people to be Councillors and deal with everything else in life; this is particularly true if you are studying or have a new job, it can cause pressures to family life, it can mean that it is difficult to have a social life, and if you are not careful Council duties can take over. I want to see more young people involved, which is why I am keen to support Local Democracy Week and why I took part in Big Brother. I may not be young any more, but I hope I am not too old to understand what it is like to be young. Young people are our future and we need to get them involved if our democracy is to flourish. We need to look at the way things are done so that young people feel encouraged to get involved and try new ways of keeping in touch. Cllr Robert Arckless Until recently you had to be 21 to stand for election. The job, particularly if you are a member of the executive running the council day to day, can be very time consuming . Also the council offices are a very long distance from where some councillors live. I live in Berwick and it is 50 miles each way to County Hall. If young people are studying or trying to get on in their jobs it it difficult to find the time necessary to do the job well. When I was young young people were more interested in politics and more joined political parties. However in this year's district council elections, two young men one in Rothbury aged 19 and one in Berwick aged 22 were elected. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North There are no young councillors simply because, to date, very few young people take any active interest in local government. It takes work and commitment to be a councillor and to put something back into the local community. All three political parties try to encourage young people to take part and to stand as candidates for election, but typically students and young working people are not willing to devote the time needed. It certainly isn't because the system tries to exclude younger people. Cllr Les Cassie As the first one voted off - I wonder why younger councillors weren't there. Perhaps it was because they were at work, or perhaps it was because this was the first time that we had done Councillor Big Brother and some people are wary and reticent to particpate in the 'unknown'. What age do you think a Councillor needs to be to be young? There aren't many Councillors younger than 40 - why not? Not enough understand what the job is - and many are reluctant to ask for the time off work to do it. Cllr Alex Kerr    The dinners at my school are way too expensive, I like them but my mates wont eat the new food. Can we have some cheaper better food please? Our Answer: Personally I would like to see cheaper or free good meals for children in school.What you eat when you are young and growing will effect you for the rest of your life.However many people do not agree with me and do not want their taxes spent on this area. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North I can't comment on the quality of the food at your particular school, but I can tell you that it is one of the council's priorities is to provide healthy food in all schools. Of course some people don't like healthy food, but the risks of major health problems in later life, particularly from obesity, are so great we feel it is right that schools give a lead. The price charged is directly related to the cost of the ingredients and of the costs of staffing and kitchens. The council tries to get good value for money in its catering arrangements and the meal prices are a result of these efforts. The price is much lower than for similar food in a cafe. Cllr Les Cassie Nobody can please everyone all of the time - my food likes and dislikes will not match yours - nor would they even if i was still your age! So the real question is how much would you like to pay? Could you or your parents provide a meal you like - including the cost of cooking or buying it?Has anyone at school spoken to the catering staff about it? Perhaps your school council could lead on this? - we could arrange for some Councillors to meet them and talk about it. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange this. Cllr Alex Kerr    Are there any places in Northumberland that terrorists might attack and how do we stop them? Our Answer: There are a number of places that could be special targets for terrorists --- the water supply and Army/ Air force bases to name but some. Anywhere where people gather regularly, schools are all potential targets. The County Council, the Police, Fire & Rescue, Ambulance and Health Service groups work together to plan for several emergency situations including terrorist attacks –In general the advice is to be observant regarding packages left in public places and of persons acting strangely. It is always best to call 999 or 101 to inform the Services and have them evaluate the situation. Cllr Alex Kerr The attack on Glasgow airport back in June shows that it is possible for a terrorist attack to take place almost anywhere. Northumberland is not immune to this threat: in fact we might be considered an "easy" target. The only way to combat such a threat is to be vigilant, to be aware that there is a risk and to respond to any possible threat. Councils, the police, the fire and rescue service, the NHS and a range of other organisations need to work together to plan for such risks - hopefully this means that the threat will be reduced. There is such planning, but for obvious reasons the details are not made public. We also need to consider why it is that some people get involved in terrorism and perhaps change things so that this threat is reduced in all our communities - we need to change attitudes. Cllr Robert Arckless    I keep hearing about global warming on the news. Can you tell me how it will cause us problems in Northumberland and what we are doing to stop places on the coastline from flooding. Our Answer: Global warming will have more effect than flooding and rising sea levels.I think that coastal protection is continually under consideration ,but the money allocated by government from taxes is always less than asked for. Councillors who are members of the executive might be able to give a fuller answer. Diana Beith County Councillor Berwick North Global warming looks like it's real and will affect our climate significantly over the next 50-100years. In Northumberland the main effect on property and people is likely to be caused by extreme weather events, which have not been typical of this part of the world. This could be either significant warming, affecting farming and land use or, paradoxically, significant cooling if the Gulf Stream is affected by melting Arctic ice and so is diverted away from the British Isles. Some are predicting drier spells of weather and more violent storms, however, no one can really know the details and we will all have to adapt to cope. The biggest flooding risk in the county is from rivers being unable to cope with exceptionally heavy localised rainfall. There is not a greatly increased risk of coastal flooding from sea level rise, as most of our coastal land is high enough, apart from the immediate areas around river estuaries, for example in Blyth and Berwick. The Environment Agency, a national body, is responsible for flood defences and they are working on plans to improve flood defences where needed, but as always there is not enough money to go around, so priority schemes will get funded first. I am particularly concerned at the risk of river flooding in the centre of Morpeth. The Environment Agency tell us that they might be able to begin work in 2010. I am concerned that this may be further delayed. Cllr Les Cassie Three years ago there was considerable flooding in the Tyne Valley - Corbridge and Tynedale Rugby Club badly flooded but the Environment Agency have spent several millions of pounds improving and enlarging the flood barriers. It isn't just the coast line that global warming is or will affect but all the areas around our rivers. Our climate is changing - but it has done so over decades - in the 1960's talk was of the next ice age! We do need to be aware of climate change but also have to be practical in our responses - cars, factories, ways of working - our needs have to be balanced against these environmental changes. Cllr Alex Kerr