At tonight's full council meeting the Tory group of councillors spoke against a labour group motion seeking action against pay day lenders. (See below)

Subject: Full council tonight - the conservative group support pay day lenders At tonight's full council meeting the Tory group of councillors spoke against a labour group motion seeking action against pay day lenders. (See below) It came as a surprise that the conservative group suggested that the motion was denying people's rights to make their own decision, that it was a breach of their human rights. They stood by their views that pay day loans were useful and could help people, even despite the acknowledgement of the very high interest rates. The labour group presented examples of where individuals had encountered severe financial situations and the views of a number of voluntary and church organisations on how cruel this benefit reduction was impacting our most vulnerable members of the community. The motion was passed via a named vote supported by labour and liberal councillors. "The rising cost of living and falling income is causing genuine problems for people with their finances. Among those who borrow from high cost credit companies on average borrow around £326 per month. The interest paid on this money is punishing; many are unable to make the repayments. This Council invites Cabinet to block access to Payday loan websites through the public PC's in libraries and other Council buildings across North Tyneside and from its employees' computers unless and until the industry, including its advertising practices, is effectively controlled. This Authority pledges to investigate the use of planning law to regulate the growth and spread of Payday loan companies and pay weekly furniture providers who force maintenance and insurance agreements on customers, on our high streets. This action should be taken to enable the Authority to protect people from taking out high interest loans from companies that fail to check that they can repay the loan, often leading to them becoming trapped in a spiral of debt. This Council is committed to strongly support recognised Credit Unions within our Area as a sustainable alternative to high cost, short term credit. We also call on the Government to legislate and effectively regulate Payday lenders and protect our communities from the growth in easy debt to bring closure on austerity as early as possible".

Wallsend ward councillor Gary madden has raised concerns on behalf of his constituents, about the announcement for the possible closure of Wallsend fire station by Tyne and Wear fire authority. He has spoken to the elected mayor norma redfearn, and has been given assurances that there will be a full and open engagement process, before the fire authority make their decision. Councillor Madden

Wallsend ward councillor Gary mmdden has raised concerns on behalf of his constituents, about the announcement for the possible closure of Wallsend fire station by Tyne and Wear fire authority. He has spoken to the elected mayor Norma Redfearn, and has been given assurances that there will be a full and open engagement process, before the fire authority make their decision. Councillor Madden said, " I will be working hard to engage with residents and businesses to seek out their opinions, in particular to the impact assessments around a vibrant north bank of the Tyne full of engineering activity. The Wallsend area has always had a fire station as a consequence of the high number of homes and the vast array of industrial companies in the area. It is also important for inward investors to know they have essential public services nearby to mitigate potential business risks. I hope that the consultation period enables the views and opinions to be seriously considered before a decision is finally required and I know that this is a vital public interest matter that needs to demonstrate openness and honesty throughout the whole process"

These comments from The Conservative Leader are not designed to be helpful, they are designed to be political and it is a shame that they do this on such an important matter that has very little to do with politics, but has a lot to do with planning for the future of our children and their children so they have landscape that meets their needs and aspirations.

The situation is that an All Party task group undertook work on the compilation of a draft plan that would go out for consultation to everyone and allow them an opportunity to make comment, opinions and observations. The principles were agreed by the Task Group, who had members from all parties involved, that we should do the consultation in an open and honest way so that there were no preconditions or hidden agenda items. We have deliberately included a high number of housing development sites, with the knowledge that the consultation will bring about changes. It also acknowledges that we are seeking mitigation plans to include neighbouring Authorities that could greatly reduce the numbers of houses required as a result of the current Government’s National Planning Policy Framework increasing the numbers. We have collated all the existing work including the Area Action Plans, which has been undertaken over the last 18 months, much of which was managed by the previous Cabinet. I believe that the document should be seen as a consultation document and not as a political document. The legislation commits Local Authorities to engage with residents, businesses, visitors and neighbours. The Task Group have met with Northumberland County Council, The North East Chamber of Commerce, Northumbria Water and the Northern Gas Utilities. All of which praised the Council for engaging them at such an early stage of the process, and they have agreed to continue working together throughout the consultation and final drafting of the Local Plan. As for the comments from the Conservative Group ? I would like to point out that the Labour Mayor has not played a part in the formulation of the consultation drafting and neither has the Cabinet, it has been done by members from all the political groups and is therefore a joint report that was presented to council last Thursday. The report will go to the Cabinet meeting in October now that Council approved it, and hopefully then it will go out to the wider audience to hear what they want to say. The Conservative Leader and her colleagues who opposed the plan going out for public engagement only represent one sixth of the Council Elected Members. They now have subsequently reverted to scare stories and accusations that bear no resemblance to what is included within the Draft or for what the Consultation is required to do by Legislation. They refer to numbers as though it was already agreed and the report clearly explains that the numbers currently reflect what the Government has told Local Authorities what the expectations are for them. We have worked hard already to reduce the numbers from the Government Target of just under 18,000 to get it down to between 12,000 and 10,500 homes. We indicate that we are working hard to reduce those numbers even further by working more closely with our neighbouring Authorities and there is a confidence that we will bring the numbers down. So in simple terms we have included land that has been designated as potential development land throughout the life of the current Unitary Development Plane that was agreed around 2003. But we do not expect to have to use all that land if we work in a positive way moving forward. These comments from The Conservative Leader are not designed to be helpful, they are designed to be political and it is a shame that they do this on such an important matter that has very little to do with politics, but has a lot to do with planning for the future of our children and their children so they have landscape that meets their needs and aspirations.

Members of North Tyneside Labour Party successfully completed the “Memory Walk” of 10 Km to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society. The members were Joanne Cassidy and Councillors Linda Darke, John Harrison and Jim Allan. They walked alongside over 600 people who had entered the walk to raise vital funds for an important issues that affects so many people in a cruel and enduring period of time.

Members of North Tyneside Labour Party successfully completed the “Memory Walk” of 10 Km to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society. The members were Joanne Cassidy and Councillors Linda Darke, John Harrison and Jim Allan. They walked alongside over 600 people who had entered the walk to raise vital funds for an important issues that affects so many people in a cruel and enduring period of time. All four have had a link to people who have had suffered with the disease and wanted to help raise public awareness and support to help find a cure for an illness that can be emotionally draining on the family and friends of their loved ones enduring the disease. They hope to raise over £400 between them. Rob Stewart, media officer for the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “The turn-out has been really overwhelming, it just shows how much passion there is amongst people in the North East to tackle the stigma that’s attached to dementia and to raise funds so that one day we might find a cure for the disease.”

WEETSLADE WARD LABOUR PARTY SELECT A NEW CANDIDATE FOR NEXT YEAR’s COUNCIL ELECTION Weetslade Labour Party has selected Joanne Cassidy

WEETSLADE WARD LABOUR PARTY SELECT A NEW CANDIDATE FOR NEXT YEAR’s COUNCIL ELECTION Weetslade Labour Party has selected Joanne Cassidy as their candidate for the local Council Elections in May next year, to replace Councillor Alex Cowie who is retiring through ill health. Alex said ' I am disappointed not to be standing for election again, but Joanne was born and raised in the ward and as a young mum who works part time she knows how important Council services like Education and childcare are to families. North Tyneside Council needs a wide range of people to represent their communities. Joanne is in touch with today's generation and will bring first hand skills and up to date experience to benefit local people, I will be helping her in the campaigning ahead and know she will do Weetslade proud'.

** NOTES FOR EDITORS North Tyneside Labour Party are selecting their candidates for the twenty electoral wards in the Borough for next year’s elections. The work is nearing completion and more information will be sent out on the other successful candidates. The Selection procedures in the Party are democratic and individual members of the respective wards decide who they want as their candidate. Photo attached of Joanne Cassidy

There are a couple of points to add – did councillor Wallace explain that the previous Conservative Administration actually authorised seeking Legal Advice on this matter and it cost around £5,000. (this can be substantiated and proved)

Cllr Judith Wallace has accused the Labour group of 'political grandstanding' and wasting tax payers' cash for trying to push for a judicial review over the schools merger. Cash in that money was spent on legal advice. There are a couple of points to add – did councillor Wallace explain that the previous Conservative Administration actually authorised seeking Legal Advice on this matter and it cost around £5,000. (this can be substantiated and proved) The previous Conservative Executive agreed the current course of action back in the Autumn of last year, in agreement with all three Political groups and it was done so on the understanding that the matter was one of Education in North Tyneside and the impact of the academy on the current education provision. Cllr Wallace was part of that agreement in her role as Deputy Mayor and as Leader of the Tory Group of Councillors. The fact that there has been a change of political administration has not changed the position adopted by all three groups. The politics of the situation has now been invoked by the Tory Opposition and others, not by the Labour and Liberal Groups. The matter is a one of educational significance and impact on existing schools immediately the school term starts in September. This is a matter that Cllr Wallace will have to face in Wards along the Coast as residents learn that the sustainability of education in its current form will have to be addressed as a direct consequence of the imposition of the Academy. The fact that the impact is immediate and has meant that the council have no other options but to act straight away to implement a review of school provision as soon as possible. If the academy proposals had been undertaken over a longer period of time, then any reviews would have gone through a more sensible process and mitigation plans would have been considered on merit. The fact is the Academy and the DFE have avoided to engage in a meaningful way with the Local Authority and have dismissed the impacts on other schools. In fact even Northumberland County Council have schools that objected to the proposals because of a similar impact. If Cllr Wallace actually considered her position before making weak political points, she would have realised a fundamental political mistake in the reaction of parents of pupils in the other schools who will no doubt not appreciate the stance taken by the Conservative Group *** Please note - that 900 new places are actually nearly 3% of the school community and that is equivalent to 30 classes of 30 pupils in each class, so would it be better to use numbers rather than percentages to demonstrate the immediate change in the surplus places?

The only thing Linda Arkley hasn’t left is a note telling the Mayor ‘there is no money left. I’m shocked at what has happened during the past four years and we need to act quickly to stop the situation worsening’.

LABOUR’S DISMAY OVER NORTH TYNESIDE FINANCE LEGACY

‘The only thing missing was a note from the Tories saying ‘there is no money left’ – Jim Allan

Incoming Labour administration headed up by Elected Mayor Norma Redfearn have uncovered a series of costly decisions taken by former Tory Mayor Linda Arkley as they seek to unpick the Tory legacy of excessive debt, missed opportunities and botched decisions.

Labour are pointing to a huge jump in the council borrowing from £233.901m when Linda Arkley took over from Labour in 2009 to £524.246m when she left office in May.

During the election Labour had warned residents over the excessive borrowing under the Tories and it’s now clear that this was the tip of a very large financial iceberg.

For example, this year budget which was controversially set by Arkley in April against the wishes of the majority Labour group and the Liberal Democrats, contains £21m deficit including £12m in the Tory ‘Change, Efficiency and Improvement’ programme and a further £9m in capital financing.

They have also identified a dramatic fall in the council’s strategic reserve and balances fund from £29.604m (when Labour left office in 2009) to £13.749m as it presently stands.

Labour group leader Jim Allan said

‘The council’s finances are in a perilous state and the Tories have turned a golden economic legacy left to them in 2009 into a set of figures which show the true extent of the council’s problems. Borrowing has doubled, council reserves have shrunk by over 55% and we’ve inherited a ‘Change’ programme which doesn’t reflect reality never mind prudent economics. The only thing Linda Arkley hasn’t left is a note telling the Mayor ‘there is no money left. I’m shocked at what has happened during the past four years and we need to act quickly to stop the situation worsening’.

End