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Thank you to all who voted for a Liberal Democrat Team in the County elections. Unfortunately however, we have a heavily dominated Tory County Council elected  here in Staffordshire. It is never  healthy decision making when one party has a huge majority. It is very tempting for them to ignore debate from other groups, and rarely do they amend good proposals by other parties.

Local Plan for Newcastle 2021-24.

The Council have decided to submit a Borough wide plan for Newcastle, led by the Conservatives. This is a major piece of work and includes sites we want to build on for housing or industry and how we address the transport mechanism associated with development and our vision for developing business opportunities. £ 550,000 will be needed extra to ‘go it alone’ rather than with Stoke. Another minus sign is we obviously will not have the opportunity to use brownfield sites in Stoke so more land to build will have to come from within the Borough. The plus side is that we will be steering what we want for this Borough and progress with a joint plan with Stoke was painfully slow. Many are divided about what should have happened, I personally see the benefits to steering our own borough, but it does come at a cost. In 2018 the Liberal Democrats locally put forward our own comments, little happened to them but they can be viewed on the web. If you want to see more please visit the planning policy pages on the web under current development plan page. A public consultation takes place in Sept. The plan needs to be accepted by government  by 2024.

Good News

We are delighted that at last a long time investment by the government is coming our way. Not before time, Liberal Democrats have long fought for improvements to town centre. £23.6M has been awarded to Newcastle, £16.9M to Kidsgrove and a further £11M for Newcastle Future High Street fund. Some of the projects which will benefit from this money include Kidsgrove Sports Centre renovation which is now well underway and they hope to open by June 2022. Kidsgrove station is to have its long awaited lift, a hugh milestone if you are carrying suitcases and/ or children, or if you are  physically disabled.

Other projects in Newcastle include efficient LED lighting for 40 stalls on THE STONES market , Lib Dems are very supportive of plans to redesign the market.

A unit in the Lancaster building has been refurbished to house a new community/employment  skills hub. I look forward to this opening soon.

The old civic offices will be demolished from early August, taking 44 weeks to complete. Plans are in place to restart the development of the whole of the Ryecroft site and Merrial Street, with links to the Ironmarket and High Street. Traders in Ashley way are being consulted to see where they will be relocated to. A new car park is envisaged in Merrial street and the Midway car park will be demolished. The days of department stores in the centre of Newcastle are long gone but I am excited to see the centre of town being revamped and coming alive again. Please look out for the Artisan market which is growing in size and very popular It is good to see Zanibars site being built on again, this is an important gateway site to town, similarly we wait with eager anticipation to see how Aspire housing develop the Ashfields site.

We are asking major questions about the Councils plan to deal with Climate change and Pollution. Liberal Democrats have lead the agenda on Climate change notionally and locally. The Tory Government appear to be slow to act and there is little progress being made locally. We need to understand more about where the emissions are coming from and make radical changes, in order to reduce to zero emissions. When will we get a better transport links and buses and cars being run by electricity?

4489 trees need attention within the Borough and 80 woodland sites need maintaining properly and trees pruned. This is in addition to trees which are in the ownership of County Highways. Money is not there to do this work and so Parish Councils and individuals are being asked to contribute to the cost! Government cuts to local authorities are now showing their effect visibly as well as affecting the quality of life. We as Liberal Democrats want to maintain our trees, environmental issues are high on our priority list, however we think it is wrong that individuals are being asked to pay for work which should be done by councils and have said so.

Walleys Quarry: The Environment Agency say conditions are improving and they have increased their monitoring of the site. Walleys Quarry Ltd say they are working within the guidelines. We say it is not enough because the stink remains just as annoying. Local LDs join in the protest campaign and we will continue to work hard on this important issue; we see little progress on reducing the smell and conditions are still unacceptable. Play your part by reporting the smell – tel  0800 807060 or e-mail ics@environment-agency.gov.uk 

Covid-19: The vaccination programme has gone well, however we need to continue to be vigilant. WARD LEVEL DATA is updated weekly on https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-workareas/covid-19-vaccination/, have a look at it. If you find yourself having to self isolate and are struggling please contact staffordshirecares@staffordshire.gov.uk tel 03001118050 for help or ring the council on 717717. Liberal Democrat Hilary Jones is also willing to help, email her on HilaryAJONES@outlook .com, tel 632895

Marion Reddish (tel 613265).

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I am so pleased I have now had my second vaccination, but I remain frustrated with this Government’s handling of the pandemic. In the first wave, the social care sector suffered from government mistakes, hospitals only coped by stopping non-covid treatments, we went 2 weeks late into lockdown and people continued to enter via Heathrow in thousands each day.  Everyone was feeling their way at that stage, but in June, when the Liberal Democrat leader called for a speedy inquiry to learn from that, Boris refused.  Then in the Autumn, when experts warned of a second bigger wave, government were still deceiving us  by talk of concern when they most wanted to revive the economy.  Now we have confirmation of an exceptionally high England death rate of 1901 per million people, compared to Germany’s death rate of 97 per million, higher than most developed countries, higher even than Brazil.  This is according to the recent John Hopkins University world-wide report on 21 April.

Over half of our deaths came from November onwards, showing clearly the huge mistake government made. If we had gone into lockdown more severely and sooner before Christmas we would almost certainly have had less deaths (as we should have learned from the first wave) and emerged sooner from lockdown.

But is that the end of the matter ? Far from it. We have continued to allow even tourists to come into the country in their thousands every day.  On 24^th March the Indian authorities warned of a surge of a new variant and cases here began to emerge. We still continued to allow tourists from India to enter our country freely. Boris got elected on a promise to stand up for our nation, but now his claim that we had very strong curbs on people coming here from India was yet another deception.  His complacency is unforgivable.  Restrictions on people from India start on 23 April, that is 30 days after the warning.

He has learned nothing from the mistakes made last year and it is costing us dearly.

Nigel Jones

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The quarry actually sits in the Thistleberry ward, contrary to what you will have heard in the media.

Planning Permission for the quarry to operate was given in 1996, despite opposition from my Liberal Democrat predecessors in Thistleberry.  Permission was finally granted by the Secretary of State following refusal at local level. As part of that permission a condition was put in place that the quarry operators had to set up a liason committee to enable stakeholders to raise concerns. This committee has met for over 20 years now and we as the Liberal Democrat ward members have been active within that group which meets at least 4 times a year, throughout that period. At the start it was a productive committee and issues raised were thoroughly discussed and mediation took place, but latterly due to a change of operator at the quarry, useful discussions have broken down and Red Industries refuse to admit it is the quarry which emits the odour. It is hard to believe that the smell can be coming from anywhere else. The Environment Agency officers, Environmental Health team, Police, Highways Team and residents are all present at this forum.

So what happens next?

Regular meetings with management take place on site, raising your concerns, pressure is put on to get Red Industries to co operate better.

A report is about to be published at the end of March by the Council EH department following a member scrutiny committee which looked at all concerns independently, I sat on that panel. Recommendations are in that report about what we to improve. Odour is the major concern, but we are also looking at the route of travel, mud on the road, litter caused by the landfill site, excessive parking of lorries in the layby used by visitors to the cemetery and how we can prevent gulls becoming a nuisance to nearby residents. In that report we are saying very clearly that we think operations should be suspended until all mitigation measures are addressed, better care needs to be taken with regard to netting on site. We are asking for better monitoring of the site, particularly by the EA who have been slow to respond to complaints but are now more proactive following pressure from the public and agencies.

We are working with our MP who has now successfully managed to lobby colleagues for support in erasing the problem. That has only happened due to pressure over a number of years by faithful campaigners who have continually put the pressure. Much of my time has been taken up supporting them, time well spent.

I am disappointed that this has now become an election issue and folk are joining in on the band waggon, many of whom have been silent for years. Pity those people have not been active before, but I suppose we must be grateful they are joining us now, and I hope they continue to shout post County elections! I am supporting a motion put forward by the Labour Party to have an extraordinary full council meeting in order to debate the subject further. I am always disappointed that I cannot put forward a motion myself, but two Liberal Democrat councillors cannot get the necessary signatures to enable that to happen and opposition parties are reluctant to cooperate and so put in their own motions under their party brand.

MORE COUNCILLORS ARE REQUIRED so we can make our own mark. Do your best to support candidates in what ever way you can.

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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021- 2026.Budget Savings. ONE COUNCIL. Tory Cabinet have now endorsed this strategy, introducing yet more budget savings. The Full Council will approve or not the budget on 24^th Feb. My concern is we are cutting services so much, can we continue to be efficient.

Kidsgrove Town Deal investment plan has now been submitted to the government in a bid for £25m to improve health and wellbeing, and regenerate the town centre. Kidsgrove welcomes this and I am very pleased to endorse it. A video showcasing the schemes can be viewed at hhps://youthtu.be/Kfw635lijlo (Liberal Democrats have a long history of being involved in the interests of Kidsgrove).

The Council have secured two short term contracts for temporary accommodation with Open door  to support the homeless during this cold period. More work needs to be done to address the needs and problems across the Borough with regard to rough sleepers.  Some we assume to be homeless in fact do have accommodation or have been offered accommodation but for reasons of their own decline to use it.

Jubilee 2. Morgan Sindell are now resolving the ongoing building defects at  J2 with regard to the leaking roof and leaks in the sauna and swimming pool area. The Council are not responsible for the bill.

Proposed Resident Funeral service. The Council have approved a residents funeral service which will include more affordable options for both cremations and burials. We recognise the potential hardship some families experience at a very stressful time.

North Staffs Local Air Quality Plan . A plan has been submitted to government including the preferred option for delivering compliance with statutory limits on roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations in the affected areas in the shortest time. Basford bank and Barracks road are two areas of particular concern. The Council are requesting a consideration of an exemption for electric and ultra low emission vehicles from the proposed bus gate restriction on Basford bank.

Knutton masterplan has gone out for public consultation.  Joint piece of work between the Council, Aspire and Staffs County Council. The aim is to  outline opportunities for new housing investment and improvements in the quality of community facilities.

Proposed extension to Newcastle crematorium grounds and development of land in the Chatterley close area. A controversial proposal which is out to consultation. We await findings before any final decision is made.

Brampton Museum Redevelopment Project. A contractor has been approved  for the redevelopment  project. Work includes the creation of a new dedicated temporary exhibition space, reconfiguration of rooms to expend the capacity of the archives and the creation of a dedicated research area and improvements to the ground floor galleries to better showcase collections and engage visitors of all ages.

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As we emerge from this pandemic with a depressed local economy, planning for the future will be even more important than normal.  The Sentinel reports that Stoke City Council will face extra costs over £200,000 due to Newcastle Borough Council pulling out of the joint local plan. I must inform readers that the additional cost to the smaller group of Newcastle Borough residents will be £550,000. That is in the official report that went to council cabinet on 13^th January. On top of that, the council paid Lichfields Planning Consultancy to advise them on the decision.

People need also to know that as a result of this decision, Newcastle will now need to find additional land to build on, as stated in their official report.  Government requires us to build 355 dwellings per year, while our latest average is only 303. We are behind Stoke in providing for the needs of North Staffordshire. It would have been better to have a Joint Spacial Strategy across the whole of North Staffordshire, as we had until 2012, but then allow the Borough to decide for itself the full details of which sites and what, to build on.  In 2011/12 the coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives started a plan to allocate sites and revise the joint spacial strategy.  It is a shame that subsequent council parties refused to carry that forward and that is one reason why for so long we have been at the mercy of developers because we have no plan.

Rules state that the council has a duty to cooperate with neighbouring authorities; they should therefore consult across the whole of North Staffordshire which is sensible for economic development and quality of life. Will they now do that ?

Government has issued a deadline of 2023 to get a plan in place. The consultants’ report says that although the Borough stands a slightly better chance of meeting that deadline on its own, the programme will be “tight but achievable”. It also says that the Borough has a historic experience of not providing adequately for young people which means we need more affordable housing to rent. Our Conservative council has so far only considered affordable housing to buy, which cuts out  those on low incomes.

Issues around green spaces and infrastructure are also missing from the discussions. Newcastle should ensure that everyone lives within reasonable walking distance of open space. However, on Transport, Highways and drainage, we will need much cooperation not only across North Staffordshire but with the County Council. Current resources and legislation are very weak on this, but without it, we will not develop out of the economic hole we are in between Manchester and Birmingham.

Nigel Jones

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