Latest News and Views

The Willows
August 2009

The Willows in Widdrington Station is a disgrace, and I want your views about it. The more people who complain, the more likely it is that my campaign will succeed - email or write to me now!

Widdrington Station Surgery

I have been asked by campaigners to join their fight against the decision to allow the opening of a new pharmacy in Widdrington Station. Any such new facility is unwelcome, because the impact on the village's surgery, which has its own dispensary, would be massive.

Unfortunately, health chiefs at the local Care Trust did not agree with local people and their decision to allow the new pharmacy was recently upheld at a hearing in Harrogate.

I have uncovered that the Care Trust and NHS Litigation Authority spent nearly £35,000 of taxpayer's money on determining the application, made by a private company.

Frankly, this is outrageous. However, the fight must go on, in order to safeguard such an important local amenity.

On 28 February 2009, I attended the grand-opening of the new playground facilities at Ulgham. The Mayor of Castle Morpeth, Cllr Irene Brumwell, formally opened the updated site, and thanked local people for their efforts, before getting on the swings to try the equipment out for herself!

Local people had formed a playground committee (lead by Dawn Goodwill-Evans) and set about the daunting task of raising the £30,000 + needed. With donations from UK Coal and Castle Morpeth Borough Council, they were well on the way, when I managed to assist with a contribution of £5,000 from my local improvement scheme. This allowed work to start, and the new equipment has already had a big impact in the village.

I am pleased to confirm that I will be seeking funding of £1,000 to pay towards the installation of two new street lights at Grange Court, Widdrington Station.

The Parish Council have chosen to fund the remaining costs after a number of requests from local residents for better lighting. My thanks go to Parish Councillor Joe Sennett for meeting with Officers to discuss the lighting needs and the associated costs.

Castle Morpeth Borough Council has now published its response to the Post Office's consultation on post office closures in the area. It is an excellent document, and officers are to be commended for putting it together so quickly, without compromising on detail and content.

If you would like to read the response, please see the above link. Alternatively, visit www.castlemorpeth.gov.uk

Today, I have launched an initiative to encourage Parish Councils in the Ulgham Division to seek out and (where possible) register land within their Parishes as village green, and thereby protecting the land from future development.

I am a member of the County's Rights of Way and Village Greens Committee, and I am keen to see a proactive approach to applications for registration.

All too often, applications to register land as village green are in reaction to the submission of a planning application for development. This only serves to aggrevate landowners, who may have spent thousands of pounds in order to put together an application, and often means a rushed application for village green status in order to meet strict planning deadlines.

For the benefit of both landowners and local people, I am putting together a "terrier" of land within the Division registered as village green. Landowners and locals will know from the outset what can, and cannot, be developed. The Parish Councils will then be asked to check the terrier for their parishes, in order to identify land that is thought to be village green, but is not registered as such.

Any land identified as potential village green may then be the subject of an application to the County Council for legal village green status.

I am pleased to announce that the interactive speed sign poles are now being put in place, and the interactive speed sign should be in use shortly. This is a great development for the villages of Ulgham division, and could lead to a sign in each village over the next couple of years, subject to Parish approvals.

The villages of Tranwell and Widdrington are also likely to (finally) get 30 mph zones put through the built up areas. The proposed speed limit areas are currently up for consulation, following pressure put on the highways department by myself and my Borough colleague, Cllr Michael Jeans.

Please let me have your views on these projects - afterall, I am here to represent you.

The Association of Public Health Observatories and the NHS have released the latest public health profile for Castle Morpeth.

Above is a downloadable version of the health profile results*. From these results, it is evident that areas in and around Widdrington Station and Stobswood suffer from lower than average public health and a higher than average level of deprivation.

I will be working hard, with other local respresentatives and agencies, to redress this unfair imbalance, by encouraging greater investment in public health initiatives, promoting ideas for the provision of leisure facilities and ensuring good local employment opportunities.

Castle Morpeth Borough Council has launched the latest Summer Days brochure. The brochure provides details of a number of activities for all the family, many of which can be enjoyed free of charge.

I have provided a downloadable pdf copy of the brochure on this website - please use the link at the top of this page.

Each County Councillor receives £15,000 per annum to spend on capital improvement schemes in their divisions.

This year, after consultation with local Parish Councillors, David has chosen to request financial assistance for the following:-

1. Works to improve disabled access to rooms inside Widdrington Station Community Centre

2. A grant to Ulgham Parish Council towards their efforts to raise funds for new playground equipment for the Village

3. A grant to Mitford Parish Council towards their efforts to raise funds for the renovation of Mitford Community Centre

4. A grant to Hepscott Parish Council towards their efforts to raise funds for the provision of disabled toilet facilities at Hepscott Parish Hall

5. Funding towards the creation of safe off-road parking at Holy Trinity Church, Widdrington Village

The outcome of the various requests will not be known for some time, and progress will be reported on this site.

Ulgham County Councillor, David J. Towns, is pleased to announce that work on a scheme to provide an interactive speed warning sign for use in the villages of Mitford, Hepscott, Hebron, Ulgham and Widdrington is about to get under way.

The scheme, which will involve the citing of fixed postsin the villages and the use of a shared sign on a six-weekly rotation basis, was proposed before the May 2008 elections. However, in one of his first moves as the new County Councillor, David discussed the proposals with Council Officers and an agreement to continue with the scheme was reached.

"At first, the sign will be shared between the villages, with Hebron funding its own permanent sign," said David. "However, if the sign proves effective in cutting incidents of speeding through the villages then I would be more than happy to propose the provision of permanent signs where these are shown to be most effective."

Similar signs have recently been installed on the A197 into Morpeth town centre and have received a good reaction.

"Whilst the signs are intended to reduce incidents of speeding, they do this by reminding drivers of the relevant speed limit applicable to that particular road," said David. "They are a both a pedestrian and a driver-friendly tool, as they do not seek to punish drivers and people cannot complain that they are simply being used for revenue raising".