Absent Friends? After refusing the people of Hartlepool a referendum on the issue before signing the town up to the new Tees Valley Combined Authority, it has now been revealed that Council Leader, Christopher Akers- Belcher, who is Hartlepool’s representative on the new Combined Authority, has failed to turn up at any of the authority’s monthly meetings beyond the first inaugural meeting in April. UKIP Membership Plummets 17% As Disaffected Tories Return Home House of Commons figures have revealed that membership of the UK Independence Party has fallen by 8,000 since reaching its peak in May 2015. At 39,000 in July this year, UKIP is now again the smallest UK political party with the Lib Dems next with almost twice as many members and the Green Party with 55,500. Only the Welsh Plaid Cymru party has fewer members. It’s believed that, post referendum, many former UKIP members have returned to the Conservative Party now under Theresa May’s leadership. Further evidence of the party’s decline came as result of the recent leadership contest. Less than half of the estimated 39,000 membership (46%) bothered to vote in the election of Diane James who secured 8,541 votes from a total of 17,970 votes cast. Commentators have suggested that many new members who joined in the pre-referendum fervour have decided not to renew their membership when it expires with the BREXIT result and Nigel Farage quitting the leadership being given as the main reasons. Hall Quits Labour After Declaring “I Cannot Cope with it More. Enough is Enough.” Read the Real Story  behind his quitting. The last of Stuart Drummond’s former labour Cabinet Members has quit Hartlepool Council’s labour Group and gone Independent. Long-serving Burn Valley Councillor, Ged Hall sent a letter to Chief Solicitor, Peter Devlin, last Thursday afternoon (8th September) informing him that he was resigning from the council’s Labour Group with immediate effect. Open Democracy Takes Another Hammering As Council Constitution Is Changed Yet Again To Place More Restrictions On Public Scrutiny More changes to Hartlepool Borough Council’s Constitution have been made which will impose further restrictions on the ability of the public and opposition councillors to question the actions of the ruling Tory/Labour Coalition. The time allocated for Public Questions has been reduced from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. In addition, the time allowed for councillors to put forward proposals leading to a vote has been reduced from 10 minutes to 5 with supporting speeches(seconders) reduced from 5 minutes to 3. Public questions have been moved from the early part of each meeting to the end with the maximum time for full council meetings reduced to two hours from the previous two and a half hours; a move which jointly makes public questions the most likely item to be guillotined because of the shorter finishing time. Meetings can be extended only by a majority vote which in effect means only at the behest of the ruling Tory/Labour Coalition. Restrictions on the ability of the public to ask questions began to be introduced soon after public questions exposed the false accounting practices at Manor Residents Association which was managed by a Labour Councillor and who is now facing prosecution. Trust Me, I’m A Property Developer 23rd November 2013 Conservative group leader and Property Developer Ray Martin-Wells said: “While £1.5m is a tremendous amount, I believe it represents good value for money and I understand that several developers have already offered the council a profit should we wish to quickly turn the building around.” The aim is to have identified an alternative use or to sell it on by December 2014. The Reality • It cost Hartlepool Council £1.5m, to buy Jacksons Landing • At the time of purchase, the estimated interest charges after the two year interest free loan period had expired, were £50,000 a year • The council allocated £80,000 for its demolition in May well before any vote was taken. • It has no developers or other parties interested in the site. • HBC now plans to use £122,250 from the Arts Council Museum Resilience Fund to pay for ‘architectural concept designs’ (artists impressions) even though it knows that any eventual developer will have their own plans. Last week, Hartlepool Council refused to provide assistance to disabled people who were struggling with access to North Tees Hospital because ‘it had no money’. How UKIP Wasted Its Dream Ticket in Hartlepool while, without Farage,  the Party Unravels and Becomes Just Another Battle of Egos - A bitter leadership contest following the departure of Nigel Farage is helping UKIP to ‘unravel’ according to its Welsh Chairman. Meanwhile the local party is left to reflect on how it wasted its dream ticket in last May’s local elections.

Hartlepool Council Releases More Artist’s Impressions

of Its ‘Visions’ While Stockton and Washington Get the

Jobs

Hartlepool Borough Council has released more artists impressions of what it hopes Church Street will look like in future at the same time that it has announced that it has commissioned Newcastle based architects to produce yet more drawings of the Jackson Landing area. The council has asked the architects to base their plans on a proposed mixed development of Hotel accommodation, Retail Units, Offices and Apartments. There are currently no businesses or developers interested in the Jacksons Landing site. The council hopes that by producing its own drawings of what it could look like, it may be able to attract more interest. Meanwhile, it’s been announced that Stockton-on- Tees will be the base of a new Government DWP facility to process Universal Credit claims with an initial 66 jobs being created by the end of September. Washington too is set to benefit from the creation of an additional 200 new jobs at its existing DWP Centre. Hartlepool is almost alone in the North East in having no Government jobs based within its town boundary. On the plus side, Stockton and Washington don’t have many visions.

Seaton Turbine Plans Thrown Out By Planning

Inspector After Being Found To Be Invalid

Plans to construct 3 of the tallest Wind Turbines in the UK to the South and West of Seaton Carew have been ruled invalid by the Planning Inspectorate. Inspector Richard Clegg, of The Planning Inspectorate, said a 10-day consultation period, from May 23 to June 1, 2014 which included a bank holiday, was not long enough and did not cover a wide enough area given the size of the turbines proposed. Consequently the applications are not valid and no further action on them will be taken by The Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State.” Seneca Global Energy, which has Directoral links with Niramax, was given planning permission by Hartlepool Borough Council Planning Committee last year to erect the 574ft high turbines which would have been higher than Blackpool Tower.

Hartlepool Mail Loses a Fifth of Its Sales in Just 12

months

New figures released show that Hartlepool’s Evening Newspaper, The Hartlepool Mail, has lost another 22.9% of its circulation in just 12 months. Sales now stand at an average of 5,735 copies per day which is down 45% since the 10,521 figure in August 2013

Town MP Iain Wright Moves Out of Labour Office and

is Facing De-selection Battle

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright has found himself in the middle of a de-selection battle with the local Constituency Labour Party after backing Labour leadership contended Own Smith against Jeremy Corbyn. He has now moved out of Labour’s constituency office in South Road and is conducting his constituency surgeries from a small office in the Civic centre

Cranney Moves In On Holiday Hunger Money

Hartlepool Councillor Kevin Cranney has used his OFCA Community group, which is run by a number of his relatives, to zero in on £3,000 of public money. The money is specifically targeted at children reliant on free school meals and who might otherwise go hungry during the summer holidays because of the extra financial pressure on hard-up parents but the farm is offering free packed lunches to anyone who turns up.

Demolition Cost of Jacksons Landing to Cost Twice

the Amount Revealed Publicly By Council

The demolition of Jacksons Landing will cost £80,000, twice the £40,000 amount revealed by HBC according to spending figures just published. The council is legally obliged to publish detail of all spending above £500 and the latest figures show the contract to demolish Jacksons Landing had already been awarded to A Buckler Haulage Ltd of Middlesbrough for £80,000 some time before the end of June - well before the controversial Regeneration meeting was held in July that supposedly gave the demolition plans the go-ahead. download

Rudderless, Plan-less and Brainless: Bullying

Cranney Bulldozes Through Jacksons Landing

Demolition

Hartlepool Council is bulldozing through a decision to demolish Jacksons landing in September just 3 years after spending £1.5m of taxpayer’s money to buy it.

Council Tax To Increase 17% By 2020

Council Tax in Hartlepool is set to increase 17% by 2020. The shock revelation comes after council officials detailed plans to increase council tax by the maximum level of 3.9% in each of next three years. The rise will see a Band D property rise from £1,756  to £2,107 per year. Hartlepool Borough Council already charges the 3rd highest council tax of any unitary authority in the country and the 9th of all local authorities.

Neglected and Rusting Wingfield Castle ‘Not Part of

Royal Navy Deal’

It’s been confirmed that the rusting Wingfield Castle paddle steamer is not part of the Royal Navy Museum deal. Responsibility for the maintenance and long- term future of the paddle steamer remains with Hartlepool Borough Council Labour Investigation Into Former Mayor Still ‘Ongoing’ After 18 Months Eighteen months after town M.P. Ian Wright called for an investigation into the behaviour of the then Ceremonial Mayor, Stephen Akers-Belcher it’s been revealed that the investigation is still ‘ongoing’.  

GOING HOME

Wright Forced Out of Constituency Office Over Safety Concerns The true reasons why town MP Iain Wright quit his South Road offices have now emerged. A Police Review of the safety of all MPs and their staff was undertaken after the murder of Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen. In Wright’s case, a copy of the report covering the safety arrangements for his own staff, as well as those for himself, was sent to both the MP and the Constituency Labour Party(CLP) together with recommendations for improvement. The Constituency Labour Party own the South Road building where Iain Wright has rented offices since first being elected. His offices were used for administration but also as the location for town surgery meetings with the MP. As Treasurer of the Constituency Labour party, Councillor Marjorie James was the Labour Party officer responsible for implementing any required changes. However, her own view was that the CLP should 'not spend a penny' implementing the police recommendations. As a result, Wright has been forced to vacate his offices because he felt he could not ignore the police recommendations or the safety of his employees in the same way. He now runs his MP surgeries from a small office within the Civic Centre

Absent Friends? After refusing the people of Hartlepool a referendum on the issue before signing the town up to the new Tees Valley Combined Authority, it has now been revealed that Council Leader, Christopher Akers-Belcher, who is Hartlepool’s representative on the new Combined Authority, has failed to turn up at any of the authority’s monthly meetings beyond the first inaugural meeting in April. UKIP Membership Plummets 17% As Disaffected Tories Return Home House of Commons figures have revealed that membership of the UK Independence Party has fallen by 8,000 since reaching its peak in May 2015. At 39,000 in July this year, UKIP is now again the smallest UK political party with the Lib Dems next with almost twice as many members and the Green Party with 55,500. Only the Welsh Plaid Cymru party has fewer members. It’s believed that, post referendum, many former UKIP members have returned to the Conservative Party now under Theresa May’s leadership. Further evidence of the party’s decline came as result of the recent leadership contest. Less than half of the estimated 39,000 membership (46%) bothered to vote in the election of Diane James who secured 8,541 votes from a total of 17,970 votes cast. Commentators have suggested that many new members who joined in the pre-referendum fervour have decided not to renew their membership when it expires with the BREXIT result and Nigel Farage quitting the leadership being given as the main reasons. Hall Quits Labour After Declaring “I Cannot Cope with it More. Enough is Enough.” Read the Real Story behind his quitting. The last of Stuart Drummond’s former labour Cabinet Members has quit Hartlepool Council’s labour Group and gone Independent. Long-serving Burn Valley Councillor, Ged Hall sent a letter to Chief Solicitor, Peter Devlin, last Thursday afternoon (8th September) informing him that he was resigning from the council’s Labour Group with immediate effect. Open Democracy Takes Another Hammering As Council Constitution Is Changed Yet Again To Place More Restrictions On Public Scrutiny More changes to Hartlepool Borough Council’s Constitution have been made which will impose further restrictions on the ability of the public and opposition councillors to question the actions of the ruling Tory/Labour Coalition. The time allocated for Public Questions has been reduced from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. In addition, the time allowed for councillors to put forward proposals leading to a vote has been reduced from 10 minutes to 5 with supporting speeches(seconders) reduced from 5 minutes to 3. Public questions have been moved from the early part of each meeting to the end with the maximum time for full council meetings reduced to two hours from the previous two and a half hours; a move which jointly makes public questions the most likely item to be guillotined because of the shorter finishing time. Meetings can be extended only by a majority vote which in effect means only at the behest of the ruling Tory/Labour Coalition. Restrictions on the ability of the public to ask questions began to be introduced soon after public questions exposed the false accounting practices at Manor Residents Association which was managed by a Labour Councillor and who is now facing prosecution. Trust Me, I’m A Property Developer 23rd November 2013 Conservative group leader and Property Developer Ray Martin- Wells said: “While £1.5m is a tremendous amount, I believe it represents good value for money and I understand that several developers have already offered the council a profit should we wish to quickly turn the building around.” The aim is to have identified an alternative use or to sell it on by December 2014. The Reality • It cost Hartlepool Council £1.5m, to buy Jacksons Landing • At the time of purchase, the estimated interest charges after the two year interest free loan period had expired, were £50,000 a year • The council allocated £80,000 for its demolition in May well before any vote was taken. • It has no developers or other parties interested in the site. • HBC now plans to use £122,250 from the Arts Council Museum Resilience Fund to pay for ‘architectural concept designs’ (artists impressions) even though it knows that any eventual developer will have their own plans. Last week, Hartlepool Council refused to provide assistance to disabled people who were struggling with access to North Tees Hospital because ‘it had no money’. How UKIP Wasted Its Dream Ticket in Hartlepool while, without Farage,  the Party Unravels and Becomes Just Another Battle of Egos - A bitter leadership contest following the departure of Nigel Farage is helping UKIP to ‘unravel’ according to its Welsh Chairman. Meanwhile the local party is left to reflect on how it wasted its dream ticket in last May’s local elections.

Hartlepool Council Releases More Artist’s Impressions of Its

‘Visions’ While Stockton and Washington Get the Jobs

Hartlepool Borough Council has released more artists impressions of what it hopes Church Street will look like in future at the same time that it has announced that it has commissioned Newcastle based architects to produce yet more drawings of the Jackson Landing area. The council has asked the architects to base their plans on a proposed mixed development of Hotel accommodation, Retail Units, Offices and Apartments. There are currently no businesses or developers interested in the Jacksons Landing site. The council hopes that by producing its own drawings of what it could look like, it may be able to attract more interest. Meanwhile, it’s been announced that Stockton-on-Tees will be the base of a new Government DWP facility to process Universal Credit claims with an initial 66 jobs being created by the end of September. Washington too is set to benefit from the creation of an additional 200 new jobs at its existing DWP Centre. Hartlepool is almost alone in the North East in having no Government jobs based within its town boundary. On the plus side, Stockton and Washington don’t have many visions.

Seaton Turbine Plans Thrown Out By Planning Inspector After

Being Found To Be Invalid

Plans to construct 3 of the tallest Wind Turbines in the UK to the South and West of Seaton Carew have been ruled invalid by the Planning Inspectorate. Inspector Richard Clegg, of The Planning Inspectorate, said a 10-day consultation period, from May 23 to June 1, 2014 which included a bank holiday, was not long enough and did not cover a wide enough area given the size of the turbines proposed. Consequently the applications are not valid and no further action on them will be taken by The Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State.” Seneca Global Energy, which has Directoral links with Niramax, was given planning permission by Hartlepool Borough Council Planning Committee last year to erect the 574ft high turbines which would have been higher than Blackpool Tower.

Hartlepool Mail Loses a Fifth of Its Sales in Just 12 months

New figures released show that Hartlepool’s Evening Newspaper, The Hartlepool Mail, has lost another 22.9% of its circulation in just 12 months. Sales now stand at an average of 5,735 copies per day which is down 45% since the 10,521 figure in August 2013

Town MP Iain Wright Moves Out of Labour Office and is Facing

De-selection Battle

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright has found himself in the middle of a de-selection battle with the local Constituency Labour Party after backing Labour leadership contended Own Smith against Jeremy Corbyn. He has now moved out of Labour’s constituency office in South Road and is conducting his constituency surgeries from a small office in the Civic centre

Cranney Moves In On Holiday Hunger Money

Hartlepool Councillor Kevin Cranney has used his OFCA Community group, which is run by a number of his relatives, to zero in on £3,000 of public money. The money is specifically targeted at children reliant on free school meals and who might otherwise go hungry during the summer holidays because of the extra financial pressure on hard-up parents but the farm is offering free packed lunches to anyone who turns up.

Demolition Cost of Jacksons Landing to Cost Twice the Amount

Revealed Publicly By Council

The demolition of Jacksons Landing will cost £80,000, twice the £40,000 amount revealed by HBC according to spending figures just published. The council is legally obliged to publish detail of all spending above £500 and the latest figures show the contract to demolish Jacksons Landing had already been awarded to A Buckler Haulage Ltd of Middlesbrough for £80,000 some time before the end of June - well before the controversial Regeneration meeting was held in July that supposedly gave the demolition plans the go-ahead. download

Rudderless, Plan-less and Brainless: Bullying Cranney

Bulldozes Through Jacksons Landing Demolition

Hartlepool Council is bulldozing through a decision to demolish Jacksons landing in September just 3 years after spending £1.5m of taxpayer’s money to buy it.

Council Tax To Increase 17% By 2020

Council Tax in Hartlepool is set to increase 17% by 2020. The shock revelation comes after council officials detailed plans to increase council tax by the maximum level of 3.9% in each of next three years. The rise will see a Band D property rise from £1,756 to £2,107 per year. Hartlepool Borough Council already charges the 3rd highest council tax of any unitary authority in the country and the 9th of all local authorities.

Neglected and Rusting Wingfield Castle ‘Not Part of Royal Navy

Deal’

It’s been confirmed that the rusting Wingfield Castle paddle steamer is not part of the Royal Navy Museum deal. Responsibility for the maintenance and long-term future of the paddle steamer remains with Hartlepool Borough Council Labour Investigation Into Former Mayor Still ‘Ongoing’ After 18 Months Eighteen months after town M.P. Ian Wright called for an investigation into the behaviour of the then Ceremonial Mayor, Stephen Akers-Belcher it’s been revealed that the investigation is still ‘ongoing’.  

Northern Echo

Evening Gazette

Hartlepool Mail

Crime Appeals

HBC Press Releases

What’s On    Click to Enlarge

• The Heugh Breakwater was built as only the first part of a harbour protection scheme needed because of the high number of lives being lost as sailing ships were blown onto rocks during north-easterly storms. A second breakwater was intended to be built at Seaton extending out to the Longscar Rock and forming a horseshoe harbourage. The scheme required an Act of Parliament before it could go ahead but it was scrapped soon afterwards as steam powered ships, more able to resist the storms, became more common. • As the freehold owner, Hartlepool Borough Council receives 15% of the rental income from Middleton Grange shopping centre. Middleton Grange is let on a long lease to Mars Pension Trustees and managed by agents JLL. Under the terms of the lease, the Council receives 15% of the net rental income from the retailers, less various deductions.  In 2014/ 15, the income received was £221,157 against an anticipated budget figure of £330,000; the shortfall being due to the high number of vacant units. • Town MP Iain Wright has both a BA and an MA from the University College of London. He is also a qualified accountant and worked as a Chartered Accountant for accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche from 1996–2003 and for One NorthEast from 2003-4 before becoming an MP. • The Headland’s Friarage Wall is Hartlepool’s most ancient, visible structure dating back to the 7th Century and pre-dating the Town Wall by some 700 years. • The sea-coal which washes up with the tide onto Hartlepool beaches  comes, not from discarded colliery waste, as many people think, but from an exposed coal seam which surfaces on the sea bed within Hartlepool Bay. It has been harvested by locals for hundreds of years and long before the Durham Coalfield was established. • The three railway tunnels which pass under the railway embankment between Speeding Drive and Heortnesse Road (the Horseshoe Tunnels) were designed by George Stevenson in 1835. for the Hartlepool Dock and Railway Company and are listed Grade II buildings. The southern most arch at Heortnesse Road was filled in by HBC as part of a regeneration scheme.

Wright Forced Out of Constituency Office Over Safety Concerns The true reasons why town MP Iain Wright quit his South Road offices have now emerged. A Police Review of the safety of all MPs and their staff was undertaken after the murder of Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen. In Wright’s case, a copy of the report covering the safety arrangements for his own staff, as well as those for himself, was sent to both the MP and the Constituency Labour Party(CLP) together with recommendations for improvement. The Constituency Labour Party own the South Road building where Iain Wright has rented offices since first being elected. His offices were used for administration but also as the location for town surgery meetings with the MP. As Treasurer of the Constituency Labour party, Councillor Marjorie James  was the Labour Party officer responsible for implementing any required changes. However, her own view was that the CLP should 'not spend a penny' implementing the police recommendations. As a result, Wright has been forced to vacate his offices because he felt he could not ignore the police recommendations or the safety of his employees in the same way. He now runs his MP surgeries from a small office within the Civic Centre