Dear Sir,
As I write this letter, Spring is in the air, snowdrops and crocuses are in bloom – Reading recent editions of the Newton News, so are local elections.
Please make every effort to vote in these elections – you will be voting for the future of our town. When you vote, think carefully of the claims and promises being made by candidates. Beware of those making impossible claims.
In 2007, certain Independent candidates claimed that they would reduce Council Tax by 50%. This was impossible, but 15 Independents were elected to the Town Council and over the four following years contributed nothing of note to either the Medium-Term Financial Plan or the four successive budgets.
One candidate, this year is claiming he will reduce the number of councillors on the Town Council from 30 to 22. He cannot do that! The number of members who serve on the Town Council is decided by the Boundary Commission, who meet infrequently.
Some candidates will be promising to do things which they know full well are projects in hand. I will give you two examples:
i) Clean the West Park lakes. In the Town Council’s Medium-Term Financial Plan, the lakes are due to be cleaned in September to October 2022. There will be complaints expressed by the public over the disruption to wildlife. There will be a very obnoxious smell (the silt in the lake has come from open drains in the Beechfield/Elmfield area and from waterfowl droppings over a period of at least 17 years). The cost of the cleaning and repairs will be horrendous.
ii) Elmfield School Site – the Council has been in negotiation with Durham County Council for about four years over the possible transfer of part of the site (this is the part which is subject to flooding). At the moment, the site is out to tender. Before the pandemic, Councillor Malcolm Iveson and myself met with interested developers to visit the site. I must say, the potential developers were not impressed. The access to the site is difficult and is very like an urban Hampton Court Maze. The site is surrounded by a high metal fence, nevertheless, the area has been subject to extensive vandalism. The outlook over the lakes could be a real selling point, apart from the local convenience store, which is so highly barricaded that it would not look out of place in Iraq or Beirut.
We are already seeing candidates exaggerating their input to improvements which have taken place. Recently it was claimed that three County Councillors in the past had obtained £150,000 to develop the Cobblers Hall Play Area. The facts behind the improvement of the area are worth mentioning.
• On the demise of Sedgefield Borough Council, Durham County Council received approximately £95 million more assets than liabilities on the transfer. Most of this was in the form of cash in bank. The largest proportion of the money had been raised from the sale of the land in the northern area of Newton Aycliffe. For example, plot J in the Cobblers Hall area (J being the tenth letter in the alphabet) was sold for £12.6 million.
• Cobblers Hall Play Area was part of the liabilities transferred to Durham County Council.
• The site was totally neglected, equipment was broken, the site was overgrown and heavily littered. It was a total disgrace and unfit for purpose.
• Local councillors, including one County Councillor, contacted the Town Council to see if we would take over the site. The County Council would pay £75,000 and the Town Council £75,000. The Town Council agreed to the proposal because we believe that every area in our town should have a park or suitable play area near at hand.
Cllr. Bob Fleming
