In the worst spell of weather for 20 years (or so we are told) there have been complaints about the services of Northumberland County Council’s gritting of the roads.

But sorry, I’ll give praise where praise is due! For three weeks or so, the major  roads and the main secondary roads have been gritted twice per day every day. Today, the bin wagon arrived, as it has done throughout the holiday period, despite the weather and the road being icy.

So a large amount of praise for the workers at NCC who have done an excellent job to keep the roads open and to keep services running as close to normal as possible!

 The BBC local news yesterday aimed criticism at NCC for not gritting minor roads in the county, and “a certain politician” aimed criticism at the council leadership, but no-one, except perhaps that certain politician, can blame NCC for the weather!

I had a ‘phone call from a resdent yesterday on another matter, but in the conversation he said “The roads were always regularly gritted under Blyth Valley Borough Council”. Talk about showing your prejudices… BVBC didn’t grit the roads, NCC have always had that responsibility , BVBC never had the role!

So, a large pat on the back for the NCC workers for keeping the roads open and delivering the services, let’s not forget them!

If you are out and about tonight , for New Year’s Eve, be careful! It promises to be a cold night, with the possibility of snow, even here on the coast.

The Emergency services are stretched enough, tonight of all nights, so be good and be careful.

2010 promises to be a significant year politically , with a general election coming up.

However, have a great New Year, and may all your wishes come true!

While out and about today a couple of people asked about the bin collections this week.

The collections will be on the normal days, there will be no putting back the collections by one day for the bank holiday.

 Oh, and this week it is the green bin

Further details are on www.northumberland.co.uk

Just a quick message to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

 I’ll be available by telephone and EMail over the Christmas holiday, for any emergencies.

It will soon be Christmas, and we will soon be switching on the Blyth Christmas lights.

Working with officers of Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure and Northumberland County Council , we have started the countdown to Christmas!

The switch-on will be on 27th November at 5:30 pm.

Thanks to great work by Fiona Wilson, my fellow ward councillor for Plessey Ward, we have got a true celebrity to perform the switch-on…… (drum roll………..) …………Pudsey Bear !!!

The event will be in support of the Children in Need appeal, and although the Children in Need night is the weekend before, we are really happy that Pudsey has taken the time to visit.

There will also be street entertainers, and we hope that the market and the shops will remain open late.

Full details of the night’s programme of events follows later.

Although I haven’t managed to post anything on this site for a while, there are several things that need updates.

Firstly I send my best wishes to Jackie Tompkins, wife of Cllr Ian Tomkins (and therefore the Mayoress of Blyth) who has been in hospital for a couple of weeks. If you wish me to pass on your best wishes please contact me.

On with the other matters. There have been requests for a crossing across Plessey Road, near the Seahorse pub. Although I do support the call, the County Council have asked for time to see how big a problem this is likely to be. They have increased the size of the traffic islands, but I think that this site needs either a Zebra crossing, or a Lollipop attendant (or whatever they’re called these days)

The 20mph zone on South Beach estate is now in force, but until the Council get the signs erected they cannot enforce it. Come on, County Hall, get your act together!

The Academy School buildings are more or less complete, and how they dominate the areas. The Primary site (formerly South Beach First School will be ready in the next couple of weeks (I hope the lorries will then cease to use Fulmar Drive!) The Secondary site looks complete, and again hopefully will be open in time for the start of the new year.

On the weekend of 5th and 6th September, the Blyth Battery is opening its doors. together with a display of military vehicles and a Spitfire (whether this will be flying past or not remains to be seen) Further details to follow.

Finally for this section, the next meeting of Blyth Town Council is on 17th September. If you have anything you want raising, please let me know. I’ll be posting details of the exact venue later

With the dodgy weather, I decided to attempt to renew my library books on-line.

I know that local services rely on people using them, but needing only to renew , and not return or take out new books I thought I’d attempt online renewal.

How simple was that? A very easy interface, and my books were renewed in seconds.

So well done Northumberland County Council!!

Traffic lights. The work on the redesigned junction between Fulmar Drive and South Newsham Road seems completed.  But there’s no sign of the promised traffic lights!  I have checked, and there will be lights installed , but no-one at the County Council can give me a definite date.

Blyth Market.  This is turning into a farce. The market is open for the Christmas period, but is surrounded by the ongoing work and all the mess, noise and hazards that that entails.    And to crown it all , when there’s anything more than a moderate breeze the new market stalls prove to be unstable, and so the traders have to provide their own.

The Council has received an application for a golf driving range to the south of South Newsham Road, about opposite Albatross Way. The development is within the Green Belt.

Because I am on the Development Control Panel and do no want to prejudice my chance to speak on this matter when it comes up before the panel I’ll not put my views here.

However if any resident wishes to object to, or support the application they should write to the council.

My colleague, Councillor Ian Tompkins will take any questions or comments about the application

Sorry if I haven’t updated the site over the last couple of weeks, but here’s a few updates on various things.

Seaton Delaval Hall. There was a big row at full council when the Lib Dem group voted against giving £100,000 of council tax payers money to the appeal fund to buy Seaton Delaval Hall. The main reasons were that public money should not be given to this, and that other ways should be explored. But it was quite amusing to see several Labour councillors argue that we should contribute to paying the Hastings family’s death duties.  All of us want to see the Hall retained, and used for a public purpose, but surely the easiest way would be for the Hall to be taken in lieu of death duties?

Road works. The traffic light saga continues, still no sign of the work being finished.

Bus services. Firstly the minibus serving Fulmar Drive may be using the new bus stop on South Newsham Rd, making the service no longer “Hail on demand”.   I’ve not had an answer to my letter to Arriva, I’ll keep you informed of progress.

Secondly there are minor amendments to the X services between Blyth and Newcastle. Details can be obtained from Arriva on www.arrivabus.co.uk

The main news though has been the wholesale changes to other services. These don’t directly affect South Beach or South Newsham wards, but may leave parts of Blyth Valley cut off withpout any servce, or without a service to other parts of the District.

Blyth Market Place. The market will be reopening soon, but only for the run up to Christmas. The work isn’t finished, and there are road works that need completing, but at least the market will be in its traditional place. As for the rents charged to the market tradrs, that’s another story.  I stick to my statement of a couple of years ago, that Blyth Market Place is turning into a town centre park, and will in time no longer have a working market! 

There will be a meeting at the South Beach Residents Association on Monday 9th June, to discuss the Traffic chaos that is Shearwater Way.

I don’t know who called the meeting, but I imagine residents of Shearwater Way who are most affected by the contractors traffic to the school.  If I had been informed of the meeting earlier I could have helped publicise it.

I should be there, and will be trying to contact other district and county councillors to make them aware of the meeting. However we are there to listen to the views expressed, not to defend the County Council or the Academy.