Hello Goodbye

As I said I am stopping this blog unless or until I stand again - in the meantime, the call of the blogosphere aka my conceit that people may read my thoughts means I am going to start a new one, mostly on political issues http://www.johncwoodman.com/ . Hence Hello Goodbye.

In the meantime, my expenses were under the £800 odd I was allowed; the only money I actually spent was $10 on this website and about £30 on some postage. Everything else was allocations for leaflet and manifesto printing, poster and equipment hire and party support.

The Final Curtain

It's a bit dangerous to quote Enoch Powell, but
"All political lives end in failure"
is both true and relevant. It's a pity that my failure happened just as I started.

My hope was not to be humiliated and I don't think I was. I was pretty sure before I started that the seat was not winnable because of the size of swing required, and having two other candidates added to the doubts. So the end result was not too bad.

I think in a couple of weeks I will look back on the campaign as being a great experience. At the time, I hated it. As I noted previously, it takes a special sort of person to enjoy electioneering. Parts were good however:

a) The tolerance and politeness of the voters I spoke to; I was also surprised at the size of turnout. Almost 50% is good for a local election, particularly given the disillusionment about the formation of the new Council, and it shows the interest in the campaign;
b) The fantastic help, support and encouragement from my team. There are probably too many to thank, but I must mention Alastair and Judith for encouraging me to do the blog and for teaching me how to write; Paula and David for first encouraging me to stand; the selection meeting for putting their trust in me; Beryl, Jane, Charles, Wendy, Jim, Jackie and Lance for polling day; Tom and Paul for their hard work; Scott for helping me win the (self-awarded) best signs award; Annabel and Pauline for keeping me sane; Nigel, Cathy, Brian and Jamie for travelling to support me and Anne-Marie, Sarah, Jim, Vin, Bob, Jessie, Paul and Carol for walking the streets with me. Thanks to all the others who helped on polling day and before, and to the 790 people who actually voted for me. Well, 789 as I voted for myself.

One point of concern: the average age of the voters. There are no statistics on this, and the Division has an above average age of population. But I saw very few younger people when I visited the polling stations during the day. All those interested in politics should be concerned at the increasing irrelevance of the process of Government to younger people and we must find ways of passing on that interest.

Lastly, I wish Pat Scott well for a difficult few years: I am sure there are some real problems with the budget and the management of the Council and it will be not be easy. When I started, many people said well done for standing - but added "of course, Pat's such a nice person". And she was. Except she won.

I'm going to publish in due course my expenses because I said I would, but otherwise will stop the blog. Thanks for reading it.

The Result

Carol Griffiths (Lab) 74 3.6%

Richard Patterson (Ind) 258 12.5%

Pat Scott (Lib Dem) 949 45.8%

John Woodman (Con) 790 38.1%


Turnout 49.2%


Council of the County of Northumberland results

Please vote for me....

What can I say? My thoughts many issues have been set out at length throughout the campaign on this blog, and links to the reasons I’m standing and my priorities are to the right…

Why me? I’m as frustrated as you are that the Council has done so little for our area over the last few years.

I am new to the game. And that’s a good thing. This is a new council; let’s make a fresh start and vote for change – I’m someone who really cares about making things work better.

Am I committed? Yes. I’m semi-retired, so have the time to take on the job of councillor. I’m a common sense accountant and one of my main priorities will be to make sure the new council provides value for money.

Now it gets unpredictable

The election is on Thursday. It seems to have been ages since I was selected. I half wonder if we should have ignored it until this week – as most voters probably have.

Anyway, this is the exciting bit. So far, everything in the campaign has been in my control. Now it’s up to the voters.

And after that, there’s the count. I’ve never been to one before – certain TV images, like the Portillo defeat in Enfield Southgate, come to mind – I’m really looking forward to it, although I suspect it won’t be quite as memorable. And there’ll be fewer cameras.

Doorstep Musings

I’ve been wandering round visiting voters at home. I remain amazed at – and grateful for – the tolerance of most of them in accepting the intrusion.

Most people don’t want to talk. Those that do have concerns – or interests – in the following areas:

- Local Government: a lot mention they didn’t want a regional authority or one unitary council, but now have both.
- National issues: Labour is not popular: they are seen to have failed, particularly on the economy.
- Local spending priorities, specifically the state of the roads and cutbacks in social care.
- Local day to day issues, mainly a lack of responsiveness to people’s concerns. Unless things fit a pre-set format, help won’t be given. Examples were an elderly parent out of area needing housing within it; paying for school transport to Alnwick OR Berwick rather than just one and perhaps most worryingly a lack of a human ear and focus for parents of special needs children. These issues really impact people’s lives. They confirm one of my prejudices: the Council has forgotten why it exists. It exists to serve us. Not the other way around. Changing such a mindset takes time, but it will not happen without a drive from Councillors.

Leaflets (lī•flèts) revisited

Leaflets are obviously a major part of the electoral process. We try to encompass our ideas in them, and something of our style. The Oxford English Dictionary describes leaflets as being chiefly for gratuitous delivery, the first known use of the word being in the 1860s as “very young tracts” (ie freshly printed material)*. Gratuitous can of course mean unnecessary as well as free. Our leaflets are free, very young but surely not unnecessary.

My first leaflet was the Conservative manifesto; the second has a brief letter from me, my picture (taken by a neighbour: I sent two photos to the party for them to choose, calling them happy and serene: they picked happy), some relevant parts of the manifesto and a big extract of a voting slip with an “X” by my name. Just to remind people what to do.

We have hundreds of them to be delivered, as many as possible by me. Hopefully they help; hopefully they are necessary. We look at leaflets from the other candidates to assess what they are saying, how good they are; I am sure they do the same to ours. So at least some people read them. And most will be recycled.

My brief letter:

This election is critical to the future direction of the County: we have to break the Labour majority and build Conservative seats to ensure the Council takes notice of local needs. Needs like guaranteeing the future of our schools, fighting for our Post Offices, providing affordable housing and caring for our elderly.

I have not been involved in politics before. I now work part time and have the energy and enthusiasm to help residents. I want to ensure the new Council is soundly managed and my career as an accountant and a senior manager means I can add real value to the Council. I believe that Conservative principles of value for money, less red tape and common sense results are needed.
This new council provides a great opportunity for a fresh start for Northumberland. Lets not waste it. We have got the ideas and commitment to make a difference. On May 1, vote Woodman, vote Conservative.

* Extract from a novel Cometh up as a Flower, by Rhoda Broughton: “Providence makes use of humble instruments sometimes to fulfil its behests, to prove which many good little books and leaflets (as Spurgeon and Co. have christened very young tracts) are written and printed.” The first known use of “leaflet”.

Hello. I've got a leaflet. Would you like one?

I despaired in February about the number of houses with no name.

As I now distribute leaflets setting out our manifesto, I discover an even worse situation: the number of houses with no letter or post box. At one house I wandered aimlessly between gate, front and back doors (a long walk as it was a farmhouse with buildings attached) until the owner came out. She had obviously lived there for a long time. I apologised, said I was looking for the letter box to post my leaflet. She looked around. “Oh; I don’t think we’ve got one” she said in a slightly surprised way. She took the leaflet but said she would vote for me anyway.

Something similar happened near Belford: this time the owner was much more matter of fact, as though having no letter or post box was a deliberate plan. It must certainly make life much easier. Rather like having no phone.

Did I mention that it was pouring with rain as I walked around the house? I decided that while teams of volunteers (well, a few people) dropped off leaflets in the main centres I would traverse the countryside to try to cover everywhere else. A friend joined me for some of this; this was good as I could share my frustration about no letter boxes but bad as she always stopped by the muddy puddles.

I wonder why they have elections in May so all the work is done in the middle of April “showers?”

Rain, no house names, no letter boxes. And will anyone read the leaflets anyway? It’s no wonder sensible people don’t go into local government.

Campaign Sickness

Someone at the golf club said last week as I was talking to a friend: “it’s no good talking to him, he doesn’t live in your constituency”.

I’ve certainly become much more aware of voters. I look at people. I can’t help but assess them. Do they live in Bamburgh Division? No? Oh well, let’s move on. They can wait till May 2nd. Do they look Lib Dem? Tory? Labour? Independent even? Or probably the largest group, indifferent? (That’s not indifferent to events and problems, its indifferent to the politicians they see as making at best no difference).

Do people look like their party? Many do: it can be spotted. Try it.

Let me answer what you meant to ask…

A voter looked at the Conservative manifesto for the Council. It’s got some nice pictures, and not too many words. What do you mean, “Cut Red Tape?”, she said.

People ask the trickiest questions. The trouble is that people won’t read anything that’s too long. I said that I had written a piece for my next leaflet, and was asked to cut it down to 150 words. But if it’s too short the words are just soundbites.

I talked about our wish to reduce the layers of Government planned by the new authority – the County, the area committees, the belonging communities and parish councils – and our desire to have local one stop shops for people to easily access Council services, to use the voluntary sector and to increase the proportion of front line staff. And I think she accepted what we meant by the three words.

I haven’t worked out in my mind the best approach to get a message across; I’m not sure it’s right to impose on people’s time with lengthy comment; most, with an instinctive distrust of politicians won’t want that anyway. And you can’t speak to 4,000+ people.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons politicians speak a different language. You do have to use the soundbites, hope people sense the philosophy underlying them and be ready to explain if challenged – by word, email or comment.

Beadnell Plan

The Beadnell Parish Plan has been distributed. The main point, as earlier forecast, is the need for more affordable housing in the village, followed by the need to support businesses and balance the needs of residents and visitors.

Some of the good points are the recognition of:
- the need to involve the community in selecting affordable housing sites;
- the need to explore a variety of funding sources
- the need to work with others.

But as with all parish plans, there’s a risk that the higher levels of Government will ignore them. One of the reasons for the lack of affordable housing in the area is the restriction on new homes forced on the planners by regional Government. There has to be an acceptance by the County Council and the Regional Authority that they should have to explain why local plans should be disregarded rather than having the automatic right to override them. As I’ve noted before, bottom up planning is usually most effective.

Better the Devil you Know?

Labour had the right idea early on. 7 of the 8 members of the Council’s executive committee were not selected by their party for these elections, including the Leader. I’d like to think this was largely in protest at foisting one unitary Council on a Northumberland that wanted two (if there had to be any change at all). Concern has been expressed about the loss of experience. But I think it’s better to have good people than experienced people.
Plus, I think there’s a danger of too much experience of the wrong sort. People inevitably get drawn into the web of Government. It’s easier to worry about internal games than making residents lives better by offering better services or lower costs. Or both
To quote Ken Livingstone “…it is hard to believe that a mayor who has served two terms will have the freshness of approach that is required to stay abreast of such a dynamic city. I therefore recommend no mayor should serve more than two terms”. He said that before he had served two terms; he now wants four. My point precisely. He isn’t fresh: he’s trapped in the web where power matters more than principle.
The four candidates for Bamburgh Division have now been announced: Conservative (me) , Independent (someone who wanted to be the Conservative), Labour, and Lib Dem. Three have been councillors for many years. I’m rather pleased to be the one offering a fresh start by not having been involved before: I know local Government is restricted in what it can do by Central Government but I don’t sense those years of experience have coincided with a big improvement in local government services.
I think there’s a big argument for restricting the length of term of politicians. I can see the need for some exceptions to benefit from experience, although how you would define that is not easy. But there should be a restriction on the number of terms a Councillor can serve. I don’t know if I will be elected. If I am, I think I would only stand for one more term.

The Old Course Backwards

While my first leaflet was being distributed, I sneaked off to St Andrews. I belong to a charity which uses golf as a way to raise money. We play using replica clubs from the 1900s, and this time we played the Old Course backwards – which apparently was how it was originally played.
It was great fun: the course played just as well the wrong way round – in fact the bunkers were even more suitable that way. And I found many of them.
So I came back to distribute more leaflets, a poorer but possibly better golfer.

Bright Lights, Big City

Sorry for the recent silence. I've been delivering leaflets. And I had to go down to London for three days. I always find it difficult to slip back into London life, particularly on the tube. I knew it all once: exactly which spot to stand in to be in the most convenient spot to exit. But now I’m the bloody tourist who is too slow and gets in the way. The one who doesn’t know that when the announcement says the train is approaching Bank there’s still 90 seconds to go and it’s too soon to stand up.
I had to do some work in the City. I also went to a gallery opening. (The owner always appeals to me: she was once the Australian cultural attaché, in complete contrast to Barry Humphries’ most outrageous character, Sir Les Patterson, self-designated Australian cultural attaché.) Both places were buzzy, gossipy, lively. But it all seemed a bit fin de siècle, a final dance before the end.
The relevance? I think there’s a big financial chill to come. One that will put big pressure on public finances, and which will increase the need for effective management of the Council’s budget.

Priorities, Priorities

On 21 January I wrote a piece “my opening priorities” which I rather pompously said would create a benchmark to see if my views changed over the campaign and afterwards.
Having just handed in my nomination papers and started to write my campaign thoughts, it’s time for a first checkpoint.
I had four priorities and an overriding concern:
- Care of the elderly
- 2/3 tier education
- Economic development, incorporating Affordable housing and Support for tourism
- Dualling the A1
My concern was the centralisation of the Council.

I visited a number of people in February and March with a survey to establish what they were concerned about, and have picked up many points of view generally. As a sweeping generalisation from the surveys, affordable housing and the retention of middle schools were the main issues (although not everyone agreed with these needs). Other comments were that people were pretty happy with health care but felt there weren’t enough facilities for young people, or a visible enough police presence. They did not feel enough was done to encourage recycling and wind farms were not popular. Quite a few didn’t want the A1 dualled.

But the main issue is, as I noted before, that many people are very cynical about politics in general and the Council in particular. They see money wasted, decisions being taken without regard to what people think (I still find the timing of the Seahouses car park work unbelievable) and services declining rather than improving. These comments override the detail.

So overall, I am still comfortable my first priorities match most people’s worries. And the wide cynicism supports my concern about the Council’s management and approach. In fact it’s even worse than I thought. Regular readers will know I have gone on about the centralisation of power in the Council and how the new structure is likely to widen the gap between the Council and residents, between the Governing and the Governed. It’s all very well to blame the officers, but they are meant to implement Councillors’ wishes. And although Councillors may cover the detail well, they do not seem to respect residents’ concerns for the big picture.

It’s time to get a grip on what happens - i.e., to vote for me!

Sympathy For The Devil

I feel a bit sorry for Peter Hain.

I never thought I would write that – but I’ve just completed my various nomination forms to stand, and have read the guidance notes for candidates.

The section on election expenses and donations is over 20 pages. It does at least recognise that the legislation is complicated. As are the expense forms, which have to be completed within 35 days of the election result. I can see they are trying to prevent people buying votes and elections and creating transparency about where political funding is coming from – but anything which is this complex is clearly ripe both for careful abuse and accidental error. I did find it hard to see how senior politicians could forget the odd £100,000 or so coming into their campaign. But now I see it’s not that surprising given the form-filling and the legalistic approach. The focus is on mechanics not principle.

The good news is that I don’t think anyone is going to give me a donation (and, actually, if they did it’s clearly more trouble than it’s worth so I wouldn’t accept it).

As regards expenses, each candidate is allowed to spend £600 + 5p per voter – that’s about £800 for me. I can’t spend it on something useful like buying people a drink: that’s expressly forbidden, although it exposes me to verbal abuse when it would otherwise be my round.

I will report at the end what my costs were. In practice, I think most will be the cost of printing leaflets only a select few will read. So far it’s $10, being the cost of the address of this web site. I hope you think it’s worth it.

Anyone for Croquet?

My cousin is involved in running the Edinburgh Croquet Club, and is keen on setting up a club and a lawn in Bamburgh as another sport for residents, and if it takes off, visitors. There isn’t a croquet club between Edinburgh and Belsay. There could be a good reason for that – but also, there could be an untapped demand.

So on Easter Saturday, on what felt like the coldest day of the year, we stood on the Castle Green hitting croquet balls to see how true the grass was (the grass visible under the snow that is) watched by some incredulous passers-by and the remains of a snowman.

I hadn’t played croquet properly (i.e. not the bash other people’s balls off the court variety) before last year, but I found it engrossing. My cousin gave me some shots to compensate for my lack of skill, and three hours later we were about 2/3 of the way round the course. It’s an immensely strategic game. It’s obviously useful to be able to hit the balls where you want to but even more to think ahead about where you want to be. I’d recommend it, especially for board or card game players who want fresh air.

There should be a place on the Bamburgh web site to express interest in joining a club soon..

Manifesto

10 Point manifesto pledge:

Local Communities making local decisions
Labour and the Liberals want everything centralised. They want 27 new quangos to provide services miles away from where you live.
Conservatives will keep the six districts we’re all used to. We promise to provide a one stop shop in each district – a local service centre with a local 24 hour call centre.

Better Schools
We want to liberate our school-age children from Labour’s “one size fits all” policy. From Berwick to Haydon Bridge, Conservatives will give the power back to local schools and communities to decide their own future – bottom up not top down.
We are committed to free school transport for post-16 students
We will look at ways of improving after school services in our communities.

Affordable housing
Conservatives promise local housing for local people in sustainable communities.
Labour’s failed planning system created the problem. With a better planning system, a choice-based letting system giving priority to local people, we can provide local housing for local people.
We must do this to keep younger people in Northumberland.

Council Tax
Under Labour, Northumberland has one of the highest levels of Council Tax in Britain.
Conservatives can find the savings to lay on better services with lower Council Tax.
Council Tax is a Labour stealth tax. Our top priority is to keep it down.

Jobs and economy
Our younger people struggle to find work in Northumberland. Often they leave altogether. Others travel many miles to get work.
Conservatives promise to promote Northumberland as the place to create fairly-paid, year round, local jobs.
We’re committed to finding solutions that will help people who only find work in the summer tourist season.

Our roads are in a shocking state – have been for years.
Labour and the Lib Dems have cut road repairs across Northumberland.
Only the Conservatives are promising better roads.
Conservatives oppose congestion charging.
We will support community transport plans.
We will work towards a single transport policy with Tyneside and Newcastle.

Law and Order
Conservatives promise to support our community wardens and work with the police to cut crime.
We will make ASBOs tougher and ban drinking in public places where there is a problem.
Conservatives will engage our younger people with our communities using sport, education and training with support centres for them in each community.

Support for the Elderly and Disabled
The most vulnerable people in our communities are often treated shamefully.
Conservatives will review adult social care.
We will provide care locally to deliver it better.
We oppose rises in care charges.
We will review the way the Care Trust works.

Climate change
Conservatives want Northumberland to lead the North of England in recycling.
We’ll introduce a well promoted recycling scheme across the county
Conservatives will help make homes more efficient to reduce emissions and cut energy bills.
Conservatives demand an end to the huge waste of energy in public buildings.
We’ll take immediate action on climate change to save public money.

Clean Green Environment
We are proud of our environment in Northumberland.
Conservatives will stop unwanted development, we will enforce planning rules.
Conservatives want Northumberland to be a better place to live, work and visit.
We will maintain clean streets and green open spaces.
We will combat litter and dog fouling.
We will use rapid response teams to clear graffiti and fly-tipping within 24 hours.

The summary:
Conservatives have a track record of running good Councils with low Council Tax.
Labour have scrapped our Local Councils. There will now be just one Council, in Morpeth, for the whole county.
Northumbrians voted “No” – but Labour imposed it anyway.
Conservatives promise to cut red tape. We promise to put people first.
Under our management, we will provide excellent services and better value for money.

An Easter Treat

I mentioned in an earlier blog there were lots of reasons to vote Conservative on May 1st. As a special Easter variety treat, here are some of them:

Schools for local needs:
Conservatives will adopt a new education policy to get away from the “one-size fits all” approach. We want the structure of the school system to be driven by local needs. We do not support forced elimination of middle schools.

Better care for older people:
Older residents deserve better than the current arrangements. Conservatives will review the operation of the service with Northumberland Care Trust (who provide the service at the moment) We have opposed outright the proposed increases in care charges.

Manage the Council Tax: Conservative Councils have a history of Council Tax rises below inflation. We know we can find efficiencies to give better services and we intend to keep the Council Tax down. Under the present administration, Northumberland has one of the highest levels of Council Tax in the country.

And as well as dualling the A1, we will ensure good weather during Bank Holidays.*

Incidentally, did you know there is a reason the weather is often worse at weekends (and therefore bank holidays) than during the week? Look here..

* I am advised that I should point out this is not a serious policy commitment.

Here's the Beef

The Council Tax bills for 2008/9 have arrived.

In many ways, this is what it’s all about.

I had a few thoughts on the (helpful) statement sent out with the bills:

a) The total spending of the Council is well over £1/2 a billion pounds. Central Government and business rates reduce the amount they then have to collect from residents. But the total spending is a lot of money. It’s £2,500 for each adult in the County. It’s more than twice Northern Rock’s costs in a year. It’s close to Sage Group’s costs in a year. Amounts that big need to be properly managed and controlled.
b) Northumberland County Council has increased its charge by 1%. But this is after taking £18m from reserves. If they hadn’t raided the reserves, the increase would have been nearer 14%.
c) We were told that having one council would save lots of money. Eventually. However, in 2008/9, there are extra costs budgeted of £15m because of the transition to one authority.

Even if much spending is set and funded by Central Government local control of the detail is necessary.

Belford Plan

The Belford Development Trust has been updating plans to restore and update the High Street and vicinity, and the South entrance to the village . They have carried out a survey of residents to establish our needs and views. The plans and ideas were on display at the bank building last week.
They looked very interesting and show what can be done if a group of people develop plans “bottom up” rather than have them imposed “top down”. With other groups, they are now seeking funding to implement the ideas and to encourage new businesses to come into the village.
I thought one of the most interesting ideas was the removal of much modern street furniture, road markings and so on which encourage the separation of and lack of responsibility from different road users – essentially, drivers are more likely to ignore pedestrians. Many road safety markings can actually make roads less safe. And having a clean, harmonious relatively sign free environment looks better and makes people feel better. In Belford, it would contribute to the idea of building on the town’s heritage.

The local papers: How not to run an election

The Berwick Advertiser’s supplement recording its 200 years of reporting has a section on the 1859 election. It comments on the “Gull-hole”, a house of a former Conservative agent, where systematic corruption of voters took place. It was reported in the newspaper that the sum of £2 was given to any who would vote for the Conservative candidates.

It was all so much easier then….

Touched by greatness.....

Today saw the highlight of my campaign so far: a photo opportunity with David Cameron (“Dave”). The Conservatives are having their Spring conference in Gateshead so this was an opportunity for the those standing in the local elections for the County to meet Dave. And, while we waited, with other members of the shadow cabinet (the “B-team” as George Osborne put it).

I’ve met a couple of famous people before: my best was the politicians’ favourite standby, Princess Di, who visited the company where I worked (rather embarrassingly, the day after my colleagues had got me a strippergram for my 30th birthday). She did have real charisma, and apparently expressed interest in the strippergram. But obviously nothing compares to Dave.

We arrived, had a drink overlooking the Tyne and then fell into a group. The selection process of Northumberland candidates has been excellently handled by the party: we were just about a perfect mix of heights to make a symmetrical and harmonious gathering. Some tried to gain extra height by standing on the fountain in the hotel lobby but health and safety soon put a stop to that. And then we waited – and saw and talked to a good selection of the shadow cabinet, until Dave appeared. And we were briefly touched by greatness, immortalised for posterity (and our campaign leaflets).

Being serious for a moment, he came across as a genuinely nice guy interested in our task and aware of the issues we faced in the County.

(I am on there somewhere - at the back, two to the left of DC)

Parking is such sweet sorrow

Work started this week on the car park in Seahouses. The work will apparently take 16 weeks. It will cover 3 bank holiday weekends, the School Easter holidays and one half term. And the start of the main holiday season.

So exactly when the businesses in Seahouses need to make money to last them through the year, visitors will find it hard if not impossible to park. It’s hard to understand what went through the mind of (forgive the politics, Lib-Dem controlled) Berwick Council when planning this work. The driving force of the economy of this area is tourism. Tourism needs visitors, and it needs visitors to leave their cars and spend money. That is what car parks are for. Visitors tend to come during the holiday season, and the car park has since last October been largely empty (and will be largely empty again in 7 months time). So why now? I doubt if it’s a strategic plan to regenerate other parts of Berwick at the expense of Seahouses: I suspect it’s just a failure to appreciate how the real world works. It’s a further sign of the enormous disconnect between the governed and the governing.

One of the main paragraphs in my campaign leaflet was going to be:

Support for Business:
A vibrant local economy is fundamental to improving our well-being. In this area, tourism is of particular importance and we will encourage investment and support local businesses with publicity and by ensuring Council policies are business - friendly.

I was worried that this paragraph represented an important sentiment but was just meaningless words. But the issue of the car park shows they do have meaning and the sentiment has to be driven into how the Council thinks. You need people who care about business to make that happen.

Grace had an English Heart

One of the advantages of being a relative interloper is that I still enjoy playing tourist when friends come to stay, and the Farne Islands are one of my favourite trips. The Grace Darling story has always been significant and 20 years ago I was pleased to find a book “Grace had an English Heart” by Jessica Mitford. I think it’s out of print now, but it’s an affectionate re-telling of the fact and the myth. The title comes from “The Grace Darling song”: I’d read the lyrics in the book, but not heard them sung until the Seahouses First School performed the song excellently at the reopening of the Grace Darling museum in Bamburgh.

The ceremony was a great mix of history, respect for the RNLI and the achievements of its volunteers, and thanks to those who lead and funded the new museum. The new museum is well worth a visit: it immediately evokes the era and the lighthouse. But for me the most amazing thing is the coble Grace and her father rowed. I can’t even imagine rowing it across a quiet pond never mind a rough sea. If Grace did this with an English Heart, I don’t think there’s a lot to be said for joining Scotland, despite the recent TV poll in Berwick (or the Calcutta Cup result).

Which reminds me of the power of TV voting: when I was in hospital a family opposite was discussing Berwick joining Scotland. They were completely convinced it had just done so, that the majority in the TV poll was all that was needed and the boundaries had accordingly been redrawn. If only life were that simple. Politicians do make things seem hard, I know. But it really isn’t that simple.

One other postscript: if you missed Seahouses First School singing the song and want to hear the Grace Darling song then, as the New York Times article said in the link above, the folk group, the Limeliters, recorded the song in the early 60s; it’s available on itunes amongst other places. They don’t take it quite as seriously as the School did, though.

Ashes to Ashes

I first came to the area 50 years ago: I don’t remember it but I’ve seen the cine films. The hotel we stayed in (then and for many years after) recently had an opening night after closing for refurbishment. They had a mass of people, a cookery demonstration and a wine tasting. It was great fun with good food; the refurbishment looked classy.

But what I really enjoyed was the tour upstairs: just like the previous episode of Ashes to Ashes where Keeley Hawes as an adult walks through her childhood bedroom, I remembered the stairs where I played and where I watched the adults go in and out of the bar at night; the bedroom where I steered my Dinky cars round the carpet; the views across the fields with the sheep baa-ing. It was all smaller – perhaps I’ve grown – but familiar. One thing had changed. All the rooms had en-suites. As I remember, there was only one bathroom for the hotel (now the ladies cloakroom). But I don’t remember us smelling.

The local papers: Belonging Communities

I’m afraid my pick from the papers this week relates yet again to Belonging Communities. Meetings are being held across the County to discuss them but their role is still not clear. It seems to me that they will muddy the responsibilities of Parish Councils and Councillors but without having clear responsibilities themselves. They are an example of the centralising plans of the new Council.

There are lots of reasons to vote Conservative on 1 May (I’ll probably write about them in the next few weeks) but the organisation of the new Council is a critical one. At the moment Labour with Lib Dem support plan a cabinet of 8 councillors, 3 area committees (too remote to be useful) and the 27 mini-quangos, Belonging Communities. We need to break the Labour majority to no overall control and to ensure Conservatives have a strong voice on the new Council so these plans can be modified to keep the provision of services local and with identifiable responsibilities. Sorry to go on about this, but I do think it matters and the other parties are letting it pass by.

Essex Post

One of the best pieces of news at the weekend was that Essex County Council is considering taking over the running of some Post Offices due for closure (or already closed).

The deliberate* running down of the Post Office network by the current Government is one of its most inexplicable actions. I suppose it’s because the network, with public service at its heart, is just not “modern”. And so services, gradually, have been taken away despite the fact it’s a fantastic community support network for those most in need. This isn’t just a rural issue – it affects cities as well. Which makes the Government's approach even more strange .

Essex is apparently looking at taking over contracts for a period of time to see if it can re-energise them by linking Council service delivery with Post Office business. There is clearly a long way to go but it would be good for communities if it is achievable. Would Northumberland follow? Well, it “wasn’t invented here” (forgive a cheap point: Essex is a Conservative Council). And there’s not much sign of supporting local services here. But hopefully it would. And if elected I would certainly do what I could to ensure it did.

* I say deliberate: like many others, I experienced this when I tried to open a post office card account for my Mum’s pension. The DWP officials made it as hard as they could, and kept asking me to open a Bank rather than a Post Office account instead. The Minister denied it was a policy to do that when I wrote – but I heard what the DWP was trying to do.

The local papers: what shall we call Northumberland County Council?

Er….Northumberland County Council?

Apparently that would be too easy.

One of the papers reports on the appointment of consultants to advise on Changing the Cultural Identity of the new council. For £1m. While a lot of worthwhile things are not being done.

The creation of a single council will not be an easy thing to do: 6 districts go, and even though the existing county council is the continuing authority it has to take on all the old district functions and make them work together. The most important thing is that residents see no reduction in service, and ideally improvements, which requires amongst other things all employees becoming aware of how the new organisation works and how they fit into it.

That can only come from management – senior executives working with councillors – setting clear responsibilities and motivating people to work within the new organisation. Appointing £1m consultants is not going to help that. Nor is giving everything a new name or logo. Sadly, it’s another example of the priorities of the new council being inward rather than outward looking. Management may care what they are called. Residents and employees just want a good service.

Time for a change?

Fit for Purpose?

As a forthcoming candidate I thought I should find out a bit more about public services in the area. But I was a bit surprised when my body, actually my heart, decided to test out the NHS.

I had a chest pain which I first assumed was indigestion, but when it didn’t go away I went to the Doctors; the nurse gave me an ECG and very tactfully said it was fine but there was just one thing she wanted to check with the Doctor. I heard them talk – then laugh, a good sign, but then the Doctor came back with her. “You are going to have to go to hospital for a check up”. I couldn’t go home; I had almost no money; a mobile phone out of charge and I hadn’t even locked my car which was left in the car park of the surgery. The reason was that I had a very slow heart beat – similar to Bjorn Borg’s but he was a bit fitter than me. (At the hospital one of the nurses checking me asked if I was an athlete: as I was almost undressed at the time I assume she was joking).

Anyway, a few minutes later I was in the back of an ambulance, siren sounding, off to the Wansbeck (40 minutes Belford to Wansbeck, not bad). I was very well treated in the ambulance, and A&E, although I could sense the tension as they tried to find me a bed within the 4 hour target time, and sure enough 3 hours 55 minutes later I was taken to a ward (actually, this could be a co-incidence: the target time is for being treated and I was being treated from the moment I arrived).

I slept quite well and felt more comfortable in the morning. The only problems were first, how to phone people to say why I wasn’t where I was meant to be: my mobile had no charge, and of course I couldn’t remember any numbers without it, and the hospital would only let me make local calls. I couldn’t phone the people in London I was meant to be talking to; I couldn’t phone directory enquiries to find out numbers. Of course, the fact that I cared showed I must be feeling better. Second, I had run out of things to read: I had pinched (with permission) a golf magazine and Heat from the surgery but had exhausted them well before the paper trolley came by at lunchtime.

My number one tip: plan your hospital admission. Don’t visit your GP without an overnight bag. However, they did give me something to wash with and something to wear (although for some reason (fashion?) it was backless; they eventually gave me another one to wear frontless to create a tasteful discreet unitary garment. But it wasn’t a good look.

Actually, there was one major problem. I had to do an exercise ECG, where they try to make your heart break and then measure the consequences. Once done, if clear, I was told I could go home. It was requested in the morning but at early afternoon they said they could not do it that day and I would have to move to a new ward. I did, and spent 24 hours doing nothing, with no treatment, until the ECG the next afternoon after which I was sent home. As it happened I learned that they had found a time the day before, but my new ward nurses (without talking to me or the doctors) said I couldn’t go.

I remember from Mum’s two last hospital visits that you have to fight to get out of hospital. There’s supposed to be a beds shortage – yet they won’t let you go. I wasted 24 hours of bed space for no reason. My number two tip is for the NHS: learn how to let people leave.

My conclusion on my NHS experience exactly matches my prejudice beforehand. Most of the staff do fantastically well a job I cannot conceive of doing, but the processes and management in the hospital let them down.

But my heading – Fit for purpose? – obviously relates to me not the NHS. In fact, I’m still fit enough – my doctor said that a bit of stress would do me good, and they ruled out a lot of things while I was in hospital. Our political agent reminded me that our interests were aligned. The last thing he would want would be a by-election if I was elected and didn’t survive.

Hello. I'm John Woodman.

Before today the most frightening experience of my life was my driving test(s). I failed three times and was a nervous wreck before each one. Since then I’ve handled the things that came my way – exams, public speaking, serious work and personal conflicts, being stranded abroad, family loss – without too many worries. But today was the worst ever.

I went on my first canvass.

I knocked on people’s doors to explain who I was and to ask them for their views on local issues.

I was accompanied by a past master who taught me what to do and explained that a thick skin was essential. In fact, I was surprised how pleasant everyone was: I’m not sure I would have been if a strange couple had bothered me in that way. (Actually, by co-incidence a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses called on me that morning. Recognising what I would be doing later, I was very polite.)

The other thing that struck me was the high percentage of people who expressed a real disillusion with politics and politicians – to the extent of wondering about the point of voting. The hardest question for me was when one of the disillusioned asked if I agreed with him a bit. Well, yes, I did. But that is one of the reasons I want to get involved. Power does corrupt – not financially, perhaps, but behaviourally. There is a gap between governing and governed. So just as Obama says, its time for a change. I want to provide some practical common sense. But most importantly I want people to take an interest and vote.


By the way – why does (almost) every house in rural Northumberland (including mine) not display its name or number? It couldn’t be to put off political canvassers could it?

Family Affairs

I got a call last week from someone in Morpeth: I think we’re related: can we talk?

When I first moved here, I looked into my family tree. I was prompted by two things: a curiosity about how local I actually was - given that I was an interloper - and uncertainty about a relation in Bamburgh: we knew we were related, our families had always known that, but not how.

I went back to the early 1800’s and managed to find almost all my relations 5 generations back (there was only one fairly common name, Robson, so it wasn’t too hard). There were no obvious skeletons – the BBC wouldn’t want me for ”Who do you think you are?” - but a couple of surprises: I hadn’t known my Dad’s family had been Tyne valley farmers, and there was another John Woodman (who I had never met or heard of) still farming there. My Mum’s family mostly came from round here, with one section coming from Seahouses. I started looking before a lot of information was on the internet and that somehow made it more fun – looking at lots of old ledgers and microfiches, cross checking and so on just like a genuine researcher.

I had gone straight back through the generations, I hadn’t gone sideways. So when my new relations came round to go through everything I learned even more and discovered a whole series of new Woodmans. I dug out some old photos of my grandparents on Bamburgh beach when they were young. Apparently there was a family likeness to the distant cousins.

My mother was never particularly interested in the family tree – it was more important to her to look forward. But to me, knowing the past sets life in context. I looked at the diagrams I made of the couple of conversations when I tried to extract information from her. One great uncle of my Dad’s was described as a “bad egg”. But we went on to other people without me finding out the reason. A couple of years ago I wrote WHY? next to “bad egg”. I will probably never know now.

Customer or Person?

“Whole Council Blueprint Design”, the new Council’s outline plan, describes us (the residents) as “customers”. It may just be me, but I don’t think of myself as a customer of my local Council. A customer is someone who purchases goods and services. Wikipedia tells me the word historically derives from "custom," meaning "habit"; a customer was someone who frequented a particular shop, who made it a habit to purchase goods there, and with whom the shopkeeper had to maintain a relationship to keep his or her "custom," meaning expected purchases in the future.

The word sounds nice and inclusive, but it speaks of arrogance. “Customer” implies a commercial relationship where there is a choice of what and how to buy. The Council is a monopoly supplier of largely pre-determined services we have to have.

Institutionalising a commercial relationship with a monopoly means one side - us - will always be in a weaker position. The words the Council should be institutionalising are words like “public service” and “people”. They should be our public servants. They exist to help us. We are not their customers to accept only what they want us to accept.

Belonging to Whom?

The new Council is going to create a new layer of local government: “Belonging Communities”. It’s not clear what they will do: they have the potential to emasculate the elected Parish Councils and to increase centralisation, although the stated intention is to increase local involvement in decisions. The cynic in me thinks that when people in government say they want to increase local involvement they are looking at appearances rather than reality.

We currently have an elected County Council, elected District Councils and elected Parish Councils. In future we will have an elected unitary County Council, (replacing the 6 District councils and the old County Council) which will create 3 Area Communities and 27 Belonging Communities. The Parish Councils will remain.

Plans for how this will operate have been published: “The Whole Council Blueprint Design”.

It is vague about how the layers will interact, and in particular how this new “Belonging Community” layer will operate. It says there will be no prescription about what they will do, but they will be community forums bringing together the parish councils, development trusts and other community groups in an area. They could become “accredited” and have responsibilities and potentially budgets delegated to them. Specifically, they will “inform and influence community chest funds”. This means that an unelected and partially self-appointed group will be able to override and direct the elected parish councils – which in the Bamburgh Division at least have done good work.

I can see there are some topics where Parish Councils need to act together – but this can happen now. They do not need a Belonging Community forum to do so. The imposition of this extra layer will suck responsibility away from the Parish Councils and diffuse it amongst the layers noted above. Such diffusion always increases the control of the centre. And I am sure that that is the intention.

The three Area Communities are too large to provide local relevance for decisions: the Bamburgh Division for example will be in the “North” Area, which broadly comprises the old Berwick, Alnwick and Castle Morpeth district councils. The Area will be responsible for most regulated services, such as planning, licensing and waste disposal. Coupled with the new Belonging Community layer and the reduction of influence of Parish Councils, this all suggests a real distancing of services from people.

Cross on the Coast

The 6 local (C of E) churches have 6 services leading up to Lent in each other’s churches. I went to Belford last week. I found the sermon very simple and moving on the subject of respecting life (in the widest sense of the word).

It came back to me on Saturday as I hacked my way to the (joint) lowest score of the day at golf. I did not treat the grass with respect. Nor my clubs. But the weather and scenery were beautiful. It really is life affirming to live here.

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his Heaven -
All's right with the world.

From Pippa Passes by Robert Browning.

But someone apparently committed suicide locally during the week, far from their home. I suppose people’s problems are made even harder to bear if much is good elsewhere.

Scot or Not?

Should Berwick be in Scotland? It's a topic that's being manufactured by parts of the media at the moment. At the end of the day its not very likely to happen but of course it should be the choice of the people of Berwick (and Scotland).

I assume the question relates to Berwick town (whose history is part-Scottish, whose football team plays in the Scottish league and whose railway station is already assumed by National Express to be in Scotland for some of its fares) as opposed to Berwick District Council (whose lands were invaded by various border reivers in the past, but which otherwise I think has little connection).

Economically Berwick town looks to Edinburgh at least as much as to the South given the rail link, the dualling of the A1 north of the border and the success of Edinburgh. But the main reason people might want to become part of Scotland is the extra level of benefits (for example, care costs and tuition fees) they would get. People further south may want some of that as well. The trouble is that England is paying for those extra benefits so there's a limit to how much of England Scotland can swallow. Berwick is probably OK, much more probably not.

(I know it's claimed to be Scotland's Oil, I know the SNP would like more tax raising powers, but the main reason for the extra benefits is the formula for funding Scotland which benefits it more than the North East and other poorer regions of England.)

And this highlights a real problem with decentralisation. If you give more powers to county and parish councils (as you should), they will choose to spend money in different ways. People will therefore have different levels of service in adjacent areas. So you have to make sure the funding arrangements are fair otherwise the decentralisation cannot last.

I am sure that over time either the differences in services between Scotland and the North East will reduce or taxes in Scotland will rise. I'm therefore very happy to stay in England.

Photos

I’ve always been keen on photography. But not when I’m in the picture. I have almost no photos of me. So I was a bit concerned when my campaign team said that I should have some photos taken of me around the Division. I think they wanted to prove that I had some friends and people would talk to me.

We started in Bamburgh, a group of Conservative supporters and friends (they are not mutually exclusive) with me. We tried to look enthusiastic as we stood in the cold and discussed our surroundings and even a relevant issue (rural post office closures).

“Oh look! There’s a castle at the end of the street.” At least the castle looks a lot more impressive as a village marker than the Viking flats in Seahouses. In fact it’s probably the most impressive village landmark in the country. Neither of course are what you could call affordable housing.

The local papers: Signs of the Times

The last two weeks have seen further comment about Berwick Borough Council’s focus on what it calls illegal signs advertising local businesses. This follows its actions last year in spray painting them. Apparently the Council, not content with vandalising some signs and opposing planning permission for others, has now gone back on producing guidance for businesses on what would be allowable.

I have a limited experience of this: I received a curt letter last year telling me to take down some innocuous signs on minor roads indicating the location of a local business. Neither the business, the signs nor the location had anything to do with me so I replied as such but also wondered why they would want to focus on this issue when there were so many other problems in the planning and regeneration area. They didn’t reply.

This area relies on tourism and on small scale businesses. The Council is there to support its residents and businesses. It seems to have forgotten that.

It reminds me of the Lib Dem Council I lived in London: it too focused on its own interests to the extent that even its leader noted “too many people feel that the council does things to them”. Sounds like Berwick.

Counselling Councillors

The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) launched a report: Strengthening the role of local councillors. The CRC is an independent Government body established to provide a rural voice to Government and to provide evidence to support decisions.

I’m not a councillor (yet?) but I thought it could be interesting to learn how (if I were) I could be improved. Plus, the launch was jointly held in London and Alnwick, in the Pavilion in the Garden, the two linked by the wonder of audio/video links, and was therefore close by.

We – an audience of rural councillors, helpers and interested parties - sat in the Pavilion feeling slightly smug: we were rural. The people in the Westminster hall in London clearly weren’t (although actually most of the attendees there were also rural councillors). Our cameras showed them the trees and the fountains of the Alnwick Garden as a contrast to their panelled walls. They also showed a howling gale and snow, shortly after our chairman had commented on the lovely weather here in rural England.

I had never realised just how many organisations try to help rural areas. Some of them in attendance: the CRC; LGA Rural Commission; NE Rural Affairs Forum; Action for Market Towns; Countryside Alliance; CPRE; and of course One North East. One brave soul stood up and asked, given the turnout, who or what supported urban areas to the same extent: he had the wrong audience to get much sympathy. A real question is therefore with so much help, why do we feel left in the cold? The head of the CRC answered with the best point of the day: The Government doesn’t trust Us. “Us” being rural communities, local Government and voters. The changes the CRC recommended were mainly about increasing that trust and passing responsibility down to local Government. And from there, even more importantly, to Parish Councils who are the closest democratic body to the public.

The gulf works both ways as well: the presentation started with a series of video clips from members of the public suggesting some satisfaction with councillors, but overall demonstrating a big gulf. “I only see them when its election time”.

I heard three problems being discussed but not resolved:
- Would the Government really let go? (the CRC thought there was currently a chance of change given the emphasis placed on this and the Roberts Report for the Councillors Commission)
- In Northumberland, would the Regional Development Authority accept bottom up planning rather than setting priorities and policies from above?
- Again, in Northumberland, the new “belonging communities” strategy could devalue the (elected) Parish Councils rather than enhance them, as the CRC report recommended.

The Report made 10 recommendations, most of great sense. Underlying them all was need to fix the lack of decentralisation. I thought three were most relevant:
- Make Parish/Town plans count when Government, Regional Authorities and Councils develop and implement policies. The burden should be on others to explain why they do not follow local plans.
- Increasing the emphasis on electing Parish/Town councils to increase their accountability and support giving them more power.
- Make councillors communicate effectively to the public.

The launch concluded with the CRC’s intention to revisit the report in a year’s time to highlight what (if any) progress had been made. All in all – some good ideas and a good day. Even better as my team won the pub quiz that evening.


Since writing the above, I’ve read The Journal’s article on the Regional Spatial Strategy (“North East 2021”) which was published for consultation, by co-incidence within a week of the meeting. It shows the wishes of Centralisation are alive and well. For example, it states that the Berwick district can only have 85 new homes in for example 2015. It may be that 85 is the right number at that time; it may be too many or too few. One thing is certain: the authors and issuers of the Spatial plan have absolutely no idea which it will be. Yet any change will have to argued against “the strategy” rather than local needs having overriding importance. Yes, infrastructure has to be planned but successful things happen from the bottom up not by imposition.

It’s got to be worth responding to the consultation. The deadline is 2 April 2008.

Manifesto Meeting

I was invited to a manifesto meeting. This is because we need to have an agreed manifesto for the Conservative candidates to work from when the election comes, and to implement if elected.

One of my friends commented when I was thinking of seeking selection that my life would become full of boring meetings. That didn’t matter – most of my career has been spent trying to get something useful out of interminable meetings – but I did assume it would only apply if I was elected, rather than beforehand. But apart from my selection meeting it was my first “political” meeting so I was quite excited.

It was at County Hall in Morpeth; it’s the first time I have actually been inside the corridors of power. And there were many, many corridors. They had an interesting selection of pictures. I was particularly struck by a panel of photos of Councillors (and Aldermen) from the mid 1970s. They looked so serious and substantial compared to today’s group (and potential group). Yet the range of their responsibilities was much smaller then. I suppose a similar panel of the new Council will look just as old fashioned in 30 years time for the same reason that I feel much younger than my father when he was my age.

The meeting itself was a bit challenging: I felt sorry for the chair as she tried to control all of us wanting to make valid points about the things we were going to discuss next, or that we had just agreed. For some reason we weren’t good at talking about the things we were talking about at the moment. In the end, however, I think a good framework emerged of practical ideas focussed on helping people. It’s a good job an outline had been drafted by a few people beforehand.

Press Start to Stop: Modern morality lessons

My Hard Drive is Broken.

A couple of weeks ago my computer started to operate glacially slowly (that’s slow in the sense of their advancement not their melting, which is now apparently quick). I tried switching it on and off. Lots of times. I tried shouting at it and even hitting it. Nothing worked. I had last backed up all my data in October. I just managed to transfer all my photos before it stopped working, but nothing else. I took it to a local centre which has just told me that the hard drive has gone and that any un-saved data was lost.

I makes you think about what you would miss. I’m glad I got the photos – Christmas; Christmas parties; trip to London and a holiday in Yorkshire. The lost emails and documents don’t really matter: if they are important someone else will have them. And, actually, there is a sense of freedom similar to clearing out an attic. But I do wish I had backed up the data more recently. I think about doing it regularly. But thinking isn’t enough.

Fortunately I had another quasi computer connected to the TV. So I’ve been working - and setting up this site – sitting in front of the TV using a key board (which keps missing out letters) from a bean bag which is very comfortable to sit in but from which it’s almost impossible to get out. The only advantage is that the effort of crawling out and up probably offsets the calories from the crisps I’ve been eating as I work.



And the morality lessons:

Be prepared: have access to another computer. And a bean bag you can exit.
Process and discipline.and delivery matter: do the back ups – don’t just think about them.
And don’t assume that IT solutions will solve all your problems.

Actually – they sound like the sort of things the modern compassionate conservatives would say.

The rate for the Job

There is a suggestion that in future MPs’ pay will be set by an independent body not by their vote. It is an example of a bad habit of politicians, to set up supposedly independent bodies to be responsible for politically sensitive issues. This may be good in the short term but it takes the responsibility away from elected politicians. If it is a tricky issue then they should be responsible for it. And accept that responsibility.

An independent body would lead to no-one being accountable for MPs’ pay. A better solution would be for an outgoing Parliament to set MPs’ pay for the duration of the next Parliament. That would encourage accountability. And low inflation.

I think the same principle should apply for Councillors’ expenses.

Coincidentally, the local papers reported sizeable increases in pay for the executive heads of Northumberland County Council without the increases being discussed by Councillors. Although apparently it was procedurally correct, and done to ensure the retention of key staff during the transition to the new unitary authority, to me it shows:
- A contempt for Council tax-payers: the increases alone approximated to the average pay of people in North Northumberland.
- A strange prioritisation of expenditure. Running Northumberland County Council during the transition period should be one of the most interesting jobs in local government. Any manager needing a retention to stay probably shouldn’t be retained.

The Messiah returns. And reflections on transparency.

I went to a local pub to watch Newcastle vs Bolton (was Setanta established by pub owners to stop people watching at home?) hoping for atmosphere but the match was not that inspiring. As always, there were some strange refereeing decisions, although not too much dissent. Either on the field or in the pub.

But why doesn’t (premier league) football take an example from rugby and mike up and broadcast the referees’ comments? Broadcasting the decisions and on-field conversations would:
- be entertaining
- reduce tension in the crowd: at least people would know why the decision was made
- increase over time the quality of decisions: people take care when there is transparency
- reduce on-field dissent – because players comments would also be picked up.

The political slant is that openness and transparency of actions is always beneficial. People can accept things if they understand the reasons. And it’s much harder to hide.

My opening priorities

These are the main reasons I want to stand to contribute to the Council. Setting them out creates a benchmark to see if my views change over the campaign and afterwards.

From next year all local authority functions are going to be managed by one, unitary council. It will be a council inevitably dominated by the issues of the urban South East of the County. It’s a lost cause, but I don’t understand why we are being given one unitary authority rather than the two (one mainly urban, one mainly rural) most people clearly wanted.

I think it’s critical that the Council is held to account during the transition and afterwards to minimise the cost and the upheaval to services. Perhaps it’s because I’m an accountant and have spent my life in general management that I see this oversight function as important and one where I can add most value. My business skill is in working with people to make things work better.

The practical issues I see as most important are:

- Care of the elderly. I had a self-interest here: my mother came to live with me when she became ill. She was very well looked after by the team from the Belford Medical Practice. But I worry, especially with an ageing community, that the resources devoted to the care of the elderly are under pressure and we need to ensure that the links between Social Services and the NHS work well together and that they are adequately resourced. The problems North Northumberland GPs are having in negotiating sufficient funding to maintain their services are indicative of this. Surgeries in Belford and Seahouses have a petition to sign supporting their servces.
- 2-tier education. I know from many parents that the move to 2 tier from 3 tier education will cause practical problems in this rural area and we need to find pragmatic solutions to minimise the impact.
- Economic development. This is largely outside direct County Council control: it’s up to the private sector. But it should be supportive of local businesses, and especially of the tourist industry as the main wealth creator. It is also vital that we have more affordable housing for local people to maintain the community and allow people to live near work.
- And of course: dual the A1

The above sound a bit activist for a Tory: I said in an earlier blog that I thought big Government usually messed things up – the heart is usually in the right place but the management process isn’t. But I do think that focussed local government working with local teams can achieve results. It’s boring, but good management is the key.

The local papers: Local Homes for Local People

The local papers have a preview of part of the Beadnell parish plan. It will set out a need for more affordable housing, noting:
- well over 50% of homes in Beadnell are second homes
- the vast majority of residents want provision for affordable housing
- residents will be asked where any new housing should be built.

This is very welcome: I’m not against second homes (I couldn’t be: mine was one for a year before I moved here full time) or holiday homes. I think they are a source of revenue for the tourist and service industries which are now the major employers in this area. But they inevitably add to the problems for local people finding a home in their community.

I think it’s essential that local housing policy:
- encourages planning provision for affordable homes reserved for local people
- provides funding to support building them

This not just an issue for Beadnell, but also for the whole Division (and indeed the surrounding areas). One of the few benefits of a unitary council should be the ability to look at funding on an overall basis and ensure that council tax income from second homes is properly applied.

Meet the Candidate

I sense the first conflict between me and the local party. They are full of enthusiasm and want to have events to discuss the election and to introduce me to people. But the election is not until 1 May. That’s over three months away. The 3,500+ normal people in the ward are not going to be the slightest bit interested in the election yet. So I’d rather play it cool. But I suspect I’ll do as they suggest.

The Joy of Language

I woke up the day after selection to the sounds of the Home Secretary on Radio 4 giving details of a new anti-terror initiative. The interviewer was asking very simple questions…”What is new about this?”; “What will actually happen?”. But the Home Secretary could not bring herself to answer the questions. Sentence upon sentence came out of her mouth, full of wonderful poly-syllabic words, but all were completely disconnected and meaningless.

Is this what I will turn into as a politician? Someone who is incapable of answering a simple question by saying what they think?

They asked me lots of questions at the selection meeting. I think I actually answered most of them. But many questions politicians are asked are of the "have you stopped beating your wife?" variety. (I can answer that: I’m divorced. But not because I beat her). Or they are a complex question put in a few words without time for a full reply. So, at the meeting: “Would you put your party or your district first?” “Um..that’s a very good question.”
I said I had a core conservative principle that big Government usually gets things wrong, so it was better to have small achievable government. But accepting overriding core principles, if there was a real conflict the district had to come first. That is actually what I think – but, looking back, I can see the first stirrings of disconnected and meaningless sentences. Hopefully it will stop there.

The fundamental question of blogging

What do you put as your first sentence? Do you try a witty sideways slant at what you are going to talk about? Or do you start in a straightforward factual way? Lots of books and advice sites talk about how to set up a blog and a web site. But they don’t mention that first sentence. Or even word.

Snoopy used to start his unpublished novels:
“It was a dark and stormy night”

And it was a dark, though not particularly stormy, night when I was selected to be the Conservative candidate for Bamburgh Division in the Northumberland Unitary Authority elections. After the obligatory celebration with the local branch I had another with my neighbours. “You will have to start a blog” they said. “Er…why?” “To let people know who you are and what you are thinking”.

On reflection, they are probably right. And there’s always the chance of a book deal.