THE PARTIES ARE TOO BUSY

LOOKING AFTER THEMSELVES TO

WORRY ABOUT YOU

Huge sums of money are currently being

overspent throughout Northumberland.

I will give details in a moment but the

Labour did not even produce an alternative

budget in 2025. Money for nothing.

A classic example is the Members Local

Improvement Scheme. This is one of the few

funding schemes which your local councillor

has influence on how it is spent.

Let me be clear it is not directly your

councillors fault on how this money is

this systematic waste was shocking to me

when I first delved into the spending.

I’m sure all 67 councillors work hard and

care for their constituents - so how does

this waste continue?

My case is that the party system - which

can take away any candidate's hard earned

Councils all over the country are short of

housing, school funding, social care and

have an abundance of the classic council

complaint - potholes!

So what are we spending on instead of all

of the above?

Three of our wards spent a combined

£22,000 on a new projector for the cinema.

The monument on Beaumont street is a

signature of the town but is spending

£15,000 on refurbishment really the best way

to spend that amount of money? Did we even

get a second quote?

The system is set up in a way that if the

councillor didn’t spend money on these items

they would lose the money altogether.

If the cricketers don’t want to pay for a

new patio - why should those that don’t play

cricket pay? If you don’t or can’t pay your

council tax you can have your possessions

taken - and for what? A lawn mower?

It is not the council's place to be

spending money on such things but the

councillor has no choice.

When I rang council staff to learn more,

they told me that when councillors promote

anything else - the criteria doesn’t allow

them.

radar 30 mph signs - some costing £7,000.

It’s not the council’s responsibility to

try and persuade a driver to stick to the

speed limits - unless the sign has flashing

lights”.

The law even states that councils are

not allowed to have ‘repeater 30 mph

signs’ on the roadside because the

driver should not need reminding once

they have seen the first 30 mph sign -

it is the driver's responsibility.

But the limits on spending on anything of

real value or future benefit mean it is

inevitable flashy purchases like this are

If you’re ever going through Gunnerton,

try and find the £19,100 spent on ‘traffic

was to always spend £10,000 - £20,000

whenever there was evidence of sustained

speeding on a section of road, we would have

no money for schools or food or anything at

camera van and make some money.

This is just one of the methods that the

parties in control of central government

force upon councils so they waste money.

Then when the bad times come, they can blame

This problem will only be solved by an

independent candidate who can take a lead in

challenging this waste and I know all the

links below;

Member Improvement Scheme 2017-2021

Member Improvement Scheme 2021-2025

The C218 road where £19,000 was spent on traffic

calming

C221 where over £10,000 was spent on traffic calming

Email: jevon@jevonscudamore.com

* Our local government has more centralised control than even

the nine former soviet republics which are now part of the EU.

83% of the council budget is granted and therefore controlled

by Westminster.