Rural parish council delivers vote of no confidence in Northumberland County Council

Parish councillors have delivered a vote of no confidence in Northumberland County Council.
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Wooler Parish Council has become increasingly frustrated by a perceived lack of action on a number of concerns.

The final straw was a site meeting with a senior council officer last week which parish chairman Mark Mather described as ‘an utter waste of time’.

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Now, the parish council intends to write an open letter to Northumberland County Council and neighbouring parish council outlining its reasons.

Wooler Co-op.Wooler Co-op.
Wooler Co-op.

County council leader Glen Sanderson will also be invited to a future meeting.

The parish council was disappointed at the authority’s recent decision to reject calls for a pedestrian crossing point at the Co-op on Market Place.

It has also called for repairs to be carried out on Common Road before proposed construction works start nearby and raised concerns about congestion on narrow sections of Ramsey’s Lane.

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Further concerns have been raised about the entrance to a new housing development on the Chatton road and the narrowness of the bridge leading to it.

Councillors have also been disappointed at the lack of progress on a pedestrian crossing on the A697 at the bottom of The Peth and raised concerns about parking issues at the bus station.

Cllr Mather said: “The site meeting was an utter waste of time by the volunteers of this parish council trying to represent this parish. I feel they are being absolutely let down.

"I came away from that meeting with no answers, just more concerns.

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"I know there are several other local parish councils who are in the same position as us in dealing with the same people and getting no response and no action.

"It’s not every department. There are some excellent staff at the council who respond to emails and telephone calls but I am at a loss (on how to proceed).

"We have tried every way we can – including four zoom calls and three hour site meeting – to be told further discussions were needed.”

Members agreed a ‘vote of no confidence in the infrastructure and investment by Northumberland County Council in our parish’.

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Council Leader Glen Sanderson: "We have received correspondence from Wooler Parish Council and will be responding to them direct to discuss their specific concerns.

"I’m sorry that communication has not worked as it usually does but we will pick up the issues.

“A senior officer did attend their last meeting and was shown the various areas of concern. The officer explained to the council where schemes were, the issues outside our control, and pledged to follow-up on other matters where the parish council felt not enough progress was being made.

“As a county council we are committed to improvements to all areas of Northumberland and addressing local concerns. We will continue our dialogue with the parish council and would reassure them we're taking their comments on board."

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