Reports from our County Councillors #137
Councillor Terry Clark
As winter closes in the catastrophe embodied by the cost of living crisis will only become clearer. People are going to face hard times over the coming months with rapidly rising inflation.
Many people will be counting the pennies just to stay afloat with energy bills going through the roof, plunging many into fuel poverty and with every week that passes it’s becoming increasingly difficult to put food on the table. The stark reality is that groceries and petrol bills are surging and rising every week. This puts further pressure on all our living standards.
All these factors have contributed to a situation where poverty, including in-work poverty, is at a record high leaving many people facing impossible choices between eating and heating. At the same time real wages are failing to keep pace, meaning families everywhere are feeling the pinch. We have had a decade of stagnating wages, our social safety net being torn apart, then a pandemic that has hit low paid workers the hardest.
We do not live in Charles Dickens’ nineteenth century. We need fair pay deals to match rising costs, we need a fairer tax system, a windfall tax on the Oil and Gas giants raking in record profits. We need to prioritise the well-being of the many before the interests of a very few.
If you should find yourself, or anyone you know, needing a bit of extra support or in a difficult situation; perhaps your financial circumstances have changed with reduced hours, redundancy or benefit changes; or you are worried about bills, financial pressure or costs of living; or concerned about a neighbour, then please contact :
• Northumberland Communities Together, a response hub that can signpost you to much needed advice. NCT@northumberland.gov.uk. Phone 01670 620015. 9am-6pm 7 days a week. Northumberland.gov.uk/support
• Citizens advice Northumberland. Contact details: www.citizensadvicenorthumberland.org.uk Advice line 0808 278 7944. Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm.
• Universal credit help 0800 144 8444.
• Debt & Money advice 01670 339 960.
• Energy advice 01670 339 749.
I hope that even in the most difficult of circumstances, everyone is able to have a happy, healthy, and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
I know a better future is possible.
Cllr Terry Clark Amble, Hauxley and North Broomhill.
Councillor Jeff Watson
I am pleased to see that the speed awareness sign on the approach to Amble on Rotary Way is up and operating properly. The installation of this sign was funded by monies available to me through Northumberland County Council and will be maintained by Warkworth Parish Council.
This installation means that all the approaches to Amble on my Ward now have speed awareness signs and hopefully this will regulate the excessive speeds we sometimes see by motorists.
I am aware of some mud on Acklington Road resulting from the building of the new homes adjacent to Robsons Way. I have reported this to the enforcement officer of NCC
Several residents have complained about irresponsible drivers parking in dangerous places to offload or pick up young people from JCSC. The traffic regulation department NCC has been informed and they will pay more attention to this and issue tickets if necessary.
The completed Statutory Consultation on Proposals for the Coquet Partnership is awaiting the Cabinet approval of NCC and will be published shortly.
It was good to see the tremendous turn out for Remembrance Day and proves to me that Amble does not forget the sacrifices made by our local sons and daughters in the Armed Forces.
I am available on jeffrey.watson@northumberland.gov.uk
and by phone
07802385367
