New footpaths and cycleways proposed for Levendale Estate, Yarm

We are pleased to announce that in conjunction with Stockton Borough Council we will shortly start consulting residents on proposals to create a new footpath and cycle way linking parts of the Levendale estate to Levendale Primary School.

Levendale Primary School, Yarm

Constructed during the 1970s, the Levendale estate lacks the traffic-free cycleways and 'safe routes' to the centrally located primary school that would today be insisted upon.  Not only is there no dedicated pedestrian route linking the estate to the school, neither does such a route exist linking much of the estate to the local shop.

At a meeting attended by Councillor Sherris and I, draft plans to build a new footpath & cycleway running through what was the pylon corridor linking Kirk Road with Glaisdale Road, and running east/west linking the aforementioned path with the primary school and continuing on to Mount Leven Road, near Bankside, were discussed in detail.

In order to further enhance the safety of children travelling to school, plans to implement a 20mph zone in the vicinity of the school are also to be consulted upon.

The necessary £150,000 funding for the scheme has already been secured, following a successful bid to the Department for Transport Links to Schools and Communities budget (managed by Sustrans) with matched funding being stumped up by Stockton Council.

In addition, Sustrans have also allocated a further £8,500 to promote the scheme and to work with pupils and staff at Levendale Primary School.

It is important to stress that no decisions have been taken at this stage and we are extremely keen to hear residents' views on the key principles of the scheme.

Following our success in, eventually, securing the funding for the new play area at Leven Park, we are delighted we have now been able to secure this additional money for further infrastructure improvements in Yarm.

We hope to shortly announce the date of a drop-in consultation at which residents can view the initial draft scheme and to make their opinions heard. Should you not be able to attend the forthcoming consultation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly for further details.

Finally, a mention and our thanks should go to Jonathan Kibble at Stockton Council for all his hard work in securing the funding and progressing the concept thus far.

Government recognises the true Yorkshire boundary

To celebrate Saint George's day, the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (and a proud Yorkshireman to boot, hailing from Keighley - the town of my father's birth), announced the Government will formally acknowledge traditional county boundaries. (This piece in the Dalesman summarises matters beautifully).


A map of traditional county boundaries © Copyright the
Association of British Counties



As a consequence of the Local Government Act 1972, many parts of Yorkshire were carved off and swallowed up by newly created entities (into the so-called 'county' of Cleveland, for example). Yarm-on-Tees was one of the victims of this ill-considered piece of legislation. A brief summary of the administrative changes affecting Yarm can be found here.

Of course, this announcement will not materially change anything. The cross-county atrocity of Stockton Borough Council, created in 1996, will continue to exist in its current form. For now...

The announcement is, however, a powerful acknowledgement of the role of traditional counties throughout the history of our nation. Indeed, many of our traditional counties (including Yorkshire) predate the very Kingdom itself. It is also a welcome recognition of the key role of traditional counties in the shaping of individuals', and our nation's, identity.

Furthermore, there was one comment in the Government's announcement in particular which made the heart sing:

"He [Eric Pickles MP] will encourage local residents to continue to champion such local identities, irrespective of current tiers of local administration."

Many in Yarm (including the town's self-styled "mayor", Jason Hadlow), having seen the growing groundswell of residents keen to see Yarm once again under the control of an administration rooted firmly and entirely with North Yorkshire, are keen to jump on the bandwagon. It is telling that many of those now espousing recognition of the town's Yorkshire roots have hitherto done nothing whatsoever to mark or achieve this.

So, as a quick and easy first step, I have an idea...

The current signs 'welcoming' people to Yarm (below) completely fail to reflect the town's historic roots. Whilst mentioning the town's recent links to the towns in France and Germany with which it is twinned, it mentions nothing of our centuries old ties with the North Riding of Yorkshire. (That's not to mention the tired state of the signs, to put it politely.)


The 'welcome' sign for residents entering North Yorkshire
from County Durham over the River Tees from Eaglescliffe

At the next meeting of Yarm Town Council I will therefore be asking the council to consider replacing the current tired, old signs with something much more in keeping with our historic town and which highlights, loud and proud, that Yarm lies, as it has always lain, within the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Granted, it's a small first step, but might oaks from tiny acorns grow.

Labour scaremongering over schools' closure

Stockton Labour’s cynical scaremongering plumbed new depths this week with Labour MP, Alex Cunningham, attempting to goad Michael Gove with the suggestion that a decision to proceed with the Ingleby Manor Free School would result in surplus secondary school places across the borough and the closure of some schools (read the Northern Echo's report here).

Alex Cunningham MP scaremongering in the Commons

The suggestion that a new secondary school within the borough, a school which will ultimately, but not for a number of years, accommodate 900 pupils will result in school closures is demonstrably absurd.

Perhaps Alex Cunningham and Labour are oblivious to the fact that the Labour-dominated planning committee has already granted approvals to a number of planning applications that will see thousands of new homes (some presumably housing children) built across the borough?

Perhaps they are oblivious to a number of current and anticipated planning applications which, following the usual rubber-stamping process by Stockton's Labour council, could see hundreds, if not thousands, more homes gifted planning approval?

Or perhaps, in Alex’s craven desire to secure cheap headlines, he has overlooked the fact that the borough’s primary schools are bursting at the seams already and Stockton’s Labour council is rapidly running out of ideas and options as to how we can accommodate an ever increasing number of primary school age children?

A Labour MP’s ignorance of facts, either unintentionally or deliberately, is not news. Indeed, it is par for the course.

However, to deliberately try to frighten residents, not just in Yarm and Eaglescliffe but across the entire borough, with unfounded talk of school closures is nothing short of outrageous. That he is referred to in Parliament as the ‘honourable member’ is the most laughable misnomer I have come across in a very long time.

If there is one crumb of consolation to come from this sorry episode it is the fact that outstanding schools such as Conyers will continue to go from strength to strength for decades after opportunists like Alex Cunningham MP have been long forgotten.

Stockton Conservatives to boycott council AGM

As a result of Stockton Council's refusal to hold a minute's silence in memory of Lady Thatcher at its AGM to be held next Wednesday - the same day as Lady Thatcher's funeral - Conservatives on Stockton Council are set to boycott the meeting.

Lady Thatcher, the UK's first woman Prime Minster

Following such a disrespectful decision from Stockton Council, it was out of the question that I would attend the AGM.  Largely a ceremonial event nowadays for the nodding dogs to welcome the new mayor for the forthcoming year, to refuse to hold a minute's silence for the country's first and only woman Prime Minister demonstrates what a callous and childish bunch make up, for the most part, Stockton's councillors.

Earlier this week I was proud that my request at Yarm Town Council to stand for a minute's silence was agreed unanimously and observed impeccably by all councillors and members of the public present.

Not all those in attendance were Conservative, or even small 'c' conservative, by any stretch of the imagination. Many at the meeting disagreed with some of her policies fiercely and remain bitter about them to this day.

It is a measure of those that attended the meeting that they were decent enough to mark the passing of such an historic figure, the like of whom we are unlikely to see again.

The outgoing Mayor of Stockton, councillor Lynne Apedaile, has been exemplary in the way she has conducted herself during her mayoral year. I would hope all councillors, irrespective of political persuasion, would agree that she has been an example for all future mayors to emulate and she should look back on her year in office with great pride.

However, the response to be issued by Stockton Council in the event of any media enquiries is pretty shameful. It reads,

"I believe there are more appropriate forums and enough other opportunities for local politicians to express their own respects and thoughts to the news of Baroness Thatcher’s death."

Quite how or why it is felt 'inappropriate' for the council to acknowledge the passing of Lady Thatcher at its first meeting since her death is not explained.

It is a sorry state of affairs, and just the latest sad indictment of some of the characters we have on Stockton Council, that they can't even bring themselves to stand for a minute's silence. This is party political bitterness from the Labour benches to a degree that I have never before experienced, and would hope I never have to witness again.

I regret that I will not now be attending the AGM, but I am proud my fellow Conservative councillors do not wish to have anything to do with the meeting either.