Malcolm Robinson Bedlington West Ward.

31/08/2026

On 29th January, this year, I wrote about the parish councils consultation.

I do try my best to kept everyone who follows my page up to date with what’s going on.

"Bidlington Magna"

Just been asked to complete this consultation about Parish Councils and their boundaries.

We have long since wondered why the Bedlington area was split, in fact I did a write up about it, but now we might have the chance to change it.

We might, for the sake of argument, suggest the East and West Bedlington Parish’s combine and we might even suggest the North Parish comes along too so we get something along the lines of the old BUDC back into being! That would be for the whole of Bedlingtonshire and would give far more self-determination and control.

The consultation is out so it’s up to everyone who has an opinion to voice it through this link.



Stage 1 Community Governance Review (CGR) - Public Consultation

We want to inform you that Stage 1 of the public consultation will go live on 1 February and will run to 30 April 2026.

During this consultation, we will seek views and/or proposals on existing parish boundaries, the number of councillors, and whether any new parishes should be created or existing parishes abolished or merged.

During the first stage of consultation, we will seek the views of our parishes, local people, community groups, voluntary organisations, and stakeholders, supported by our Communications and Marketing Plan to raise awareness of the Community Governance Review in Northumberland.

Community Governance Review 2026
www.northumberland.gov.uk/councillors-and-democracy/community-governance-review-2026

To support formal responses, our dedicated CGR webpage provides links to:

General information and FAQs
Current Parish arrangements
Parish five-year forecast
Parish maps

Everyone’s views matter and will help shape the future of our parish community governance.

BTW, this opens on 1st Feb.

29/08/2026

The question about possibly joining East Bedlington Parish Council and West Bedlington Town Council is now being asked by the Elections Officer at NCC.

It was discussed at the last Town Council meeting where they agreed not to submit a formal response but to wait and see.
As the County Councillor for West Bedlington I was asked to submit a response and for the sake of clarity here is the reply I submitted.

Personally speaking something which will have quite large financial impacts, especially on my constituents, needs careful consideration and with only 24 responses to the consultation its obvious the vast majority of people don’t know anything about it. In fact I would hazard a guess most people don’t know what their parish precept is and what is used for.

With zero detail I don’t think we can make a decision and I wouldn’t be happy seeing this sneak in under the radar! Let’s at least have a look under the stone!

"First can I say having been a parish councillor in West Bedlington for 4 years, and chair for two, this is a question which regularly crops up. In fact, I remember talking about it in one of the Parish Newsletters which were regularly published and sent through every door in the ward.

My position is that the only thing missing in the title Bedlington Station is the apostrophe s!

At LGR back in 2009 I suggested bringing back BUDC for the whole of Bedlingtonshire as a way to address and tackle the recognised democratic deficit. The reasons were almost exactly the same as what has been mentioned in this study.

However the three parish councils were petitioned for and created, principally out of political hubris!

So essentially I would seem supportive of the idea of a reunification.

That’s not the case!

In the intervening years it has become clear each Parish council has developed its own strategy for its own area. I have seen the three parish councils go from outright hostility to almost indifference in their relationships with their neighbouring parishes.

Each clearly does a good job within its own remit and focus, that’s unequivocal. However each has responded and developed in their own directions and now is probably best placed to deliver that work.

On a more general point I think that 24 responses to this consultation are hardly inspiring, in fact given the potential repercussions I would say derisory!

If we are going to take this question with any degree of seriousness then it needs to go to every resident within the affected areas!
Also asking for a response to this, I feel, I’m just shooting from the hip because there are no indications about what any joined up council might look like, its finances, its membership, what it means financially for each and every precept payer.

If we can’t explain that I would question if we should even be discussing the possibility.

It certainly look likely to carry a considerable financial impact onto West Bedlington residents. "

27/08/2026

Few people have asked how the Gaffer is doing, and thanks very much, well she is doing very well this time!

She had a surgery at Hexham earlier in the year and now one at North Tyneside hospital so hopefully that’s it.

Just wanted to say the staff at North Tyneside couldn’t have been more helpful, pleasant and friendly.

I’ll just let that tell its own story!

27/08/2026

As I’ve mentioned before sometimes, like a swan, it looks serene on the surface but the legs are going fifty to the dozen under the surface. The past couple of weeks have been like that with one thing and another.

First the Independent Group have been pushing to get something done about the unexpected rises in council tax a lot of people experienced last April. After speaking to officers at Citizens Advice Bureau it became obvious the size of this problem.

We pushed for a meeting with all concerned, both lead officers at CAB and NCC, and that took place. That was then followed up by a special cross party committee meeting where various options were discussed. Hopefully some resolution will follow, although I don’t suppose whatever is agreed will placate everyone. But it’s a start!
I then had various meetings about the Borderland project I’m promoting for West Lea. After getting the necessary funding to carry out a feasibility study and getting that accepted we then had to get the funding necessary for a business plan, to justify the scheme and move it forward.

That was achieved so I’ve been hustling everyone to work double fast so we can get into the very next round of scheme considerations which are middle of September.

So site visits with builders and manufacturers again pressing them to get something back to us double quick. We next have visits to the factories which make modules we are after. Once we have a first version business plan that will be submitted to see if we make it into the next round for the major funding we are after.

I have also been a pain in the derriere to the Leader of NCC mainly because my Group doesn’t think the system is being delivered properly! We have real concerns with the way some of the procedures up at the Mad House roll out.
The last one culminated in a meeting yesterday with senior officers to discuss some of my concerns and see how they were being addressed.

On top of that lot the Gaffer has just had an operation which means I’m chief cook and bottle washer for a month but she says my nursing skill are more nurse Ratched rather than Florence Nightingale, cheeky.................

26/08/2026

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/business/council-launches-new-ps20m-support-fund-for-local-businesses-8940649?fbclid=IwdGRjcAT7cMhwZG9mAWZkaWQWUNMXDmD5pWCX6jXZ-B_AyF40_WTmJmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR62aVvAWs8oVwne_n7u2Mi25pigbyy7vHcGKpVV8HlysCQPF0N1IUbKHPp-8w_aem_Sr6xmJDCmslXHUvc3b2UQw

Businesses in Northumberland are being offered the chance to share in a £20m growth fund.

25/08/2026

So the American president is going to repay their national debt essentially by using a credit card? That’s the danger electing that sort of businessman where he can just inflate corporate debt in a company he owns, take out the assets and then file for bankruptcy. Countries don’t really go that way.

Should we be worried, definitely, as the saying goes when America catches a cold we get pneumonia!
While American debt is over $40T and ours is £3T that’s a hell of a lot of zeros to service at a time when our political class want to borrow more. Any tax rises, which are sure to come, will be swallowed up by increased debt repayments so we will be sprinting to stand still!

Closer to home and we see our county debt increasing with repayment costs at the moment of around £90K for each £1M of debt, and that interest rate is only going one way too.
That’s getting up towards the cost of a new school every year or just under the costs of two all singing all dancing leisure centres.

It seems to me that we prefer to inflate our debt away rather than have strict pay down rules.

Looks like we have been too profligate with our present and sending the bills down the line into the future for our kids to pay!

The older I get the more and more it all looks to be sleight of hand!

24/08/2026

Today…..

24/08/2026

23/08/2026

Now the Mayors can over rule local planning decisions!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8m0gxexl4o?fbclid=IwdGRjcAT3qwRmdHNoBPeTMXBkb2YFZmRpZBZQ0MSfnrXgjS_UQf_aBE9L4G6tqCnCZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQKNjYyODU2ODM3OQABHudqNlbe3WzTPs3NMcQtfpysiUKTuj79CnbS8-4YhncZdtQdJP1xWWRvTjI2_aem_bLAI_KTOuUKGV0ZlxgFsjA

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the change was "essential" for helping mayors "effectively deliver new homes".