2nd March 2011
As a resident of Melbury and Warkworth Woods, you may recall receiving a letter from Newcastle City Council in July last year with regard to Community Governance Reviews and parish council boundaries. The letter explained that three of the six Parish Councils in the City asked the City Council to undertake Community Governance Reviews, which if successful, would mean that the parish council boundaries for North Gosforth would be redrawn to exclude Newcastle Great Park.
The Council agreed to carry out this review as the last time the boundaries were redrawn was in 2002 when approval was given by the City Council for the boundaries for the West Ward of North Gosforth Parish Council to be extended to include Cell I of Newcastle Great Park (Melbury and Warkworth Woods), which area previously formed part of Hazlerigg Parish, using the A1 as the natural boundary for that particular development.
The letter you received in July was the beginning of a consultation process, inviting the views of residents in Hazlerigg and Woolsington, as were those of the residents of Melbury and Warkworth Woods directly affected by the proposals in North Gosforth. This was because the Parish Council were asking that the western boundary of the parish be amended to run along the perimeter of Brunton Park and immediately north of the estate, with the boundary to run west of the B1318 to join the A1056, excluding North Brunton.
The response time was extended to take into account the summer holiday season, and comments and objections were taken to the Constitutional Committee on the 5th October 2010. There were very few responses – none at all from Hazlerigg or Woolsington – and all were objections from Melbury and Warkworth Woods. The main themes were the extra precept paid by the new residents over the years, their support for local facilities in Brunton Park and their isolation from the rest of the Newcastle Great Park.
The Constitutional Committee found the case not proven and their recommendations were to go to full Council on the 3rd November for approval, but before that happened, the North Gosforth Parish Council requested that the decision be deferred because they felt the rest of the parish (Melton Park and Brunton Park) should have been consulted.
The Council agreed to make the changes affecting Hazlerigg and Woolsington and deferred the decision on North Gosforth. The original request then went back to the Constitutional Committee where it was agreed to undertake further consultation. There was no need for the Council to re-consult with Melbury & Warkworth Woods as we had previously been consulted. The Parish Council was refused permission to manage the distribution of the consultation letter, nor were they permitted to include a separate letter in the Council’s mail drop to Melton Park and Brunton Park residents. The letter from the City Council to Melton Park and Brunton Park residents was finally despatched using the City Council delivery agency last Monday 21st February 2011 with four weeks allowed for responses to the 21st March 2011. The responses will go back to the Constitutional Committee on the first Tuesday in June because of the local elections to be held in May and the requisite period of purdah required from the 25th March 2011.
The Parish Council did subsequently send out a separate letter later in the same week to Brunton Park and Melton Park residents, setting out their reasons why the boundary should be changed to exclude the Great Park. The content of their letter gives misleading information and is defamatory and vexatious in the extreme, and as there is no mechanism for the residents of Melbury and Warkworth Woods to redress the balance, the Residents’ Association has complained to the Head of Democratic Services that these actions do not constitute a fair or equitable consultation process.
Ian Poll, the Head of Democratic Services at Newcastle City Council attended our Committee Meeting on the 28th February 2011 and has requested a copy of the Parish Council letter from their clerk. We are not formally involved in this new period of consultation, but if you share our view that this consultation is not being carried out on a level playing field, you should immediately write to Ian Poll at Newcastle City Council, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 2BN with your views or email ian.poll{at}newcastle.gov.uk by the 21st March 2011.
Should the Parish Council be successful in manipulating our exclusion, and taking into consideration the proposed closure of the bridge over the A1, Melbury and Warkworth Woods residents will be cast aside, cut off and become isolated from the Great Park as a whole. Until both Melbury and Warkworth Woods are formally adopted, we rely on the Parish Council as the conduit between ourselves and the City Council. Without them, we do not have representation at the Newcastle Great Park Advisory Committee meetings. Without us, they would not have the benefit of the precept monies the City Council collect from us on our Council tax on their behalf.
Despite the fact there has been no spend for the betterment of the Great Park, we do enjoy the benefits of being part of the North Gosforth Parish Council and Brunton Park community – the shops, play areas, the Church and community centres, all of whom have benefitted from our financial contribution to the Parish Council over the years.
