Our area needs Real Change

Only Liam will deliver it

Labour have run North Tyneside Council for 12 years and things have never been worse. Our roads and pavements are falling apart, our town centres are a mess and crime and anti-social behaviour is out of control.

I have a plan to turn things around and deliver real change for North Tyneside. You can read it below 👇🏻

Putting value for money at the heart of what the Council does

Taxpayers across North Tyneside have become used to the same old story. Every year we pay more and get less. Council Tax goes up while service quality goes down. Money is splashed on expensive vanity projects, while the Council struggles to get the basics right.

As Local Conservatives we know that you are the best person to make decisions about where your money goes. That is why we will:

  • Keep Council Tax low, focussing instead on making sure the Council delivers value for money for our residents.

  • Eliminate waste on luxuries, by getting rid of the Mayor’s Chauffeur driven car, reviewing Councillors’ Expenses, and cutting Councillors’ Special Responsibility Allowances.

  • Put a stop to vanity projects like the £12 million seafront Cycle Path, pausing every project until the value for money can be proven. If it can’t we will scrap the project altogether and save you the money.

  • Focus the Council’s £180 million pound budget on getting the basics right, fixing our roads, keeping our streets clean, protecting our pensioners, tackling anti-social behaviour and properly regenerating our town centres.

  • Introduce a ‘Local First’ approach to procurement, which means when a local business can provide the same service at a good price we always choose the local option. We will also work with local businesses to help them do more business with the Council, using the 2012 Social Value Act to change our procurement rules.

Keeping our Communities Safe

Over the past decade in North Tyneside we have seen a huge increase in crime and anti-social behaviour with issues like shoplifting becoming particularly prevalent.  The Labour candidate says this is ‘misinformation’ - residents know it to be the truth.

Local Councils can play a huge part in keeping communities safe and tackling anti-social behaviour. So Local Conservatives will:

• Recruit a new community warden for every neighbourhood with enhanced powers, specifically to tackle anti-social behaviour within communities. They will establish where hotspots are and work directly with the police to stamp it out as early as possible.

• Develop innovative ways to tackle specific elements of anti-social behaviour by introducing ticket barriers at problem Metro stations, increasing the number of CCTV Cameras in our town centres to deter shoplifting, and deploying drones as a rapid response to reduce motorbike crime within our estates.

• Establish ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ and ‘Speed Watch’ groups across the borough so you can report intelligence on the ground back to the Council and the Police. These groups will be vital in ensuring our new community wardens know exactly the issues they need to prioritise.

• Provide a free home security check for pensioners, so that elderly residents are properly protected. We will also provide free personal safety alarms where residents request them.

• Introduce tougher measures to tackle speeding with 20mph areas where appropriate,  better road markings and increased speed calming measures across the borough.

Protecting our environment and building beautiful places to live

Through the pandemic we all realised the importance of having open green spaces and a pleasant environment near to home. They have hugely positive benefits on our wellbeing. We also recognise that too often people are forced to live in poor quality rented accommodation with no real prospect of getting on the housing ladder.

The issue of protecting our environment is directly linked to housing. So as Mayor Liam will:

  • Protect our green belt from over-development, instead we will prioritise brownfield sites across the Borough and redeveloping disused office space. We will push back against Labour’s new national housing targets which will put unbearable strain on our local public services.

  • Scrap the Council’s Carbon Net-Zero by 2030 target. This will save local taxpayers millions of pounds every year and mean there is more money for your priorities.

  • Keep fortnightly bin collections, restore free brown bin collections for pensioners, introduce food waste collections and provide families with bigger bins for their convenience.

  • Scrap the appointment system at the Howdon Recycling Centre which was introduced during covid but never removed. We will also get residents in the North West of the Borough access to Brunswick Tip.

  • Instead of waiting until there is a problem, we will maintain and prune trees all year round and completely rewrite the tree policy. We should not have to deal with overgrown trees damaging our houses, obstructing light, or causing problems with pavements.

  • We will end rough sleeping for veterans within North Tyneside To do this, we will work with charities and other third sector organisations. This partnership will also work to increase accommodation and support for victims of domestic violence.

  • Work with the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to improve housing supply in areas where there is high demand and tackle poor quality rented housing throughout the Borough.

  • Build new social housing, paid for by the profits from the council’s trading company. This will help reduce the housing waiting list and free up existing housing stock.

  • Introduce a register of Approved Private Landlords to highlight where the private rental sector works well within the borough. We will also take a proactive approach to cracking down on rouge landlords with additional resources.

Fixing our roads and keeping North Tyneside moving

Poor transport is one of the most frustrating issues that we face on a daily basis, whether that be damaging cars on our shoddy roads or through unreliable bus services.

Local Conservatives have a plan to make journeys safer, faster and more reliable. We will:

  • Clear Labour’s £36 million roads and pavements backlog and begin a full programme of road and pavement renewal. This will ensure every single road and pavement in North Tyneside is up to scratch so you have safer, smoother journeys

  • Leverage private investment to introduce new, free hop-on bus services to our town centres, meaning no-matter where you live in the Borough you will have free access to your nearest high street. This will boost the regeneration of our town centres and give residents the reassurance they need that connectivity across our borough is vitally important to us.

  • Make it cheaper for people to shop local and have a day out with their family by Introducing a reduced rate of parking for residents of North Tyneside. We will also introduce free 2-hour parking for visitors who eat at one of our amazing restaurants and cafes, boosting local business.

  • Refocus active-travel investment to transform our Waggonways making journeys safer for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists by giving cyclists a roadway of their own.

  • Hire more parking wardens for residential areas, to enforce permit parking and ensure that residents can always get parked close to home.

  • Refuse to implement a Clean Air Zone in North Tyneside. We already pay hundreds in road tax, residents shouldn’t be punished just because they can’t afford a new car.

  • Bring forward a comprehensive EV charging strategy which includes giving residents the ability to charge on-street outside of their home, installing solar panels above Council car parks to provide cheaper public EV charging and providing support to private enterprise to install more charging points across the borough.

Properly regenerating our town centres and growing our local economy

The changing face of our high streets comes up time and time again as one of your main concerns. And while some work has been successful, like in Whitley Bay, other areas like Walland and North Shields remain in a downhill spiral.

Regenerating our town centres is the only way to grow our local economy. But it must be done fairly for all communities.. That is why as Mayor Liam will will:

  • Work with the owners of local shopping centres to offer cheaper rents and improved shopping areas to attract high street brands and more local start ups.

  • Run regular free bus services from communities to their nearest town centre, helping bring more visitors to the centres so they can enjoy the new shops that will be available to them

  • Establish Town Centre Partnerships which will work with business owners and the local community to ensure regeneration work follows their priorities. We will enhance community involvement in the regeneration process through town hall meetings and local residents forums in cunjunction with the Business Factory and Chambers.

  • Work to secure private investment and grant funding to fully commit to the Tynemouth Outdoor Pool regeneration. This will bring yet another wonderful attraction to our coastline.

  • Start work to bring a Freeport to the Port of Tyne, by working with the North East Mayor. This will bring more high-paying jobs to North Tyneside as we use a Brexit benefit to get investment into our area. We will also establish a Taskforce to support funding opportunities for our fishing fleet at North Shields and protect fishing in Cullercoats.

Making sure every child has the tools to achieve their full potential

Education is the singe most effective way to boost opportunity and social mobility, but for too many children in North Tyneside our schools don’t always meet the high standards we expect. We know teachers work long hours but unless the support is there from the Council, our hardworking staff are pushing at a closed door.

Local Conservatives want every child to achieve their full potential and all of our teachers to be empowered to do just that. That is why we will:

  • Improve school OFSTED ratings across the borough, improving educational outcomes and giving our kids the best start in life. We will achieve this by establishing a new ‘Raising Standards’ department within the existing education department, with its focus being on delivering skills, training and support to our excellent teachers.

  • Commit to the three-tier system in Whitley Bay and expand it. We know that it is popular with parents because it pushes up standards, its future has been thrown into doubt by Labour’s closure of Monkseaton High School.

  • Introduce auto-enrollment for children eligible for free school meals, ensuring all eligible children receive the support they need and there is no stigma attached to the program.

  • Work with regional Higher Education partners to expand Further Education provision in North Tyneside focussing on delivering the green skills for the future. This will be funded by releasing hundreds of thousands of pounds of government investment (called an apprenticeship levy) that is currently held up by red tape.

Increasing life expectancy and making our residents healthier

It is a scandal that residents living in a some parts of North Tyneside will have their lives cut short by up to a decade compared to residents in more well off areas. Local leaders have so far failed to tackle this and decisions on our healthcare options are often not fully scrutinised.

Closing the gap in life expectancy should be one of the main priorities of the Council. That is why Local Conservatives will:

  • Return 24-hour A&E services to Rake Lane, giving residents a more convenient way to access emergency care especially in the middle of the night. Since services were moved to NSECH at Cramlington residents have faced the choice of an expensive taxi journey or to wait until 8am to visit Rake Lane. This is unacceptable and we will change it.

  • Restore walk-in services at Battle Hill. Residents in Wallsend and the surrounding areas are forced to travel to the coast, Cramlington or Newcastle to use walk-in services. With GP appointments difficult to access, these appointments are a lifeline for residents who need to be seen that day. So we will work with the NHS Trust to return these services to Battle Hill.

  • Cut dental wait times by setting up a local Dental commission. Some communities in North Tyneside face a wait of four years just to get a check up, forcing them to go private and putting more pressure on their cost of living. So our Commission will bring together leading dental professionals and NHS commissioners on a regular basis to iron out the problems and get residents the dental care they deserve.

  • Work with local charities to set up Mental Health clinics across the borough, giving residents access to qualified mental health professionals without a GP referral. This will significantly improve health outcomes and lead to residents living happier lives.