Don't let the media men spin any more area confusion

I refer to the recent poll in the local press where the usual media suspects are attempting yet again to impose Teesside upon us.

Last time they split Yorkshire into three versions so it would split the vote to get the Teesside result they wanted and Yorkshire still came out on top. So now they included just two options Teesside or Tees Valley and are claiming overwhelming support for Teesside.

This same bunch of unelected media men have been getting it wrong for decades. The same people have flitted from Teesside to Cleveland to Tees Valley and now they want to impose Teesside upon us again. It is in the vested interests of certain businesses and local media to lump us together as it suits them. It is inappropriate as much of the area is away from the River Tees. It is a rubbish marketing tool that projects the wrong image.

Our major towns are missed off road signs and don't get the publicity they need because of the media obsession with lumping us together. Their only reason is to catch readers/listeners by putting Teesside. For example if you put Saltburn no one in Stockton is interested.

We have a perfect set of names already for our villages, towns and counties we don't need to keep inventing new names.

There is not overwhelming support for Teesside rebranding. People were given only a choice between inappropriate Teesside and the totally inappropriate Tees Valley.

Cleveland Police Authority rejects Government offer of £960,000 grant to freeze Council Tax this year

I would hardly call the Northern Echo's report of the Cleveland Police Authority precept decision yesterday a fair and balanced report of the meeting.

Where is the reference to the £960,000 grant the Authority would have received had it opted for the freeze option? That is the equivalent of a 3% increase in Council Tax. Surely Council Tax payers are entitled to know they are now going to be paying £1,120,000 extra in Council Tax this year when they could have saved that 3.5% increase and received £960,000 in Government grant funding. 

The concern was that this grant may not be available next year but that is no reason not to accept it this year. I reject the claim of the acting Chief Constable that she could not manage on anything less than a 3.5% increase.

I spoke in favour of the Council Tax freeze at the meeting and voted against the 3.5% increase.

Are we the "saddest" area in the country?

A News of the World study places Middlesbrough as the "saddest place" in the country with the Borough of Redcar & Cleveland in third place.

Our area receives a lot of negative publicity about the quality of life and the health of our citizens. The response to this is usually denial and threats to boycott the messengers as seen in today's Northern Echo story.

You can't deny the fact that there are real health and sickness problems in our area; high levels of unemployment on many estates and poor housing.

Redcar's Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman, Ian Swales (pictured second left), said:

"These results certainly make me depressed. Sadly they're not surprising. High levels of people not working or having to work outside the area, the constant bother of low level crime and some parts being very run down are bound to affect people's health. Teesside has been let down by generations of politicians."

"No doubt people will try to say the results of these surveys are somehow not representative. They will probably be people with positions to protect. In fact the very people who have brought the area to it's current state. For example where are the well paid Civil Service jobs that the Government have been promising for ten years?"

Spoof letters - the plot thickens

Posted by Chris.

Whoever it is that is behind the spoof letters in the local Evening Gazette and Northern Echo that I referred to in my posting "beware of wolves in sheeps clothing," on 17th July, has sent in a comment to this blog pretending to be from one the names used.

The comment was as follows: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen Chris."

That seems like an admission to me that something is wrong. I strongly suspect that someone is indulging in a campaign to mislead the public for political gain. They may think it is OK to fill the letters pages of local papers with spoof letters to mislead the public. I think it is dishonest and corrupt.

If this person/persons would like to contact me, other than anonymously, and proves that he/she actually exists, I will be delighted to meet with them and discuss the issues they raise.

However, it is beyond belief that there are such a high number of correspondents, to these newspapers, that are clearly interested in local politics but are not on the electoral register. The other odd thing is that no one in their areas has heard of them either. Do they pay Council Tax?

Most of these letters refer to the Council Tax as if they did pay it so they should also be registered electors.