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By ROB PARSONS - July 29 2022
Leeds United don't kick off their season for a few more days but there was a partisan crowd of a different type at their Elland Road stadium last night.
Hundreds of Conservative members from across the North packed out the club's Centenary Pavilion, described as one of the biggest event spaces in the North, to hear from Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as they made their pitch to be the next Prime Minister.
The two-hour event saw the two Tory leadership rivals quizzed by LBC's Nick Ferrari before taking questions from the party members who will ultimately choose the next resident of 10 Downing Street.
Your Northern Agenda writer was in the audience too, and here are a few of the talking points that emerged from the first in a series of official hustings.
Truss wants to channel the spirit of Don Revie:
If the popularity of the two is to be judged by rounds of applause from the audience, Leeds-educated Liz Truss came out on top. She peppered her speech and answers with references tailor-made for the Yorkshire audience, saying she'd got “grit, determination and straight-talking” from her years in Yorkshire and that is what is needed in Downing Street as “we face a huge global economic crisis”. After admitting she supported Norwich City FC she added: “I do want us to channel the spirit of Don Revie” – a former Leeds United and England manager – because “we need to win”.
Sunak wants to spread Teesside optimism across the North:
As the Chancellor who set up a Treasury base in Darlington and was responsible for freeports on Merseyside, the Humber and Teesside, Mr Sunak was put out at the suggestion he wasn't doing enough for the North. In response to a question by 'Henry' from Cheshire he said the Teesside freeport was attracting investment from industries of the future. He added: "It's a place brimming with opportunity and optimism about the future. I worked with people like [Tees Valley mayor] Ben Houchen to help deliver that and I want to bring that same degree of optimism across this country and the North."
Tax is a big dividing line:
Mr Sunak took a veiled swipe at Ms Truss by saying he would not “embark on a spree, borrowing tens and tens of billions of pounds of unfunded promises and put them on the country’s credit card”. Meanwhile, Ms Truss criticised windfall taxes – something Mr Sunak imposed as a one-off on energy companies as chancellor. She said: “I don’t believe in windfall taxes, because they put off future investment."
Many Yorkshire Tories don't want Boris to go:
Parts of the audience clapped when the host mentioned support for Boris Johnson being added to the ballot paper for the leadership. Nick Ferrari referenced reports that around 14,000 members of the Conservative Party wanted Mr Johnson’s name on the ballot, pausing as clapping and some cheers were audible. Later an audience member accused Mr Sunak of stabbing the PM in the back. Mr Sunak said: "It’s incumbent on the Prime Minister to have the confidence of the parliamentary party, and that wasn’t there at the end."
But they're mostly happy with the alternatives:
Speaking to Press Association's Dave Higgens outside the venue, Tory members said they were relieved both candidates came across as potential Prime Ministers. Maria Broadhead, from Pickering in North Yorkshire, said: “I was impressed with the hustings. I was impressed with the tone. I think Liz Truss performed the best I have seen her perform. I think she answered all the questions that needed answering." She added: “But I think we are in safe hands and either would make a good premier."
Bid to lure nation's adrenaline junkies to Scarborough
It's already a popular destination for holidaymakers and beach lovers, but now council chiefs in Scarborough are drawing up plans to make the borough a “destination of choice” for adventure activities.
A new feasibility study and a large public consultation launched by the council aim to establish Scarborough as an international destination of choice for adrenaline experiences and adventure sports, as Local Democracy Reporter Anttoni James Numminen writes.
The study proposes an “inward capital investment” of £20m to create an “inland surfing centre” as well as investing £2m on a climbing, BMX, and skating centre, with a combined economic gain of up to £1.2m annually.
According to the council, the vision for Scarborough to be a destination for adrenaline sports is driven by the desire to “maximise the interaction” between visitors, enthusiasts, and the natural landscapes in the borough.
It says a joined-up approach that brings the whole borough together” is required for Scarborough to be “truly considered a destination of choice” while providing “year-round availability for adrenaline experiences and adventure sports” that are linked to commercial and cultural offerings such as hotels, cafés, and equipment stores.
The plan also sets out potential locations for the various activities across Scarborough, Whitby, Filey, Danby, Robin Hood’s Bay, and Cayton Bay.
But away from these eyecatching plans, who should be responsible for promoting tourism along the Yorkshire coast?
Currently Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District (Bid) uses a mandatory levy from more than 1,300 firms between Staithes and Spurn Point to promote tourism. But many local businesses don't feel they're being listened to by the private, not-for-profit company.
As Alexandra Wood reports for The Yorkshire Post, a vote of no confidence was unanimously passed by Scarborough councillors at an extraordinary general meeting at Scarborough Town Hall yesterday afternoon. The motion passed by councillors included a resolution to "work with the Bid to bring about its speedy closure".
Baby-killer's anger management issues hidden from authorities
A horrifying story emerged yesterday from Cumbria, where a review revealed a woman who murdered a baby she was hoping to adopt previously told a therapist she had anger management issues and drank six bottles of wine a week.
The “critical information” disclosed by Laura Castle was not shared with her GP and consequently was not available to the adoption panel that went on to approve her, as Kim Pilling of Press Association reports.
Leiland-James Corkill had been placed with Castle, 38, and her 35-year-old husband Scott in Barrow-in-Furness by the authorities less than five months before his death from catastrophic head injuries. Castle was jailed for his murder in May.
Yesterday, a child safeguarding practice review into the case revealed that Castle, who already had a birth child, was receiving “talking therapy” with an NHS-commissioned service when she applied in January 2019 to be an adoptive parent.
Information held by the First Step programme showed she had issues with “low mood, anxiety and anger management”. Castle failed to mention those details in the adoption application process and no safeguarding concerns were raised by First Step, which was not aware the couple had applied to adopt, the review said.
The boy's mother Laura Corkhill told the BBC that council authorities should take some responsibility for his death. She said Cumbria County Council was partly to blame for removing her son from her just hours after he was born.
Cheaper bus fares not yet 'signed, sealed and delivered'
Back in June, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham announced plans for a new fare structure on local buses to start from September in a bid to help passengers with the cost of living crisis.
Under the new system, single journeys on any local bus would be capped at £2 for adults and £1 for children while multi-operator day tickets would cost £5.
But speaking on BBC Radio Manchester yesterday, the Labour mayor - who plans to take buses into public control from next year - said the short-term plans had still not been signed off by local bus companies.
Bus companies said they were supportive of bringing forward the cheaper fares which would be funded by a government grant subsidising the tickets. As Local Democracy Reporter Joseph Timan writes, the plans rely on private bus firms agreeing to the deal.
Mr Burnham said: “I can’t say this morning that it’s signed, sealed and delivered. What I can say is I am very optimistic we’ll be able to do the right deal in the next couple of weeks to say that it starts in early September.
“We’ve not quite got to that point yet, so I’m just going to be honest with you. But I’m very hopeful that that will be in place.”
In the North East, a bus boss has denied a “brutal slice and dice” of the region’s public transport network after a swathe of cuts came into force, writes Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Holland.
Reduced timetables on dozens of Go North East services across County Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside, and parts of the Tyne Valley in Northumberland began operating last Sunday.
Routes in Newcastle and North Tyneside were also slashed earlier this year, while other bus operators are expected to follow suit in the coming months.
But Martijn Gilbert, managing director of Go North East, told councillors that the cuts were needed to reflect a shift to more people working from home and other post-pandemic changes to living patterns, with bus passengers levels having stabilised at roughly 75% of pre-Covid rates.
Sheffield council steels itself for cuts after using up £25m reserves
It's got its chief executive Kate Josephs back after five months on gardening leave, but there are worrying signs coming out of Sheffield council as officers try to balance its books.
This week a senior finance officer said the authority - run by a Labour-Green coalition - has used all of its reserves already, adding pressure on councillors to make big service cuts, as Local Democracy Reporter Molly Williams writes.
Ryan Keyworth, director of finance, told the latest meeting of the finance sub-committee that the £25 million set aside to manage budget overspends is now gone.
Shaffaq Mohammed, leader of Sheffield Liberal Democrats and member of the committee, said there were £15 million worth of savings offered last year that Labour and the Green Party decided not to take that are now likely to be on the table again soon. This included cutting expensive home packages for social care.
Meanwhile it's emerged that Sheffield council’s delay in implementing its Clean Air Zone cost the authority £1.2 million in lost income.
The city’s Clean Air Zone will now not be implemented until 2023, two years after the government’s deadline which council officers said poses “serious risk” of legal challenges and losing funding.
Also counting the cost of its decisions is Warrington council, whose ‘likely maximum exposure’ following its failed investment into Together Energy is the potential loss of £18 million.
The energy company, in which the council has a 50% stake, announced it was to cease trading immediately back in January.
As Local Democracy Reporter Aran Dhillon writes, a council report describes how Together Energy was placed into administration due to ‘volatility and challenges in the European energy markets’.
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Northern Stories
A programme to re-introduce endangered ospreys to a remote corner of the North after more than two centuries has seen its 100th chick take to the air. The milestone was reached when a chick called Fourlaws summoned up the courage to leave its nest and flew over Kielder Forest in Northumberland. Watched by her timid sister, Fourlaws was captured on a camera over their nest making her first flight on Wednesday morning, returning 35 minutes later.
An East Lancashire borough leader has hailed the rise in its population after years of decline. Afrasiab Anwar said the latest national 2021 census figures revealed Burnley’s population had increased by 7,000. Its 2011 equivalent showed the borough’s population had dropped by 2.8% from 89,500 to 87,000 over 10 years. The councillor said it was "really positive news for the borough".
Plans to build a block of flats in part of a South Manchester Tesco car park have been thrown out by councillors after hundreds of residents objected. The six-storey building with 75 flats dubbed ‘Blackbird Yard’ would have been built at the bottom of the car park of Tesco off Parrs Wood Lane in Didsbury. But more than 200 residents wrote to the council raising concerns about the traffic and parking problems that the build-to-rent development would cause.
As Sheffield basks in the excitement of the Women’s Euros coming to the city, including the Lionesses’ historic semi-final win at Bramall Lane, a new exhibition celebrates the city’s ‘herstory’ of women’s football. Stoppage Time: Sheffield Women’s Football Herstory Exhibition has kicked off in the Central Library and the Winter Garden. Sheffield Lord Mayor Sioned-Mair Richards officially opened the exhibition. The Stoppage Time exhibition recognises and celebrates women’s involvement in football in Sheffield and beyond, from the 19th century to the present day.
The NHS is closing its gender identity clinic for children and young people and replacing it with a regional network after it was told that only having one provider “is not a safe or viable long-term option”. The contract for the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust will be brought to a close. It is taking “immediate steps” to establish two services led by specialist children’s hospitals in London and the North West, the latter led by Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Church and council leaders have been told a housing developer’s plan to remove gravestones from an early Victorian churchyard without moving the bodies would be “vaguely sacrilegious and a little distasteful”. Dozens of residents in the Great Fencote area north of Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, have objected to Ian Shipley’s proposal to convert the early Victorian St Andrew’s Church in the village into a three-bedroom home, ahead of Hambleton District Council’s planning committee considering the scheme this week. The church was formally closed for worship in 2019.
