Conservative policy during the 1980s to run down trade union power and turn the nation into a ‘service society’ through offshoring our textile, clothing and production industries, reducing the circle of trade between our heavy industry’ and our national steel production, then they began to lower and cheapen the strain on the NHS through closure of industries such as coal whilst outsourcing government and local government contracts to the cheapest tender caused many Council’s to attempt to strengthen their value to communities through doing the best they could to minimise risk to their residents.
Blyth Valley Council, a borough council formed in 1974, covering the largest percentage of the Counties urban population, was presented during the 1980s with a number of reports centred on the growing poverty and health problems linked to unemployment, worklessness and the fallout from heavy industry. This, followed the experience during the 1960’s of the former Blyth Town and Seaton Valley Council’s which were morphed into the new borough from the sudden loss of Blyth’s shipbuilding industry losing 1,400 jobs overnight and the NCB’s rundown of collieries in the south east corner of the counties coalfield in Seghill, Seaton Delaval and Cramlington.
The answer to many of the health problems of Blyth Valley’s former heavy industry workers who experienced many chest and breathing complaints and develop a mask to hide the problems of its high unemployment and worklessness base caused was looked at by a number of Council committees ranging from the harbour health boards to its environment and housing committees, jointly following medical advisory links with the NHS the Council chose smokeless zones linked with better grounds and street maintenance to lower many of the symptoms which exacerbated its residents.
Keeping the streets looking immaculate, regularly mowing before pollen problems transformed the air we breathe, trimming its street tree stock in winter and centering in new tree and shrub planting plans onto a lower pollen producing standard worked very well indeed with the Council’s overall aims of healthier lifestyle and cleaner streets improving the health of its residents.
The move over to a single all purpose unitary county council bolstered by some quite large parish councils during 2009 has untangled that constant.
Why you may ask?
The reason being that the industrialised South-East corner of the County where almost 54% of the county’s population dwells only makes up 3% of its total landmass, making the County one of the largest ‘rural’ areas in the UK.
The other 97% of the County is made up of mainly agricultural and tourist industries with different politics and thinking to ‘how do we help our residents in poorer economic and healthless areas?’ and with the national drift towards divided society the problems suffered by those in greatest need are now looked down upon by those holding local power, both Conservatives and Reform UK.
From 2009 to 2024 the large parish councils backed up the County spend across the south east through partnership working, that partnership has now been dismantled and the future looks bleak across the former Blyth Valley area. This Year, Northumberland County Council is reducing grass cutting on up to 15% of its council-owned land to boost biodiversity. The changes focus on transforming traditional grass verges and open spaces into wildlife-friendly meadow habitats while ensuring road visibility and pedestrian safety remain uncompromised. That 15% sits daily and squarely across the high density residential areas of the south east of the county and not the 97% of the rurally defined zones.
A 15% slash across a 3% zone is disproportionate to the fact that the 54% of residents who now live in the 3% land mass zone pay the majority of the tax revenue the Council takes in.
In Blyth Town the Reform run Town Council has now chosen to spray more poison to kill street weeds possibly damaging our water courses, along with marine, river birds and wildlife and not pay for additional grass cutting to keep down pollen rates, pushing up the health problems for local people. Without thinking as they haven't taken into account that less grass cutting allows weeds to seed and generate ever more street weed problems and those street weeds encourage the local mouse populations to explode.
Weeds provide the three things mice need to thrive and multiply:
Abundant Food: It's a fact that many weed species produce seeds that are a primary food source for rodents.
Shelter and Nesting: Dense, overgrown vegetation offers excellent protection from predators that help humans cope with mice problems and the weather.
Travel Corridors: Tall weeds allow mice to move around your verges and travel into your gardens, yards and homes safely and undetected.
Mice also carry a variety of serious diseases that can be transmitted to humans through bites, contact with their urine or feces, or via parasites like ticks and fleas.
Northumberland County Council and Blyth Town Council have not produced any equality impact assessments on these draconian policy changes and have simply looked at your street as an extension of the county's vast rurality. This is linked with the County Council rodent policy who have placed the costs of clearing mice problems deep into you as a resident and you're already highly emptied through ever increasing council tax, pockets.
We codgers have trawled the health scrutiny reports of the County Council committees and can’t find any reference to the new grounds maintenance policy and the effects of more weeds, more poison being used and more grass pollen and its effect on our most vulnerable in society.
As a resident you need to monitor and complain to your elected member of both councils if this policy does not comply with your families or household needs and hold them to account.
