DERAILED -Government inertia blocks levelling up hopes for former North East coastal town of Horden Colliery Unpublished article

 

DERAILED -Government inertia blocks levelling up hopes for former North East coastal town of Horden Colliery

Unpublished article

A much-needed boost to the local economy from re-opening Horden Colliery railway station on the North East coast is floundering due to government inertia. Now residents of the former mining village have been overlooked by Michael Gove for levelling up funds.  All of which has angered local MP Grahame Morris, who chairs the Unite parliamentary group.

Adding to local people’s problems is recent news that a £24m submission to the levelling up fund from Easington-Horden has been rejected by Michael Gove in favour of more prosperous Tory constituencies such as the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s. All five bids from County Durham, much of which is rural, were rejected.

Horden Colliery was opened in 1900. At its peak in 1935 it employed 4,342 people. During the 1984/5 miners’ strike only a handful of colliers crossed the picket line.

Despite its large reserves the colliery was closed by the Thatcher government in 1987. Following which the village went into permanent decline with only 8,000 residents today and far too many of which are unemployed and living in poor housing. Horden has gradually lost most of its services including the police and fire Stations, secondary school, many local shops and cinemas. Anti-social behaviour is a problem.

The U2 song Red Hill Mining Town is based on a book about Horden.

Horden station closed under the Beeching cuts in 1964. Durham County Council and various MPs, all Labour as Horden is part of the Easington Constituency that has voted in large numbers since 1922 for the Party, campaigned for many years for its re-opening.

This was finally achieved in June 2020 when the Transport Secretary and Northern Powerhouse Minister Grant Shapps said: “Our ambitious plans to restore and revitalise the North East railways sits at the heart of our commitment to level up infrastructure across the country, build a railway that works for everyone, and kickstart our economy.” The new facilities cost £10.5 million and enable up to 70,000 people living nearby in places such as Peterlee, (the only place in the UK named after a trade unionist – Peter Lee) a chance to travel by train.

Only months before the opening the government had been forced to take over control of the troubled railway company Northern Rail with Snapp’s stating passengers had "lost trust in the north's rail network".

That trust, has according to Grahame Morris MP, not been regained in the last three years. Morris who chairs the Unite group in Parliament, is extremely proud of following in the footsteps of previous Easington MPs such as Manny Shimwell, who as an Atlee government minister nationalised the mines and electricity industry in 1947.

“Re-opening the station widens employment opportunities. People can live here in relatively low-cost housing and travel to employment on Teesside, Wearside or Tyneside.  It should help encourage investment in new businesses and better housing, which is vital as many former social housing properties have been bought up by absentee landlords and left to rot.

“But an hourly service consisting of just two carriages, which can get so full at peak times that some passengers cannot get on them does not encourage commuter confidence especially when trains get cancelled at short notice.  We get contacted regularly by disappointed constituents. The operator has to improve the frequency and the reliability of the service.”

 

Morris sits on the Transport Select Committee that last year examined bus services outside of London. “Durham, much of which is rural, has been hammered. If you compare the buses and tube services and overground trains that serve the capital with what we have here in the North East we really are the poor relations and Third World in many respects.”

Morris believes bus companies are playing the public by threatening service reductions to secure more local government funding and he accuses the government of failing their own levelling up commitment by ignoring the threat to regional and rural bus services from companies driven by shareholder profit rather than an affordable, frequent and reliable bus service run in the public interest.

“Trains and buses are both in private operators hands whose principal responsibility is to the shareholders. We’d have a far better bus and train service if a future Labour government was running the service,” said Morris.

Adding to local people’s problems came the news in January that a £24m submission to the levelling up fund from Easington-Horden had been rejected by Michael Gove in favour of more prosperous Tory constituencies such as the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s. All five County Durham bids were rejected.

New social housing, training opportunities for young people, a pilot project on community energy using surplus heat from abandoned mine workings, enhanced community assets including a nature reserve and woodland plantation plus funds to improve business units were all part of the bid. Further south in Sedgefield-Newton Aycliffe the plan was to use new funds to construct new cultural attractions whilst at Willington, Crook and Tow Law it was planned to improve the infrastructure of industrial estates.

The levelling up fund makes equally deserving parts of the country battle for limited funding against each other. Many of these projects would previously have been properly funded by local authorities. Under Tory – aided by the Liberals between 2010 and 2015 – rule since 2010 these authorities have become a shadow of their former selves. Really deserving places such as Horden have lost out to more prosperous places such as Sunak’s North Yorkshire Richmond constituency.

“People are furious because government rhetoric about one nation and levelling up meant expectations had been raised that resources would be spent here. People can see they have been directed towards more affluent places.

“It has wasted many council officers time. There should be an easily quantifiable needs-based assessment looking at levels of deprivation. ill health, employment, skills or lack of them. Then resources should be directed accordingly. In that scenario Horden would be top,” said a clearly angry Morris, who hopes a future Labour government would prioritise the regenerating of once proud mining communities such as Horden.

 

‘DRONING’ ON – The people’s brewery and the powers of community

 

‘DRONING’ ON – The people’s brewery and the powers of community

 From Landworker magazine of Unite the union 

Seven years after local people in Dronfield, Derbyshire set up the only independent community brewery in the country it is thriving.

In the last decade over 150 communities – many from rural areas – have saved their local pub from closure by taking over the ownership and running of these beloved locals. Community pubs are owned by members and run democratically on the basis of one-member-one-vote.

Following a similar path local people, seven years ago, local people in the ancient historical town of Dronfield in North East Derbyshire with an interest in brewing beer and serving the local community formed a community benefit society to establish the Drone Valley Brewery (DVB.) This is the only independent community brewery in the country.

Seven years on, DVB has over 600 members who pay a £10 lifetime membership fee to join and enjoy award-winning beers, make donations to local good causes and help overcome the isolation of some local people. In addition, DVD, by selling their beer at just over cost to local independent pubs helps to keep them afloat in a market dominated by the big brewing companies.

“All that a dozen active volunteers started with was an old industrial unit which needed clearing, cleaning and equipment installing. They bought the kit and the electricals were done on goodwill basis by a local company. As the business was established more people joined especially when a tap room was opened and people could meet up and enjoy each other’s company,” explains chairman Bernard Caddy.

“I joined three years ago after I retired after 42 years as a long-distance lorry driver. I knew quite a lot about beer but wanted to discover more about brewing,” explains Peter Boitoult, a GMB member who can trace his family back to the Norman invasion in 1066 and by which time Dronfield was hundreds of years old.

“We encourage people if they feel isolated to join all the rest of us by becoming a volunteer. All our brewing, racking out and bottling is performed by member volunteers under the supervision of an experienced and qualified brewer whose services we buy in and is the only person paid for his efforts,” said Caddy.

A small annual profit is distributed across the local community. In 2022, DVB made donations to various animal organisations, a church redistribution project, the Air Ambulance plus a nearby school for some chairs and desks.

In 2022, DVB captured a place with its traditional session Dronny Bottom Bitter in the CAMRA dozen best bottled beers in the country category. This was quite an honour for such a small organisation.

Amidst the other beers brewed by DVD are Coal Aston Porter and Gosforth Gold a 4% classic pale ale named, like all DVB beers, after a local area.

The bar in Dronfield is open from 4pm to 8pm on Friday and Saturday and there are also occasional Sunday evening sessions. The Friday night I attended wa lively, with drinkers clearly enjoying the craic and the beer.

If you’d like to become a DVD member and the £10 is for life then ring 07519 204497

Drone Valley Brewery is at Unstone Industrial Complex, Main Road Unit 2, Dronfield S18 4AB

HELPING TO ‘UNRAVEL THE TRUTH’ - domestic abuse in rural areas highlighted by new film

 

HELPING TO ‘UNRAVEL THE TRUTH’

 

They investigated and the report shone the spotlight on a shocking picture of domestic abuse in rural Britain, with hidden victims left isolated and unprotected and being failed by the system, services and even those around them.  Emily Brailsford, Manager Willow Project

 

From the Landworker magazine of Unite the union Spring 2023

 

Domestic violence is devastating in any circumstances but can be a more pernicious problem in rural areas, where isolation and fewer accessible support services increase the risk of ongoing harm.

This was highlighted in a new short film Dawn’s Story, created in conjunction with Rural Media, a charity, by the Willow Project of Rural Action Derbyshire (RAD) with funding from Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

​The film begins with Dawn, played by Coronation Street Star Vanessa Hehir, and her husband Peter, a farmer, transporting to school their daughter Hattie along a remote Derbyshire lane. On arrival Dawn walks Hattie to the school gate but when conversations with teachers delay her return, Peter becomes hostile when his wife re-enters the car.

Later, Hattie tells Peter she is pregnant but is forced to wait anxiously for his response.

The story presents a powerful insight into how many victims of domestic abuse feel trapped and unsure how to seek help.

Fortunately, in this case Dawn’s friends and the local police officer, all of whom had started to become concerned for her welfare, come to her rescue. It is how it should be. But not everyone has the support they need.

The numbers experiencing domestic abuse nationally are significant and rising, according to the Office for National Statistics, with 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years established to have been victims in 2019-20.

Over 100 women and a much smaller number of men are murdered by their partners annually. There are only  261 refuges in the country, ands they have to turn away people in need each day, due to  a shortfall in government funding of around £200 million, according to the charity Women’s Aid.

Emily Brailsford is the manager of the Willow Project, which was developed after a mapping exercise of all the domestic abuse calls received by the national Rural Crime Network (RCN) revealed there were places where no one rang from.

“They knew the abuse was happening and so wondered why people were not calling in. They investigated and the report ‘Captive & Controlled – Domestic Abuse in Rural Areas’ shone the spotlight on a shocking picture of domestic abuse in rural Britain, with hidden victims left isolated and unprotected and being failed by a system, services and even those around them.”

Alice (not her real name) is one such person. “I was desperately searching for answers and googled rural domestic abuse in 2019 as I needed help in understanding what was happening to myself at the hands of my partner, who was a farmer,” Alice said, “We lived in an isolated, tight knit farming community in a northern area. Willows ran an online help course for victims of domestic rural abuse and which was attended by Derbyshire police.

 

“I was searching for explanations. The Willows Project really resonated with me. They pointed out the Captive and Controlled report and it helped unravel my trauma.  I reached out for help and I am so grateful that they gave it to me. I would recommend anyone in a similar situation to contact the project.”

 Following the RCN report, Rural Action Derbyshire transferred Emily Brailsford from her work as a Chaplain with young farmers – among whom there is an above average suicide rate - into a post with newly formed Willows Project, based in Matlock Town Hall. Brailsford comes from a strong farming background and also experienced domestic abuse many years ago during pregnancy and afterwards at the hands of her first husband. “When I read the Captive and Controlled report it was everything that I had experienced.”

Emily started her new job on February 10^th 2020. Her great ideas to get out and meet as many people as possible were all put on hold when COVID threw the country into lockdown.

“We had to change everything. But actually, it worked, “said Emily. “We do lots of social media and I now do all of the training online now. We get many people wanting to do it and also support our work by volunteering as community champions.”

“Following COVID I have been getting out with an information stall to Country Shows and to the farmer’s weekly market in Bakewell. More and more people are acknowledging me; they are not necessarily talking to me about domestic abuse as that will take time.”

Since Emily’s role is to highlight domestic abuse, she doesn’t take on cases but she refers those experiencing domestic abuse to professional agencies such as the police and the 3 (*) refuge projects across Derbyshire.

Emily hailed the film production.  “I was delighted when it was decided to make a drama film and it has been a big success,” she said. “People have seen it worldwide including in New Zealand. Everybody is very proud of the finished work and more importantly it is being watched by the people who most need to see it and that is those experiencing and those wanting to tackle and prevent domestic abuse in rural communities. “

The Ministry of Justice provided some funding for the film. The production company Rural Media is from Hertfordshire. The experiences of a frontline domestic abuse worker provided the background to the work. Brailsford’s strong belief that firearms should feature was included. It is a really good piece of work.

This is demonstrated by the numbers calling the Helpline that the Willows Project set up two years ago and which in the last quarter reached a record high of 18

Need help?

You can contact the Willow Project helpline at

0800 198668

You can also find out more about domestic violence and abuse on the Women’s Aid website www.womensaid.org.uk

 

 

• These are Crossroads in High Peak, The Elm Foundation and Derbyshire Wish.

 

Broken benefits system

 Taken from the final copy of the Big Issue North, a magazine I first began writing for in 2004. 

 Broken benefits system

 Chelsea Sowden says PIP assessments are flawed

A young, disabled working woman has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions for delays in paying the benefits she says she is entitled to.

Chelsea Sowden says she is not alone in waiting for her benefit payments because of delays in appeals against DWP decisions.

Sowden, aged 25, lives independently in Darlington. She has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.

A social media officer, she struggles to walk. Although she can work from home, she bought a car to attend meetings in person after her previous employer was beginning to question whether she was able enough to work.

Her house, which she has bought, has a driveway for the car. “The vehicle was costly and the rise in petrol prices means it is expensive to run,” said Sowden.

When she first started work after completing her animation degree at university, Sowden was awarded a Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This helps people with extra living costs if they have a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability and have difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of their condition.

People are entitled to PIP even if they are working, have savings or are getting most other benefits.

“I need a cleaner to help look after my house,” said Sowden. “I exist almost entirely on convenience foods as I can’t stand up for too long, I can’t wash up and I can’t do many of the normal everyday tasks.

“When I was awarded the benefit, I could enjoy working knowing that I could have a good standard of life.”

In March 2021, Sowden was told her PIP was being discontinued as the DWP claimed she could walk further than she said. She appealed and two years later is still going through the process.

“I have had many tribunal dates,” she said. “Last November I had a face-to-face interview date but when I attended it was adjourned. They said some of the scan evidence was not readable.

“They would have known about this in advance. They could have informed me by email, preventing an unnecessary journey.”

Sowden questioned the DWP assessors’ reports on her condition.

 

“I feel the assessors often talk over you and try putting words in your mouth,” she said. “I hope that they obtain the kind of medical evidence that they need and there is a recognition of my chronic illness, which is sadly not going to get better.

“I need PIP to cover my extra costs as a disabled person and live as normally as possible.”

According to Linda Burnip of the Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) campaign, Sowden’s situation is mirrored nationally.

“The PIP assessments have always been very badly flawed, with around 70 per cent of those refused PIP initially winning the payments on appeal,” she said. “This figure alone shows just how inaccurate assessments are.

“PIP is an essential payment that supports disabled people. Due to repeated assessments and the lengthy delays people face when appealing against being refused these payments too many people just give up, as it is too stressful to claim even though they should be entitled to PIP.”

PIP is among a number of benefits that disabled people can claim to cover the additional costs resulting from being disabled. Others include Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC).

According to the charity Scope, in July-September 2022, there were 27,000 outcomes of appeals by disabled people against the refusal of a benefit claim. Of these, 19,440 decisions were made at a hearing and 61 per cent of these had the initial decision revised in favour of the claimant.

This overturn rate varied by benefit type, with DLA at 61 per cent, ESA at 53 per cent, UC 49 per cent and PIP the highest at 68 per cent.

Chloe Smith MP, minster for disabled people, did not respond to Big Issue North’s request for comment.

Vicky Foxcroft, shadow minister for disabled people, said: “These figures are a sign that benefits assessments are failing disabled people and need to be overhauled – something Labour has repeatedly called for.

“A future Labour government will work with disabled people to co-produce a benefit assessments system that works for everyone.”

MARK METCALF

MPS CRITICISED FOR TOOTHLESS INQUIRY

 Taken from the last copy of the Big Issue North, a magazine I first began writing for in 2004. Sad say. 

 

 

MPS CRITICISED FOR TOOTHLESS INQUIRY

Committee refuses to ask patients to give evidence

Campaigners say ministers are asking wrong questions

 

A parliamentary select committee has been criticised for refusing to ask patients to appear before its inquiry into NHS dentistry.

Toothless in England wants the government to act urgently to revive dental services, which have collapsed in many neighbourhoods.

When the BBC last year contacted nearly 7,000 NHS practices – believed to be almost all those offering general treatment to the public – it discovered that nine in 10 NHS dental practices were not accepting new adult patients for NHS treatment.

MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee are currently holding an inquiry into NHS dentistry. Members are considering “to what extent the current NHS dental contract disincentivises dentists from taking on new patients… and will look at what incentives can be offered by the NHS to recruit and retain dental professionals”.

“Closed shop”

Toothless in England has submitted written evidence to the committee and requested speaking rights that would include members of the public who have suffered as a result of the lack of NHS dentists. This request was refused.

At the committee’s first hearing in March, those appearing were all professionals involved in dentistry.

Toothless in England spokesperson Dan Ross said: “We are not surprised at our exclusion as those being questioned are part of a closed shop.

“But if they want the select committee to have any integrity, they should be speaking to precisely the people on the frontline, which

freezing these people out then they are only going to get the answers that they are expecting to get. But the problems won’t go away by asking the wrong questions to the wrong people.

Call for more resources

“The fundamental problem is a legislative one that stretches across the party divide and which can only be resolved by more resources and restructuring dental structures.

“The crisis, which means even children in parts of Manchester don’t visit a dentist, is not the fault of NHS dentists or practices but is caused by not fit for purpose legislation introduced under the last Labour government.”

British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said: “We warned MPs NHS dentistry was now a sinking ship. The mass closures of practices announced in March illustrates the scale of this crisis.

 “Millions have been left with no options. It’s vital that the report and recommendations that follow from the committee reflect the real urgency here and offer hope and voice to struggling patients.”

The chair of the H&SC committee, Steve Brine, MP for Winchester, said: “Access to NHS dental services is of real concern to the Health and Social Care Committee. There’s evidence of enormous regional variation in how likely people are to be able to sign up for dental treatment, meaning being forced to go private or suffer in pain.

“We heard striking evidence in our first evidence session from dental professionals and from other witnesses about the dental contract and about the recruitment, retention and training of the dental workforce.

“The views of patients will be represented in the inquiry.

“Our evidence-led inquiry will result in recommendations to government aimed at tackling the current problems experienced in NHS dentistry.”

MARK METCALF

Northern Forest: can’t see the wood or the trees

 

 

Northern Forest: can’t see the wood or the trees

Tree planting slows while HS2 decimates woods

As published in the penultimate issue of the Big Issue North, 01 May - 7th May 2023 

Despite the planting of five million new trees between 2018 and the start of the planting season this year environmental campaigners remain doubtful about the long term success of the Northern Forest (NF) under which there are plans for 50 million new trees by 2043.

In 2017 only 1,000 hectares of trees were planted – the lowest for years. Plans to extend the HS2

high-speed rail link to Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds were also set to decimate 97 ancient woodlands across our region.

Environment secretary Michael Gove responded by announcing the Northern Forest, stretching from Hull to Liverpool. Tree cover around cities would be expected to grow from eight to 17 per cent.

The 25-year project was expected to cost £500 million, of which the government, despite strong criticism, promised to provide just £5.7 million, with the rest to be raised by charity. In 2021 and with just three million trees planted the government stepped in with a further £15 million funding from the £640 million Nature for Climate fund to allow another million trees to be planted last year.

Bringing to life the new woodlands are the Woodland Trust and the Community Forests in the North of England – the Mersey Forest, Manchester City of Trees, the White Rose Forest and Humber Forest.

Joint efforts

Nick Selwood is the Northern Forest project manager for the Woodland Trust. His role is to manage teams “to ensure we deliver a lot of quality tree planting for communities right across the North”.

This requires engaging with partners including local authorities and landowners including the National Trust, water companies such as Yorkshire Water and United Utilities, and farmers.

“We encourage joint efforts to plant trees and create access opportunities to them for the public. Even before we started planting this year there were already five million new trees planted.”

According to Selwood most of the new trees, especially outside urban areas, are native species such as oak, birch and rowan.

“This is because they are better for local wildlife and they’re attractive, so people want to walk through the woods and enjoy a day out with the family or cycle,” he said.

Landowners

Because native trees are more slow growing than conifers, they capture less carbon and contribute less to tackling climate change. Does Selwood expect the government to put pressure on Northern Forest partners to change direction in the future, or that there will be bias exerted towards landowners who plant conifers in densely packed forests?

“There is a need for conifers to be grown commercially but we are not under pressure to change our approach,” he said.

Where landowners do get involved, they can receive up to £13,000 per hectare to support their

woodland creation scheme, plus up to £2,800 per hectare for woodlands that restore nature and species under the England Woodland Creation Offer.

Roly Smith, an environmental campaigner and writer from the Peak District, is sceptical that the Northern Forest will do better than the National Forest in the Midlands, which still has only just over half of its planned 13,500 hectares planted since being announced in 1995.

“With the National Forest they intended joining up patchy woodlands,” he said. “It hasn’t happened. Five million new trees planted further North looks impressive but it still remains way down on the planned 50 million over 25 years. And despite the cutback in HS2 there are still numerous ancient woodlands set to be chopped down.

Alleviate flooding

“I also don’t see any serious ambitions having been announced to plant more trees in the upland moors, which could alleviate flooding lower down the river systems such as places like Hebden Bridge or York. Apart from the obvious wildlife and carbon offsetting benefits, this would also restore many landscapes which have been overgrazed or ‘sheep wrecked’, as George Monbiot puts it, by too many sheep for too many years.”

Charlie Clutterbuck, a Lancashire soil scientist who was a special adviser to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Select Committee in 2008-10, is also unconvinced by the Northern Forest plans.

“Pulling teeth”

“There are many schemes to plant trees and they are to be welcomed,” said Clutterbuck “But it is one thing to plant trees and another to look after them. Just recently a blunder by the National Highways saw over 600,000 trees die along the A14 in Cambridgeshire. I am secretary to our local woodland friends group, and getting money out of the council to maintain them is like pulling teeth.

“Many trees are also planted badly on soils not appropriate for them. To paraphrase a well-known saying, planting a tree is not just for Christmas, but its lifetime.”

When asked if it was confident that plans to create a 50 million strong tree forest across the North by 2041 will be successful, Defra admitted the government department was unsure, saying:

“Defra funds a small portion of the Northern Forest (1,259 ha) as part of the Nature for Climate Fund Programme. As a result, it is difficult to comment on the wider target of 50 million trees by 2043.”