The Labour Council's hamfisted proposals for housing development in the city - approved for consultation in secret - have been the subject of huge opposition by residents with thousands of letters and signatures on petitions, forcing the council to scale back plans for building on the Green Belt.
Liberal Democrats say that the Labour Council's huge budget cuts to services are damaging and unnecessary.
Since the well-attended public meeting in January at St George's church, we have been working hard to find out exactly what residents think about the planning application for Jesmond Towers. Unsurprisingly, there is a wide range of views about exactly what should happen on the site. After many discussions with residents and after reading through the hundreds of comments sent into the council, we felt that there was a clear majority view to the effect that:
Buried under the debris of old stories I've excavated this one from April 1st 2009. The article wasn't intended to be entirely accurate, but in at least one result it was prophetic in awarding council leader Jane Scott her OBE several months before the Queen got round to doing the job more officially. The knighthood I awarded to deputy leader John Thompson hasn't yet been confirmed - perhaps next year. As for how many of the other spoofs have come to pass, you decide. Here's the story:
Comments from the Mayor's website- "A number of residents have contacted me in recent times to ask if and when the Bedford Park Café building will be brought into use as a café, and my response to date has always been that I have authorised the necessary work there and hope to see it operating as soon as possible. That's why I'm very pleased that after essential safety and refurbishment work, I'm now able to say that the building is almost ready for full use as a cafe and the Council is advertising for potential operators to come forward and tender for the contract."
The Citizens' Initiative comes into force on 1 April of this year. Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, this new instrument will allow citizens to direct issues to the European Commission with a view to adopting appropriate action. A citizens' committee of at least seven people originating from seven different Member States will be required to record an initiative, and the one million signatures required must come from at least seven Member States. The organizers of initiatives who have collected one million signatures will be allowed to request a public hearing, to be organized in the European Parliament .