“Our plans to grow the Northumberland economy have been fought tooth and nail by local Tories and it’s a bit rich for them to pretend to be interested in the local economy.

LABOUR INTRODUCES FREE PARKING ACROSS COUNTRY PARKS

Tory opposition fails to stop latest boost to local economy as budget passes new free parking scheme amongst the ‘budget for jobs and investment’

 Hot on the heels of the delivery of free parking for Northumberland’s towns which was opposed by ConDems in Labour’s first budget in 2014, Labour in Northumberland are planning to roll out a new scheme to make parking free in the county’s Country Parks such as Druridge Bay Country Park.

The budget passed by Labour last week (26 Feb) was hailed as a ‘budget for jobs and investment’ by Labour’s PPC in North Northumberland Scott Dickinson who highlighted the free parking scheme for country parks as an ‘example of a small scheme which will boost tourism’. He also pointed to new building schemes like new leisure facilities for Hadston, £35m injection into a reopened Ashington-Blyth-Tyne line which will see new job opportunities for the rural coalfields and the new investment in the South East which will see an increase in house prices in the rural areas on the edge of North Northumberland.

He also pointed to new investment in affordable houses which will see hundreds of new affordable homes built across North Northumberland with new jobs and a boost for local firms as part of the supply chain.

Scott Dickinson, the Labour PPC in North Northumberland said

“Our plans to grow the Northumberland economy have been fought tooth and nail by local Tories and it’s a bit rich for them to pretend to be interested in the local economy. The Tories and Liberals opposed our investment in the new line, free parking schemes and the affordable housing programme which will see over 2000 new homes built across the county and refused to back the budget. We’ll continue to work hard to give communities a chance to succeed against the backdrop of huge ConDem cuts in council spending. Residents will notice the Tory silence on budget cuts from their government but they also need to know that the Tories are opposing sensible investment from Labour in the council chamber for their own narrow party political advantage”.