Social Value Ideas for Northumberland County Council

Holywell school kitchen approved

Cabinet approved £76,000 to build a school kitchen at Holywell Village First School after the loss of the previous catering service. The work will be done outside school hours over the summer holidays…

“You will remember that Holywell School used to get its school dinners from North Council. When North Tyneside Council decided to stop that service, it…”

Permanent SEND support bases

Cabinet moved to formalise specialist support bases at Cambois, Newsham and Seaton Sluice First Schools. These were already operating on a temporary basis and the report confirms they are school-withi…

“Speaker 0: So proposed has been proposed and seconded. Are you all in favor? That's unanimous. Yep, thank you very much indeed. That moves us on to th…”

Capital Allocation: Berwick Education Investment

Total capital allocation of £64 million approved for comprehensive education and infrastructure investment across North Northumberland. Key component is £50.9 million for new high school rebuild. Addi…

“we're asking for 64 million uh £50.9 million to rebuild the new high school. Uh the rest of the money has been spent on the feeder schools... We're as…”

Berwick High School Rebuild Procurement

Two-stage procurement process to be launched for the construction of a new high school building on existing site. Modern methods of building construction will be considered to potentially accelerate c…

“the planning and the procurement phase. So the planning application will go in uh as soon as possible. We'll begin a two-stage procurement process. Um…”

Cabinet Recommendation Approval

Cabinet unanimously approved the recommendations for the £64 million education investment programme. Proposed by Councillor Rena Thompson and seconded by Councillor Stewart. Decision formally approved…

“So I'm now going to ask on those recommendations which will kickstart this uh exciting project. Is there a proposal and proposed by councelor Rena Tho…”

Planning Application Submission

Planning application for new school building to be submitted as soon as possible following Cabinet approval. Concurrent with procurement process commencement.

“the planning and the procurement phase. So the planning application will go in uh as soon as possible.”

Two-Tier Education System Adoption

Formal approval of transition from three-tier to two-tier education system for North Northumberland. Decision reflects widespread community support and closes implementation gap following Bellford Mid…

“we've chosen to go down this two-tier route, a two-tier route which is supported by the vast majority of schools, the vast majority of teachers, and t…”

Blythe Pride and Place Programme - £20m Investment

Cabinet approved submission of Blythe town investment plan under rebranded 'Energising Blythe Pride and Place' program (formerly Levelling Up Fund). Plan details deployment of £20 million over approxi…

“This document effectively is detailing uh the sorts of ways that the BL town board working with the county council will deploy 20 million pounds of fu…”

Advance restructuring review funded

Cabinet agreed to commission a refreshed review of Advance Northumberland’s structure and financial arrangements, with £130,000 allocated to external consultants. The work is intended to identify the …

“So basically this report is asking for the funds, the £130,000 to go out to the consultants and have another review done based on the previous review …”

Advanced Northland Financial Restructuring

Cabinet approved financial restructuring of Advanced Northland (council arms-length company) to eliminate historic debt burden. The company will refocus on regeneration activities including building m…

“We want to see advance freed of the burden of the historic debt... That will include the building of more homes and which it is very good at. Um the t…”

QTS Data Centre Investment & Growth Fund

Blackstone QTS securing 20 billion pound investment in CAMAS with council securing £110m growth fund for economic development. £15m annual business rates revenue (split 50/50 with mayor) to boost loca…

“if you look at the planning application the planning permission uh for this brilliant new data center that you will be delighted that we're getting be…”

Levelling Up Fund - 20 Million Allocation

Council successfully secured £20 million from government Levelling Up Fund (February 2023). Funding supports major regeneration projects in areas like Blythe and Ashington. Officers' regeneration and …

“This would not be happening if it hadn't been for the county council securing um 20 million pounds um from the leveling up fund that the last governme…”

Greyfield rural affordable homes

Cabinet approved £1.3m for four affordable homes in a rural area: two two-bedroom houses and two two-bedroom bungalows, with energy-efficient specifications including air source heat pumps and solar p…

“Speaker 2: Thank you, Leader. I am absolutely delighted to present this to the cabinet today because this is new affordable housing in the rural areas…”

Hexham Middle School developer partner

The council is launching a procurement process to find a developer partner for the former Hexham Middle School site. The scheme includes mixed housing with a higher-than-normal affordable housing prop…

“Speaker 1: Thank you Leader. Yes this is a really important scheme in the West Of Northumberland which has only been made possible because of our prev…”

Social housing VFM risk

External auditors identified a significant value-for-money risk linked to the regulator of social housing inspection findings and said they would review how the council addresses these weaknesses in t…

“So this is our regular progress report. Um our work as you recall is split into work on the accounts and VFM. Our audit started on the 1st of July and…”