On Wednesday it was the July meeting of City Council.

I asked:

• Coun Abdul Samad, who is Cabinet Member for Culture, Music and Arts for evidence that hosting the MOBO Awards in Newcastle was worth £330000 of public money and how much the Mercury Prize is costing residents. He said he didn’t have the information and would get back to me.
• Coun Paula Maines, Cabinet Member for Housing, why the council chose not to bring in a licensing scheme to tackle poor quality private sector housing. She said that she didn’t think poor quality housing was one of the criteria. It’s worrying that she didn’t know that it was.

I had also asked a written question in advance of the meeting:
How do the leader and her cabinet ensure that:

• due diligence is carried out on private sector projects that the council gives support to (e.g.https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-skyscraper-hotel-mipim-gainford-31181465#comments-wrapper   “A presentation and discussion has been held to promote the new development, including panel members Ben Sykes, partner at Killingworth based FaulknerBrowns; Michelle Percy, director of investment and growth at Newcastle City Council; Tariq Albassam, director of operations at NE1; and Sarah Green, chief executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative.”)
• financial information quoted in council media releases is accurate and produced using robust data and appropriate methodology (e.g. https://new.newcastle.gov.uk/news/2025/sam-fenders-ps165m-boost-north-east-economy )

This is the answer I received:
“We work closely with our partners across the city to ensure that we are capturing the extent of the impact events such as the Sam Fender concerts at St James Park. NE1 and NGI use standardised methods of calculating the economic impact including the direct and indirect spend of the concert goers.
Any private development will likely require planning permission. The Local Planning Authority will rigorously assess such proposals against the current Development Plan. Major applications, such as the one referenced in this article would be determined by the Planning Committee. During presentations such as the one referenced, council colleagues emphasise that any new development is subject to planning permission. At events like MIPIM it is important to show that the LA is keen to see new and ambitious schemes come forward that will have a positive impact on the city.”

I’m not reassured. The Council is making some big claims and we need to be confident they’re properly evidenced. We also need to be sure that there’s an appropriate relationship with developers – the Council shouldn’t be acting as their cheerleader.

My casework this week has included:

• working to resolve issues faced by tenants in both Council and Places for People properties;
• continuing to support The Cedars leaseholders with their concerns about repairs and service charges;
• reporting a business that is causing a nuisance to residents