Ashington Town Council is pleased to announce that the judging of the popular Gardens Competition has now taken place and the winners were announced during an event held at Ashington Leisure Centre on 17th August. Just about everyone who had entered the competition came to the prizegiving and brought either family or friends with them. More than 50 people came along to hear the winners being announced and joined the Mayor of Ashington and members of the Judging Panel afterwards for refreshments. The picture shows the prizewinners with the Mayor, Councillor John McCormack.

Residents are reminded that the annual Ashington Town Assembly, hosted by Ashington Town Council, is taking place on Monday May 23 at 7pm in the Bothal Suite at Ashington Leisure Centre.

As well as offering local residents the opportunity to raise and discuss any issues relevant to Ashington, there will also be short guest presentations on the Ashington Community Woods Project, and the important local work of the Credit Union for South East Northumberland and the Wansbeck Centre for Voluntary Service.

All local residents are warmly invited to attend; further details are available from the Town Council clerk, Mike Slaughter (Tel: 843474).

Jubilee People's Millions projects will inspire, involve or improve their local communities. If you've got an idea that could breathe life into your local area and improve the lives of the people who live there, why not apply for a grant of up to £60 000!

Up to 1,000 posts in the county council's 7,000-strong workforce are potentially at risk - on top of around 1,300 which have been shed over the last two years.

A two-week trawl for further voluntary redundancy applications was launched yesterday, after employees were briefed by their department heads about the latest budget cuts facing the unitary authority.

A major public consultation will be launched soon as part of a wide-ranging review which will help unitary council chiefs decide whether or not to scrap the tradition of free parking in the south east of the county.

Shopkeepers and businesses in rural communities such as Berwick, Seahouses, Alnwick, Morpeth and Hexham say it is unfair that motorists have to pay up to £1.10 an hour - while they can park free in towns such as Blyth, Cramlington, Ashington and Bedlington.

Now open to organisations including voluntary and community organisations, schools, town and parish councils, and statutory health authorities. Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available.

There is up to £2 million available across the UK and organisations can submit applications before the three deadlines of 21July, 22 September and the 24 November 2010.

For further details and to get an application form visit our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communitywildlife, or call our helpline on:
0845 367 0610.
For more ideas for projects visit www.bbc.co.uk/wild

An appeal has gone out for more parents and carers to join the organisation and come up with ideas and suggestions to move its work forward.

The Northumberland Parent, Carer and Professional Forum aims to help families across the county which have youngsters with special needs.

The restructuring of post offices, the work of local community forums and the accessibility of the county council are the three areas up for discussion at the meeting in Morpeth Town Hall at 6.30pm on Monday.

The council's Communities and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear from the Post Office network manager for the North of England about the progress made in reorganising counter services since January.

Anger erupted earlier this year when county council budget cuts threatened to bring the axe down on concessionary taxi travel for people physically unable to use other forms of public transport.

The council said it was planning to scrap four taxi schemes - which operated in Blyth Valley, Tynedale, Castle Morpeth and Wansbeck - to save £70,000 a year. Now it has had a change of heart and plans to launch a new, county-wide scheme on July 1 which involves people paying £10 for £50 worth of taxi tokens.

Called Space Hop, the scheme will be running across Northumberland's libraries from Saturday July 3 and will last up to August 28.

Illustrated by leading children's book artist Tom Percival, Space Hop coincides with the 350th anniversary of The Royal Society's scientific endeavours, and the 2010 BBC Year of Science.

The council has released figures showing how its development control department is performing, in terms of the percentage of planning applications submitted to it which are determined within guidelines.

The report shows that 49% of minor applications are decided within the eight week guideline, 29% below the target set by the authority of 78%.

The event - to be held at Newcastle Falcons' Kingston Park stadium on Saturday July 3 - will raise funds for Cancer Relief UK.

It has been organised by the Northumberland Youth Cabinet, and the winning band will get the prize of a full day in a recording studio with Backstage Studios.

Senior officers at County Hall in Morpeth have come up with the figure after making fresh budget calculations based on comments made by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration at Westminster.

The estimated additional efficiency savings for 2010/11 would come on top of budget reductions of £21m agreed in February, and are likely to be followed by another £20m worth of savings in 2011/12.

County council officials are carrying out a survey to build up a picture of the provision of childcare in different areas.

The results will be used to help shape the future of the service and meet the needs of working parents and carers. Childcare providers are also being asked to take part in the survey.

Northumberland County Council has landed the European funding to begin a push to create more of a culture of enterprise in the county.

The Putting Enterprise into Place project will work to encourage people to develop enterprising skills and attitudes. It will focus particularly on people in what the council calls 'disadvantaged areas,' including Berwick, Amble and the south east of the county.