| As local leaders look to turbocharge regeneration in parts of the North which have been languishing for years, are mayoral development corporations (MDCs) the answer? MDCs are statutory bodies with powers to acquire, develop, hold, and dispose of land and property, as well as powers to speed up new infrastructure. Only two exist outside London; in Stockport and the Teesworks industrial site at Redcar. But in recent weeks Tory Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has announced plans for new development corporations in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. And now Labour mayor Jamie Driscoll is looking at using his powers to speed up regeneration in his North of Tyne patch. The Northern Agenda understands Mr Driscoll is exploring the possibility of setting up an MDC in an unnamed area featuring several previously-used brownfield sites that have been resisting regeneration efforts for years.  The current and proposed mayoral development corporations in the North. Graphic by Lisa Walsh
He told the UK's Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in Leeds last week that currently available land is parcelled up in such a way by landowners that it ends up being sold as flats which are unaffordable for many locals. He said: "So put it on a bigger area, we're looking at developing our own development corporation in Tyneside, which is going to be placemaking as opposed to just house-building. So you've got the services, you've got the open space, you've got the small and medium-sized enterprises all taking advantage of these developments." In Middlesbrough, most of the public land in the town centre will be transferred over to the new body, described by Tory MP Simon Clarke as "being able to act boldly with a less risk-averse attitude towards investment". The recent Levelling Up White Paper proposed stronger Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers for regeneration sites. And Mr Driscoll said government should extend these powers to MDCs to speed up sites where land assembly is complex. He told us: "In an MDC you've already got the agreement of the local authority, it's already defined as a development site, so let the Mayor use the CPO powers. And if there's an objection, fast track it to the Secretary of State for a decision, rather than spending years going through the courts. It saves everyone time and money." So what other areas of the North might benefit from this approach - and will it actually work? Drop me an email at rob.parsons@reachplc.com. 
It may not stay this way forever as new devolution deals are signed but currently only one of the North's metro mayors - Ben Houchen - is a Conservative while the other five are Labour. And Jake Berry, the head of the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs, said his 80-strong group had told him they "want that minister for the North" after his former responsibilities were taken in by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. "Colleagues are really clear that actually, to get that distinctive northern Conservative voice out there, you need someone to go toe to toe with Andy Burnham, Steve Rotheram, other northern mayors . . . and that's really missing at the moment," the Lancashire MP told Geraldine Scott of The Times.
'Local people have the answers but it shouldn't be so hard'  Bolton community leader Inayat Omarji put more than 5,000 hours into renovating All Souls church
Described as a "brick masterpiece" with a tower which "rises majestically" above nearby houses, the abandoned All Souls church in Bolton was in a sorry state back in 2007 due to neglect and anti-social behaviour. But 15 years on with the help of a team led by local campaigner Inayat Omarji, the 19th century building is now beautifully renovated and a thriving community hub. With no help available from the austerity-ravaged local council, Mr Omarji put more than 5,000 hours of his own time into the project before eventually getting transformative funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Mr Omarji is now one of six local leaders fronting the We're Right Here campaign calling for a new Community Power Act. They say this legislation, which includes giving communities the right of first refusal once buildings and spaces with significant community value come up for sale, would "fundamentally change where power lies in this country". He told The Northern Agenda podcast: "The country obviously is facing huge problems, such as inequality, local decline, and widespread mistrust. People in local communities are on a day-to-day basis answering these problems. They're delivering, local people have the answers. "So we're out here, doing the hard work. But it shouldn't be so hard, we shouldn't be going against the grain, we shouldn't be pushing doors at every little hurdle."
Ousted Tory group leader chosen as by-election hopeful  Wakefield Conservative candidate Nadeem Ahmed
With a month to go until the Wakefield by-election on June 23, the two main parties both have their candidates in place. And while Labour's selection process was marred by in-fighting between local members and the party's high command, the Conservatives chose their candidate with a minimum of public squabbling. Nadeem Ahmed, who has been a Wakefield district councillor since 2006, was chosen by local members yesterday. He will focus "on delivering on the people's priorities for Wakefield, including improving transport infrastructure and supporting business to help create high-skill, well-paid jobs". He described himself as "someone born and bred in Wakefield", a contrast with Labour whose shortlist was without anyone from the constituency but ended up picking NHS worker Simon Lightwood, who lived, studied and worked in the city for ten years. But it's fair to say Cllr Ahmed hasn't always had the faith of his fellow Wakefield Tories. It was less than a year ago that he was ousted as the leader of Wakefield council's Conservative group just a few weeks after its most successful local elections in years.
Meanwhile the man they are bidding to succeed, disgraced former MP Imran Ahmad Khan, faces a possible jail term for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy when he is sentenced this afternoon. The 48-year-old was expelled from the Conservative Party and later resigned from the Commons, triggering a by-election in Wakefield, after he was convicted last month following a trial at Southwark Crown Court. The jury heard how he forced the youngster to drink gin and tonic, pushed him on to a bed and asked him to watch pornography before the attack at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008. Khan has said he will appeal against the conviction while former justice minister Crispin Blunt has repeated his controversial defence of his former colleague, claiming the disgraced politician did not get a "fair trial".
MP lifts lid on 'constant threats and abuse' faced by politicians  Labour MP Kim Leadbeater and her sister Jo Cox, a former MP who was murdered in 2016
She knows all too well the threat of violence that faces elected politicians after her sister, Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox, was killed outside her constituency surgery in 2016 by a far-right extremist. And Kim Leadbeater, who was elected last year as Labour MP in her sister's old seat in West Yorkshire, tonight lifts the lid on the sheer scale of the abuse that Parliamentarians face. In an episode of Channel 4's Dispatches airing at 7.30pm, dozens of MPs reveal harrowing stories of abuse, harassment and being threatened with death and sexual violence in a new television documentary. Politicians from all the main parties have given personal interviews about the risks they face. Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, revealed she had "morbid" conversations with her children about what would happen if she was killed. Of the 60 MPs interviewed, nearly all said they had received abusive or threatening messages, three in four said they'd been threatened with physical harm, and one in three of the female MPs had been threatened with sexual violence. Ms Leadbeater said: "The impact of the constant threats and abuse on my colleagues is clear. But we don't want people to feel sorry for us. We just want to be able to do our jobs properly."
Ambulance trust covered up mistakes made by its paramedics  Ambulances outside of a hospital in Newcastle (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
One of the North's ambulance trusts has apologised to bereaved relatives after covering up mistakes made by paramedics when responding to patients who later died. Helen Ray, chief executive of the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) offered her "unreserved apologies" for "historic failings" after whistleblowers told the Sunday Times that managers filtered out inconvenient facts from incident reports before they were sent to the coroner, in order to present paramedics in a more flattering light. Two whistleblowers were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements to limit them making further reports about their concerns to the authorities, including the Care Quality Commission and the police, the newspaper reported. One of the reports covered up a paramedic's treatment of a 17-year-old girl, Quinn Evie Beadle, who killed herself near her home in Shildon, County Durham, in 2018. It was only much later that her family learned that police officers who were first on the scene started CPR, only to be told by the attending paramedic "you can stop now, she's gone" after simply looking into Quinn's eyes with a pencil torch. He then left her face down in the mud.
Are Northern councils really shipping problem families to Cornwall?  St Ives, Cornwall, where wages are relatively low but house prices relatively high
We wouldn't normally give the time of day to conspiracy theories at The Northern Agenda but this one being circulated in Cornwall is an intriguing twist on the well-known phenomenon of towns in our region taking more than their fair share of asylum-seekers. A rumour that has circulated on the south coast for decades is that social housing is being built in the holiday hotspot for 'problem families' from Manchester and Liverpool, or being bought from developers to 'ship people out'. The claim centres around the notion that Northern councils 'dump' people in Cornwall because they are not wanted in their areas - and this is causing all sorts of crime in Cornish towns and villages, as Paige Oldfield reports for the Manchester Evening News. But local figures have fought to put it to bed - including ex-Penzance councillor Cornelius Olivier, who describes it as a 'bizarre' and 'very odd' conspiracy theory. "People got it into their heads that council housing was being built by Northern councils," the chair for the St Ives Labour Party said. "If Manchester City Council wanted to do that, why would they come down here? You wouldn't do it in Cornwall because it's so expensive."
Drive to net zero could bring investment to the North  Investment in green energy can bring jobs to parts of England (Danny Lawson/PA)
The Government's plans to invest in a net-zero future could help "level up" the country and create opportunities in the North, a new report has claimed. The Resolution Foundation think-tank said that the drive to net zero would channel investment to parts of the country that have seen underinvestment in recent years. The UK has committed to becoming net zero by 2050, meaning that it must slash emissions as much as possible and mitigate any emissions that cannot be cut. This could help avoid catastrophic climate change. The transition is expected to cost the Government billions of pounds each year as it invests in clean technology such as carbon capture and wind turbines. But green investment could help tackle inequality by generating growth in areas badly in need of more economic opportunities, the report from the Resolution Foundation and the London School of Economics said. Low-productivity areas outside London and the South East have the greatest potential for growth, in line with the Government's "levelling up" agenda.
The North East will play a lead role in selling the UK's green economy opportunities to the world when it hosts a new expo this autumn. International Trade Secretary and Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan says the region will host a Green Trade and Investment Expo alongside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Henri Murison of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: "This expo will put the North on the map for our world-leading green capabilities." 
Sign up to The Northern Agenda Has a friend forwarded you this edition of The Northern Agenda? You can sign up to receive the latest email newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by clicking on this link.  Northern Stories  The life-size beached sperm whale at Majuba beach in Redcar (Image: Stuart Boulton/Teesside Live)
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An interactive street theatre featuring a replica whale has arrived on Redcar beach. The cultural event involves a hyper-realistic beached sperm whale on the beach in a statement about the environment and climate change. Part of the spectacle saw a team of performers acting as scientists running tests to find out why the whale has washed up on the beach. The replica whale, which even produces the smell of decay, was made in 2013 and has featured in numerous locations across Europe including London, Paris, and Madrid. -
A draft standards report says an East Riding councillor who posted a tweet depicting a fake image of Jeremy Corbyn holding a Remembrance Day wreath at the scene of a terror attack in Liverpool breached the authority's code of conduct. The tweet and posts on Twitter and Facebook made by Councillor Paul Nickerson last year in the aftermath of the attack on the city's Women's Hospital triggered 520 complaints to East Riding Council. He was a Tory councillor but resigned from the ruling group and now sits as an Independent. -
A group of Northern MP is launching an inquiry into the cultural value of sport to the region's cities, towns and communities. The Northern Culture All-Party Parliamentary Group, chaired by Bury Tory MP James Daly and Labour Sunderland MP Julie Elliott last year published a report on the need to level up Northern culture. Its latest inquiry will be launched on June 15 and will ask what is needed to boost the cultural value of sport and build stronger communities across the North. -
A Merseyside MP has said it will be "impossible ever to get over" his daughter's death following a hit-and-run incident just 100 yards from his home. Peter Dowd, Labour MP for Bootle, said he has still not come to terms with the events of September 27 2020, when Jennifer Dowd, 31, was knocked off her bicycle by a driver who abandoned the scene. The NHS project manager died on October 6. The motorist, who admitted causing Ms Dowd's death by careless driving, and failing to stop at the scene of the crash, was jailed for 12 months in October 2021. -
Northern Gritstone, a new investment business focused on university spin-outs in the North of England, has secured funding from large local authority pension funds as part of an initial £215m fundraising. The collaboration between the universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, is expected to begin deploying capital and making its first investments in innovative start-ups over the coming weeks. It has attracted funding commitments from sources including local authority pension funds, high net worth individuals and real estate investors. -
Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey wants to change the 'lazy' culture of driving children to school and reduce the risk to life posed by cars and congestion. The multiple gold medalist was in attendance at Leigh Central and Sacred Heart primary schools in Leigh as they launched the School Streets scheme. This event is something the new Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester believes that can help change the culture and boost activity to benefit overall health. 
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