| As we mark International Women's Day - a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women - it's worth reflecting on how much our unequal society is costing the country's economy. New analysis by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and The Women's Budget Group (WBG) shows the barriers to paid work encountered by women means that £88.7bn 'gross value added' is lost to the economy in England, Scotland and Wales annually – equivalent to the contribution of the entire financial services sector in the UK. It means regional economies like Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire are losing out on billions each year due to barriers like caring responsibilities, the cost of childcare and wages undermined by the gender pay gap. Sara Reis, Acting Director at WBG, said the findings "don't capture the social cost – the loss of connection, sense of accomplishment and mental challenge for women excluded from paid work is immensely damaging for both their individual health and the wellbeing of our communities." In recognition of these impacts, CLES and WBG's new research project will see them partnering with Leeds City Council to better understand how gender inclusion can be prioritised in the development and implementation of economic strategies. James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said the city had made great progress but the analysis showed "that systemic barriers which stop women from undertaking paid work still cost Leeds approximately £1.5bn per year, or 5.3% of the city's total GVA". 
In Manchester, Francesca Lawson and Ali Fensome's contribution to the cause is the Gender Pay Gap Bot, an automated Twitter account that replies to companies who tweet their support for International Women's Day with that company's gender pay gap data. The 28-year-olds set up the Gender Pay Gap Bot in 2021 with Ali Fensome after being inspired by other automated Twitter accounts and wanting to force "a bit more accountability" around International Women's Day. Businesses often use the platform to proclaim their support for their female workforce. Their system pulls from published government data – accessible to all – to shine a light on the pay gap and make sure people "think a bit more critically" and do not "take these sorts of messages of empowerment and inspiration at face value". Ms Lawson, a freelance copywriter and social media manager, told the PA news agency: "People are getting wise to the kind of corporate virtue signalling and having the wool pulled over their eyes a bit in terms of how businesses talk about themselves versus how they actually act the other 364 days of the year."
Someone unlikely to be posting glowing Twitter messages about IWD is West Yorkshire Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who tells GB News she never celebrates the annual day. Ms Jenkyns, MP for Morley, tells Gloria De Piero in an interview which airs this Sunday: "I think we are very lucky in this country, yes there is misogyny around, but I think - look, we've had three female Prime Ministers, let's focus on the positive." The former Minister described how she once made the final of Miss UK after her father entered her into the beauty pageant. Asked if with the benefit of hindsight, beauty pageants and contests are now a relic of the past she said: "I don't see any harm in it to be honest if that's what people want to do."
'Blue wall' Tory MP won't stand at next election 
Aged just 29, Salford-born Graham Brady was the Conservative Party's youngest MP when he won the seat of Altrincham and Sale West in 1997 at the height of New Labour's popularity. Now 26 years on he's become the latest Tory to announce he won't be standing in the next General Election, alongside Bishop Auckland's Dehenna Davison, former chancellor Sajid Javid and ex-environment secretary George Eustice. The chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers said in a statement that his time in Parliament had been an "immense privilege" as he announced he was bringing "this fascinating and fulfilling chapter of my life to a close". Sir Graham added: "Representing my hometown in the House of Commons has been an immense privilege for which I will always be grateful." His constituency is considered a Conservative safe seat, having returned only Tory MPs during its existence, and he won in 2019 with a majority of 6,139. But as the website ConservativeHome wrote yesterday: "That Electoral Calculus is also currently giving Labour an 89% chance of winning of Altrincham and Sale West – essentially an affluent, Blue Wall, Remain-voting seat incongruously close to Manchester – is another factor that will have undoubtedly played on Brady's mind, whatever his public position."
Outcry over solar farm that dwarfs nearby village  Stock image by Shutterstock
Rows over solar farms are becoming increasingly common as local leaders try and balance the need to hit net zero targets with the objections of locals. Just this week rows in Wakefield and Merseyside have hit the headlines. And in County Durham, one of the UK's biggest solar farm sites is to be built between two villages despite concerns from residents that it will "devastate" the community, writes Local Democracy Reporter Bill Edgar. A bid to build on farmland between Lanchester and Burnhope was approved after a fierce debate over the need for the facility. Durham County Council received 466 objections from locals and 19 letters of support, yet planning officers recommended the proposal for approval. The applicant, Lightsource BP, said the solar farm will provide energy to nearly 14,000 homes and is in line with the government's net zero target. But several residents rejected those claims during a debate on Tuesday. Ian Galloway, of Burnhope, said the solar farm would have a devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of residents."We are not NIMBYs," he said. "We fully support renewable energy but this proposal development is two and a half times the size of our village and will destroy what has been decades in the making." But councillor Carl Marshall said the council's green ambitions must be prioritised. He said: "The problem with solar farms is you can't pop them on brownfield sites in city centres, they must be located on areas that have got good access to sunlight and grid connectivity. [The proposal] goes someway to Durham starting to show that we want to do our bit to tackle the issues the country faces."
Town hall chief says too many staff work at home  Theresa Grant, interim chief executive at Liverpool Council
Your Northern Agenda writer is in no position to judge as he writes this email from his living room in Leeds. But the boss of Liverpool City Council has said "too many staff are working from home" and told people to come in and work from the Cunard Building more regularly. In a message to all staff at the city council, interim chief executive Theresa Grant expressed frustration at how many of her staff members are choosing to work from home on various days across the week, reports Liam Thorp for the Liverpool Echo. She said: "It has become clear that too many staff are working from home and are not abiding by the agile working policy. I would like you all to work from the Cunard building for 3 days a week (if you work full time) and for your team to be in the Cunard across all five days (the building is very empty on Mondays and Fridays)." "Please do remember that your contracts are based on you working five days in the office, so we are already relaxing that obligation." In her message, Ms Grant, who will soon be replaced by permanent chief executive Andrew Lewis, added: "Whilst I know you work hard at home – and I'll be clear that I'm not suggesting you're not productive when you're not in the office – you cannot underestimate the value of the conversations you're missing out on if you're not regularly here in the Cunard Building." Opposition leader Cllr Richard Kemp said he felt the council were "getting the balance right." He added: "Face-to-face meetings are important. They have a richness which is not possible on laptop conversations. Not everything can be done on Teams or Zoom. This is not an attack on staff but a sensible way forward."
Meanwhile, Ms Grant says she expects the panel set up to drag her crisis-hit authority out of trouble in the aftermath of the bombshell Caller report to be more than a "talking shop." In August last year Greg Clark, the then-Levelling Up Secretary, confirmed alongside further expansion of government oversight of the city council, a new panel would be set up to lead it out of the intervention. The panel is chaired by Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region, and former city councillor. After months of delay, the group finally met at Mann Island on Monday. Mayor Joanne Anderson confirmed to a meeting of the council's final mayoral and performance select committee she was present alongside Sir Howard Bernstein former chief executive of Manchester Council, and Baroness Judith Blake, former leader of Leeds Council. Richard Kemp said he was concerned at learning details of the group's business 24 hours after it had met as well as the fact it had convened. He told Local Democracy Reporter David Humphreys it wasn't "evolving the way everyone said it would."
Family's £1m legal fees in row over £245k house 
We've all heard of family rows that got out of hand. But in South Yorkshire members of a farming family have spent more than £1 million on lawyers during a fight over the ownership of a house worth £245,000. Mr Justice Moor said the dispute between Pamela Teasdale, 68, her daughter Rebecca Carter, 45, and estranged husband Daniel Teasdale, 73, had left the family "fractured" and was "one of the most regrettable pieces of litigation" he had "ever come across". The judge aired his thoughts after overseeing the latest stage of the dispute in the Family Division of the High Court in London. It centred on the ownership of Cow House, a converted barn on Burne Farm, in Todwick, where Mrs Carter lived. Mr and Mrs Teasdale had lived on Burne Farm since shortly after they married in the mid-1970s and were the joint owners, reports Brian Farmer of Press Association. Cow House had been converted about 14 years ago and Mrs Carter, and her husband Andrew Carter, had moved in. The dispute over the ownership of Cow House had begun after Mr and Mrs Teasdale separated in 2018. A family court judge in Leeds had last year ruled that Mrs Carter was "entitled to the transfer of Cow House into her sole name" on "discharge" of a mortgage – after finding that she had been "promised the house if she discharged the mortgage". Mrs Teasdale had challenged that ruling. 
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Northern Stories  Rob Burrow with wife Lindsey Burrow
- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described Rob Burrow as an inspiration to millions while honouring him for his work raising awareness of motor neurone disease. Burrow, the former Leeds and England star, has passionately campaigned and raised funds for people affected by MND since he was diagnosed with the condition in 2019. This has now been recognised by the PM with Burrow named as the 2,000th recipient of the daily Points of Light award. The award, launched in 2014, celebrates outstanding individuals who make a positive change within their community and inspire others.
- More than 1,600 drivers were fined for not paying Newcastle's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge in its first month of operation. Council officials have confirmed that 1,658 motorists were hit with penalty charge notices for bringing a non-compliant vehicle into the CAZ without paying the toll from its launch on January 30 until the end of February. Some older, high-polluting vehicles that do not meet certain environmental standards are now subject to daily tolls of either £12.50 or £50 to come into Newcastle city centre, under efforts to slash illegal levels of roadside emissions.
- Councillors and town hall staff have been parking for free across Tameside since the outbreak of the pandemic, it has been revealed. A newly published report states that following the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK, in April 2020 Tameside council suspended charges for parking passes for its staff, its partner organisation – then called the Clinical Commissioning Group – Tameside College and elected members. As a result of a move to hybrid or home working during lockdowns, the authority had decided to change its policy from a paid-for pass to instead provide new and existing passes 'free of charge upon request'. This included 40 parking passes which were issued to elected councillors, and 85 passes for Tameside College staff.
- Sheffield Council leader Terry Fox said he will not resign and he rejected his colleague's offer of resignation following revelations the council misled the public and courts and acted dishonestly over the street trees saga. Both councillors Fox and Bryan Lodge were heads of the controversial £2 billion highways programme to fell 17,500 street trees and replace them with saplings. Cllr Fox took the position in 2015/16 before Lodge took over between 2016 and 2018, during which a string of infamous incidents took place. Sir Mark Lowcock, chair of the street tree inquiry, published his findings this week, saying the scheme was "flawed from the moment the contract was signed" between the council and Amey.
- The first ever budget for a new Cumbrian unitary council that is less than a month away from its vesting date has been approved. The historic financial plan for the Westmorland and Furness authority was the subject of lively discussion at Kendal county hall. Westmorland and Furness Council is to begin operating on April 1 and will take on the work currently performed by Cumbria County Council, Barrow Borough Council, South Lakeland District Council and Eden District Council. The budget includes an average 4.99% hike in council tax rates across the area.
- A council has been forced to set aside more than £62,000 to replace faulty lighting around the perimeter of the civic centre in Redcar. Redcar and Cleveland Council, in a document signing off the £62,510 funding required, said the stud lights in and around the entrance to the leisure and community heart in Kirkleatham Street had failed and because of their condition "require replacement so that illumination of the building and walkways can be re-established". They were installed when the £31m complex was opened to the public in 2014.
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