Update 24 September 3pm: Just spoke to Michelle Robson, who is 84-year-old Don Robson’s daughter-in-law. Don is an 84-year-old ex-headteacher who has been occupying the Newtown house carehome in Durham since last Thursday in protest at Durham council’s plans to close the carehome (see posts and interviews below). Apparently, council security at Don’s 84th birthday party at the occupied Newtown house carehome is heavy – see the 23 September update post below for more on the warning letter about security for the party that Durham County Council sent the family yesterday. There are six – SIX – bouncers from a private security firm present. Michelle says Don’s great granddaughter and daughter were denied entry to the party. She also said that the council was trying to stop local press from covering the story now. Don and his family are due to be evicted from their occupation at 6pm. “It’s a fine day when upstanding people like ourselves have to do this to make our point,” Michelle just told me (there’s a long interview with her on the reasons for this occupation at the end of this post). She had heard about the Focus E15 occupation of the Carpenters’ estate and sent greetings to the Focus E15 campaigners. “Tell those ladies I’m with them in spirit.” I’m thinking that Durham county council is with Newham council in spirit…they don’t want campaigners and occupiers and people protesting at service and support cuts in their neck of the woods. If this is Labour reaching out to people, they may need to refine their approach.

Update 23 September: Well. I suspect that fear of a Focus E15-type occupation has spread north. Mr Robson’s family have received a letter from Durham county council which places very tight restrictions on his planned 84th-birthday celebrations tomorrow AND gives him his marching orders. The letter, which I’ve reproduced below and will post a copy of tomorrow (posted below now), says his occupation must end after his birthday party tomorrow and that the council expects him out. Don Robson and his daughter-in-law Michelle have been occupying the Newtown house carehome in Durham since last Thursday in protest at council plans to close it. You can read about that and an interview with Michelle after this transcript of the letter:

The letter from the council:

“I write to confirm that Durham County Counciil are prepared to consent to a birthday celebration being held for Mr Robson at Newtown House on 24 September 2014 between the hours of 12 noon and 6pm.

Since you spoke, however, we have been made aware that the party has been publicised in local, national and social media. This causes us to have serious concerns as to the management of the party and accordingly, we believe it is necessary for us to make our consent to the party conditional upon the following:

– No more than 15 people shall be permitted entry at any time to Newtown House for the purpose of celebrating Mr Robson’s birthday.
– The council consents to you inviting press to attend the party. However, please note that the restriction on numbers covers all attendees, whether press, family or other persons.
– The party will take place in a lounge to be designated by DCC staff.
– You are responsible for ensuring that no damage is caused to the property by the visitors.
– You are responsible for cleaning up after the party.

Please note that the council will be providing security personnel to protect its staff and property. Should these conditions not be complied with, the security personnel will be authorised to bring the party to an end.

For the avoidance of doubt, the council does not consent to your occupation of Newtown house beyond 24 September 2014 and reserves the right to deal with your unlawful occupation after the party if you don’t leave at that point.”

Well.

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September 21 – this occupation is still going on…

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Original post

So… while everyone is talking political upheaval and inclusive constitutions and disillusion with the left and the right and the Westminster elite – an 83-year-old Durham man called Don Robson is occupying the Newtown House carehome in rural Stanhope with his daughter-in-law Michelle. The two have decided to sit in to protest at a Durham county council decision to close Newtown House. They’ve been there since Thursday. They are still there today. Don is the last resident left at Newtown house.

Don has lived in Newtown house for about 21 months. He was supposed to leave on Thursday, but has not. Michelle and her husband received a letter from the council saying that they had to find Don another place to live by 18 September. Michelle says their plan is to stay at Newtown house until Wednesday next week at least, which is Don’s birthday, and for an occupation of Newtown house to continue after that. Don will celebrate his 84th birthday on Wednesday. Michelle told me that they’ll hold a party for Don at Newtown house: “we want to celebrate that big-style with the community and get people to come here and have a party for him. That’s the plan.”

The ultimate plan is for Don to move in with Michelle and her husband. They’ve prepared a room for him in their home. Michelle says that is their only option. The next-nearest and most appropriate carehome for Don is a 50-mile round-trip from her home. That’s no good: Michelle and her husband like to visit Don daily, but they won’t be able to if each visit involves a 50-mile round-trip. The council told local ITV news that it couldn’t afford to keep Newtown house open.

Michelle says that the council is going ahead with the closure, because it is a Labour council and wants to be in a position to blame cuts “on the coalition government.” She says “the majority of opinions voiced over the closure were in favour of keeping Newtown house,” but that local people were ignored.

I’ve heard that sentence an awful lot over the last few years from disgruntled people around the country: “local people were ignored.” So. This is where loathing of politicians comes from, people. This is how it starts. It starts when local people who are trying to hang onto a much-admired neighbourhood service are loftily informed by their local councillors that the service is surplus to requirements and that’s the end of the story. I suspect that the political class thought it would get away with dismissing locals of all political stripes in this way forever. I wonder if the political class feels a little differently about that after the scare its main parties had in Scotland. An elderly man sitting in at a carehome is an interesting event. In its way, it is as relevant as the independence debate in Scotland has been. People get tired of hearing that they don’t count. They really do.

Anyway. Here’s Michelle Robson on her occupation of Newtown house with her father-in-law:

“We are still here. We will be here until at least next Wednesday, when it’s Don’s birthday. He will be 84 and we want to celebrate that big-style with the community and get people to come here and have a party for him. That’s the plan, at least until next Wednesday, unless something else happens.

“There are still quite a lot of staff [at Newtown house] – at least two on each shift. They will be working up until the 2nd of October. They are still working shifts. If Don wasn’t here, they would still be here, so why did he have to leave before the 2nd of October? The other thing I’m concerned about is why [Newtown house] didn’t keep taking people on respite care up until the day that they close.

“Don’s been here about 21 months. [The great thing about] Newtown house is that we can come and see him every day. We live a further nine miles west of Stanhope and its very rural location. There is no other facility here. If Don had to move to another carehome, then it would be at least 25 miles from our house, so that’s a 50-mile round trip. We wouldn’t be able to see him every day. That is what will happen to the other relatives. They will have to travel for miles to go and see their loved ones. I know that it wasn’t just us that visited their family every day. People care about their elderly and it’s just tragic that they’ve done this to everybody.

“That was the other option [moving Don miles away]. My argument there was you can offer anyone bed and board anywhere – but it’s not a life. It’s an existence – keeping people away from the communities that they know and love. The majority of people knew the staff long before they moved in here, because there are staff who have worked here for 25 years. All they want to offer is the private sector and that comes nowhere near this. That’s been destroyed by Durham county council.

“Don was supposed to leave on Thursday [last week]. We had a letter sent out about a month ago saying that you need to find alternative provision for Don by the 18th of September. We got that letter, but as I’ve said, we didn’t want Don to go and live 25 miles away from us. The whole reason that he lives in Stanhope is that was nearer to us. Him and his wife moved to be here a few years ago, because we  were travelling a two-hour round trip to see them then. So we moved them up to a flat [here] and then Stella died about four years ago. Don’s home wasn’t the right place for him. The other argument is that they say everyone should live in their own home, but sometimes, your own home is not the right place.

“This is a Labour council and I am absolutely disgusted by the Labour council in Durham. A lot of other councillors from different parties were opposed to the closure. One of the Liberal councillors stood up and said “do not close Newtown house.”

“It’s a rural location. There’s the lack of public transport. There’s no public transport on a Sunday, there’s no public transport on the nights and because we’re so rural, the roads are difficult to pass in the winter. This adds up to a big problem for relatives who have to visit a different community…There is a nursing home in Stanhope, but that’s not a carehome and that’s full. They are building an extension, but that’s a while off and it’s just not enough.

“Don will come and live with us. He is family and we will bend over backwards to accommodate him, because we don’t want live him living a 50-mile round trip away. The preparations are already done for Don to come and live with us. His bedroom is all sorted. That’s what we will do. I just hope that somewhere somebody will see what is happening here and rescue Newtown house before they finally close the doors. Because it is rescue-able. The building is beautiful.

“They talk about purpose-built accommodation and [say that] elderly people need ensuite bathrooms. They say that a lot of money needs to be spent on standards – but whose standards are they talking about? Because I’m sure that any of those residents who have lived here in this house, or who could live here, would rather live here than in some five-star hotel-type place with luxury ensuite facilities that’s miles and miles away from their home.

“It’s rubbish. Quite often, when elderly people have an ensuite bathroom – they actually need a commode by the bed. The ensuite might be too far away for them. Those people have lived a life with a guzunder as we call it here – a bedpot under the bed. That’s the life they knew. Okay, in recent times, they’ve actually had the luxury of a toilet in their house, but that toilet probably wasn’t even an ensuite in their bedroom. Most people don’t have that luxury – certainly not the older generation. Those care standards are ridiculous really. The standards here at Newtown house are absolutely perfect.

“Don was a headteacher at Newton Aycliffe, so he was employed by Durham county council – the same council that is now throwing him out of his home. The council is saying – well, we’ve worked with the Robson family over the last few months to find Don alternative provision, but as I’ve said before – that’s just providing him an existence. They’re not considering those quality of life issues.

“The majority of opinions voiced over the closures were in favour of keeping Newtown house. Durham county council is in favour of winning themselves awards. They spend money. We had Lumiere, which is a big light festival that cost thousands of pounds. Now, all of those things are fantastic – we all love to see Lumiere – but not unless you’ve got you own basic housekeeping in order. They are all for tourism – for people who visit Durham. Every argument [that the council] has is that it [tourism] brings more money into the pot. But Durham itself will bring tourists to Durham. Putting on festivals and for the influx of tourists that we get at those specific times – we will see nothing of that. Profits from that go into the hotels and cafes in Durham. So it’s a completely ridiculous argument.

“I think that [what the council is doing] is a bit like sticking two fingers up at the coalition government and saying – “well, we’re using you as an excuse now to do what we wanted to do. They are trying to make the coalition government look like they are responsible for this. I’m sure with a bit of imagination and a good business head you could make Newtown house run a lot more efficiently. The Labour council could make it work, but they don’t want to let the coalition government know that they could make it work.”