Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell (pictured) branded the summer event 'a weekend out for toffs'.

He strongly criticised Northumberland County Council - which is in the midst of making budget cuts totalling £40m over two years - for earmarking £80,000 to stage the high-profile equestrian event.

The bridge will carry walkers and cyclists across the river under plans to create a major new network of green travel routes, cut car use and promote healthier lifestyles.

It will be built near Humford Mill as part of a £2.3m scheme to improve walking and cycling links between the towns of Bedlington and Cramlington. The new bridge is a key element of a revised package of sustainable travel initiatives, building on £1.35m of Big Lottery funding which was allocated to Northumberland in 2007.

Rosie Winterton says she is confident that local government in Northumberland is "much better placed" under unitary status than it would have been if the old two-tier system of a county and six district councils had remained.

Her comments come in the wake of the newly-established unitary council having to make £26m in budget cuts last year and planning £20m worth of savings this year, with more pain forecast to come in 2011/12.

A 6ft mural of the 1970s comic book character Cerebus the Aardvark had brightened up a bridge near Blyth for nearly three decades until its disappearance last weekend.

Despite its popularity, Northumberland County Council blitzed the colourful design as part of a crackdown on graffiti.

A progress report on the review reveals hundreds of people have made their views known on whether parking fees should be imposed across the whole county - rather than just in selected towns.

More than 560 people have signed three separate petitions calling for an equal policy across the board, with charges being made in all principal towns.

It was planned to put up the annual charge for the service from £20 to £25 in March - to bring in an extra £60,000 and help the county council achieve tough budget savings.

Now the saving will have to be found elsewhere after Conservative and Labour councillors joined forces to defeat the move at a meeting in County Hall on Wednesday.

The eight parish and town councils were established last summer to boost local democracy following the abolition of Blyth Valley and Wansbeck district councils, and the creation of a single unitary authority for Northumberland.

Now it is being suggested that the councils - covering Blyth, Ashington, Newbiggin, Cramlington, Seaton Valley and Bedlington North, East and West - should form an official federation with a joint managing board.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is writing to Liberal Democrat leaders at County Hall and asking them to "stop hitting" the elderly population of the county.

He says the recent announcement the council is axing a scheme which provides cut-price taxi travel for hundreds of pensioners who are unable to use buses is the latest in a damaging series of cost-cutting measures affecting older people.

It was feared that around £30m worth of savings would be required to balance next year's budget but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has allowed councillors to pay for some costs from the capital budget.

The authority had submitted four bids for capitalisation in respect of potential losses on Icelandic investments of £9.1m, for £6m in strain on the pension fund, £2.8m for enhanced redundancy and £1.4m for statutory redundancy.

County council leaders expected to be told yesterday whether ministers will allow them to use a financial loophole to avoid having to make almost £30m in savings this year.

But last night - as the authority revealed it has dropped plans to close a number of tourist information centres in Northumberland - there had still been no decision from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

More than 800 vulnerable pensioners across the county use the scheme, which allows them concessionary travel in taxis because they are unable to use other forms of public transport.

They use council-issued vouchers, tokens or passes to pay for taxi trips to the shops, GP and hospital appointments or to visit relatives and friends.

Cash-strapped Northumberland County Council - which is having to make budget cuts of up to £50m over two years - is thinking of using its capital resources to help would-be home buyers who are being frustrated by the continued squeeze on lending.

A report is being prepared for the Liberal Democrat executive in March on the possibility of the authority giving mortgages "in certain circumstances" to applicants unable to secure a loan from commercial lenders.

Blyth Resource and Initiative Centre (BRIC) may have to return about £7,000 which was secured through the hard work of its staff and earmarked for its CV advice service, which helps jobseekers back into work.

People showing their support for Blyth Resource and Initiative Centre. Pictured front: Bob Watson of Seaton Valley Council

There is massive uncertainty about who in the voluntary sector will still get Northumberland County Council funding, with huge budget cuts due to be finalised next month.

Julie Butler went into labour at just 26 weeks and spent weeks in hospital in a bid to stop the contractions.

Bailey, now two years old, was born weighing just 4lb 4oz and spent four weeks in the special care baby unit.

The mum-of-three and her husband Shaun were so impressed with the care they received, they have arranged a yearly 10-mile cycle from South Beach in Blyth to St Mary's Lighthouse, near Whitley Bay, and back, raising thousands of pounds.

Now Northumberland County Council have awarded the couple with £800 to help advertise their fundraising event and make it even better.

Six community libraries in Northumberland are now asking why they were earmarked to be closed to save money when they cost the county so little to run.

Scott Dickinson of Hadston House Libary

The decision to close Ashington Hirst, Lynemouth, Kielder, Bedlington Station, Blyth South Beach and Hadston libraries has been temporarily shelved after the savings were found elsewhere, and will be revisited in six to 12 months time. But the people who house and run the libraries are speaking out, asking why they were even chosen in the first place when the benefits far outweigh the cost.