MARK WILKES

Welcome to Democratic Durham……….Post election, things go from bad to worse.

At a meeting today of Charter trustees who oversee the 400 year tradition of Mayor of Durham City, the Labour party downgraded the Mayor.

In addition they threw a well respected ex-Mayor and alderman of our City out of the meeting and barred the press against the wishes of the Acting Mayor, and current Deputy Mayor Councillor Hopgood.

Labour will now effectively merge the Mayor and Chairman of the Council positions if they carry through with this at the formal Mayor Making meeting in June.

We suggested that in line with 400 years of history, the deputy Mayor become Mayor, with her year of experience in the role as Deputy, but instead Labour chose to politicise the position and unceremoniously ditch the Deputy Mayor, replacing them with Councillor Pauline Charlton from Evenwood in Teesdale.

One Labour member said their actions would save £100,000 but completely failed to explain how, and did this in front of the employee who is paid from this money – about as disrespectful and out of order as you can get.

Labour will now effectively merge the Mayor and Chairman of the Council positions. Not one of the charter trustees present who are also labour councillors could properly explain how a single individual could attend over 800 separate events as a merged Mayor and Chairman. Indeed at the meeting of the full council today council leader Simon Henig commented on how difficult a role being chairman of the council is, with over 400 events to attend. Presumably doing another 400-600 on top of that is impossible then? So many people who look forward to seeing the Mayor at local events will be let down.

Over the last nine years £200,000 has been raised for charity by successive Mayors.

The only hope now for the protection of the position of Mayor of Durham City and 400 years of tradition is the creation of a Town Council.

I am proud to support the Mayoralty of Durham City, which is why along with other charter trustees we proposed the existing Deputy Mayor to become mayor, and will propose Cllr Hopgood at the forthcoming Mayor Making instead of the Labour proposal.

The position of Mayor is supposed to be non-political. Labour have destroyed that principle.

The Labour proposal for next Deputy Mayor was fully supported by all charter trustees who are Lib Dem councillors, because we at least respect the position as not being political.

When I think back to the magnificent way in which past Mayors have represented our City, including local independent councillor Jeff Lodge who I proposed for freedom of the City before his death, it saddens me that elected councillors would seek to undermine the history of Durham City.

Following on from the repeat flooding in Brasside over the weekend I have been on site with council officers on Monday and again today. Previous work done by the council was not successful in stopping houses being flooded.

Private contractors have been brought in by the council to try and identify why drains have again failed and will be onsite for the next few day if necessary. it is possible that obstructions within the drainage system may be the cause or a contributory factor. What is for certain is that the fields around the area are still saturated from the wet autumn and winter and the water table is significantly higher than in the recent past, so everyone should take care and keep an eye on any areas prone to flooding.

Thankfully the work to improve the culvert in Witton Gilbert worked, with some assistance from resident checking for debris, and we are  now waiting for the application for government funding to carry out embankment works.

Council Press release

The thrills and spills of competitive cycling will be returning to the streets of Durham this week as the city again plays host to the cycle Tour Series.

This year’s race, sponsored by Pearl Izumi, has been arranged by Durham County Council in partnership with Visit County Durham and organising company, Sweetspot.

The major spectator event kicks off at 7pm on Thursday, May 16. Excitement is mounting for the series, positioned at the highest level of competition in the UK and comparable to racing anywhere in the world.

Ten teams of five top professional cyclists (and two guest teams at each round including the Velo29-Blackhawk squad who are local to the area) will take on each other and the challenges of the Durham circuit in their bid to become the top British cycling team and champions of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series.

Over the course of one hour, teams will battle to place their top three riders as high as possible in the finishing positions in order to gain their team maximum points.

When it comes to dramatic racing, exciting circuits and spectators on the road, it is by far the biggest series in the UK and Velo29 are helping to fly the flag for professional cycling in the region.

The Durham circuit is one of the most demanding with the cobbled climb, narrow streets and right angle corners and has been previously been described as ‘purgatory’ by  the cyclists taking part.

The route will start and finish at Durham School and will take cyclists along Margery Lane, Crossgate Bank, South Street and Grove Street.

The crowd is estimated to be even bigger this year with thousands of spectators expected. The Belmont Park Ride will stay open until 10pm on the night of the race. Return journeys are £2.50 per person or parking will be available at County Hall from 5pm which is about 15 minutes’ walk from the course.

For more information on the Pearl Izumi Tour Series log on to: www.thetourseries.co.uk

 2013 Pearl Izumi Tour Series is an eleven round televised city centre cycling race series of unique, gladiatorial team based cycling.

Ten teams of five top professional cyclists (and two guest teams at each round) will take on each other and the challenges of the Durham circuit in their bid to become the top British cycling team and champions of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series.

Local residents and businesses have received formal notification of road closures, parking restrictions and bin collection changes across the route.

The following road closures will apply prior to, during and immediately after the Pearl Izumi Tour Series 2013 on Thursday 16 May.

Quarryheads Lane (south) – strictly residents only access between 7.00am and midday. Then road closed from midday to midnight.

Grove Street, Margery Lane (south) and Quarryheads Lane (north) – road closed from 7.00am to midnight.

North Road (east/bottom of Crossgate) – road closed from 10.00am to midnight.

Margery Lane (north), Crossgate, South Street, Pimlico – road closed from midday to midnight. Please note that A690 Crossgate Peth and Alexandria Crescent will remain open at all times.

http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=8810

Any spectators intending to visit the event on bicycles are kindly requested not to enter the spectator areas via Quarryheads Lane, Pimlico or the North Road entrance to South Street.

A big thank you to everyone who voted today, regardless of how they voted. We have three Lib Dem councillors in the Framwellgate and Newton Hall Division:

Amanda Hopgood, Mamie Simmons and Me!

Well,  counting in the election today starts at 1pm in Spennymoor and Stanley. For Framwellgate and Newton Hall division it is in Spennymoor. Will update result here, but www.durham.gov.uk is the best place to find results as they are counted.

Thank you to everyone who voted for Mamie, Amanda and I yesterday, and for the other Lib Dems around the County. Hopefully we will still be your councillors this afternoon.

One thing is certain, on the doorstep, the actions of the Labour Party in County Durham have disgusted people. In Langley Park, the Labour councillor has claimed five times more subsistence expenses (food, drink, hotels etc) than all twenty Lib Dem councillors combined. And that is a lot of food and drink.

Popped into county hall yesterday and saw some residents / visitors struggling to find anywhere to park. This was strange given that the barrier was down on the councillors carpark, but apart from my car there wasn’t a single other vehicle in there. It does beggar belief that on the one day when hardly any councillors will turn up at county hall, there were 80 empty parking spaces whilst visitors struggled to find somewhere to park. Perhaps all that will change this afternoon, or perhaps 100 years of Labour control will continue. Either way, thanks again for supporting us.

The Local Government Ombudsman has confirmed to me that my complaint about the clothing allowance being provided to Labour councillors for the last thirty years is being fully investigated.

The £12860 allowance, paid to the Chair and Vice Chair, which for thirty years have been Labour councillors is an utter disgrace.

The Chair already gets £13300 for being a councillor, plus £6650 for being Chair, so why on earth they then need £12860 clothing allowance is beyond me.

The Labour vice chair said she can’t do the job in tatty clothes. I wonder how many residents in County Durham get paid to go out and buy thousands of pounds of clothes. Labour in this county are utterly out of touch with the electorate, and I hope tomorrow that this shows in the way people vote in the LOCAL election.

Please support Amanda, Mamie and I in the election tomorrow, and if you don’t live in our area, please support your local Lib Dem councillor.

We have consistently  tried to make county hall more accountable and to make sure that the money the council has is spent more wisely.

Labour think nothing of wasting money and mismanaging things. They sold a stately home for £241,000 when they were offered £1.5m for it. They refused to cut excessive councillor allowances to help protect the Citizens Advice Bureau funding, and they refused to bring down the cost of 20 million miles worth of mileage claims every year by Durham County Council.

This is the tip of the iceberg. With every week that passes more examples of waste are found. We must have more non-Labour councillors on this authority if it is to ever change, and the best way to get that change is to vote Lib Dem tomorrow.

Went down to county hall today and was surprised to find most of the streetlights in the county hall car park blazing away in the middle of the day, including every single one in the Councillors car park. Certainly no dim view for councillors there then? Fingers crossed that next weekend all the lights will have gone out on Labour in County Durham.

If you spot a streetlight on anywhere in the county, just email Hal@durham.gov.uk with the streetlight number and location.

I suppose I should report the lights at county hall just in case no-one else noticed them.

I think I’ll try and find out how much we are spending on electricity for street-lighting too.

The work to fill in all the potholes on and around Garden Avenue has started. Already a great improvement.

Good to see also that after five years of trying all of Caterhouse Road has now been resurfaced.

I also kicked up a fuss about the fact that despite repeated requests over a year, holes in the footpaths on part of Lilac Avenue, near the bungalows hadn’t been touched – typical labour council communication failures. thankfully today a good long stretch of pavement was resurfaced.

Finally the roadsweeper has been out in our area. Aykley Vale has seen its first sweep in I don’t know how long. I think the change in management we secured is having a real effect. The guys are doing a good job.

Still more to do though. Don’t forget to return your postal vote unless you want five more years of clothing allowances for Labour councillors.

Just had a look for the pages showing councillors allowances and can only find last years (2011-12). It may be that the council has only ever kept one years worth of expenses online, but given that elections are every five years, it seems only sensible and transparent for every year to be available for residents to view. The year which just ended hasn’t been publicly released yet (12-13), so I can’t put that on here but the rest are.

Excluding the Clothing Allowance for Labour councillors, as obviously they never published that, surprise, surprise.

DCCAllowances11-12_rev

CouncillorsAllowances1011

CouncillorsAllowances0910_REV1

CouncillorsAllowances0809

It is quite staggering to think that at least one Labour councillor has claimed FOUR TIMES MORE in subsistence claims than all 21 Lib Dem councillors COMBINED!

Most people should receive their postal votes for the Elections tomorrow or Wednesday. If you haven’t received yours by Thursday, contact the council or let me know and I will check why.