This link will take you to the full report being provided at the councils public events relating to the County Durham Plan. it includes a number of extra pages over and above those I have already provided on the County Plan Page, including details of the Councils reasoning for the various parts of the land and some extra information on the contraints of particular site developments:

http://content.durham.gov.uk/PDFRepository/CountyDurhamPlanUpdateForDurhamCityResidentsOctober2011.pdf

This is about 9mb in size if you would like a paper copy please  get in touch. I will be asking the Council to provide a full display of the maps in the Abbey Leisure Centre entrance hall and other locations, and will update on here when this has been done.

The County Durham Plan consultation / viewing event this evening was attended by over 140 people, a decent turn out but not enough, and substantially less that last time.  I am increasing ly concerned about the level of the proposed development on greenbelt, and an apparent lack of consideration of brownfield and infill sites. It is as if the council wants to build on the greenbelt and on every bit of infill as well. I am continuing to urge the council to give much more consideration to where housing can be built on non-greenbelt land.

I am also trying to get more clarification on the process of how residents will be able to put forward views as to what they want to see in their area as part of the whole County Durham Plan proposals as there hasn’t been any consideration of this to date.

If you didn’t make the event tonight or can’t make one of the others in the next few days in the Town hall, St Johns Church or Belmont, click on the COUNTY PLAN link on the left of this page and you can see the same plans the council had on display as links.

Spoke with local streetsene team yesterday about seriously overgrown weeds, leaves litter etc on FrontSt. Pity Me. Today, whole stretch has had weeds leaves and litter removed. Looks great. Very quick turnaround. Well done Streetscene team.

If there is an area which looks a mess let me know and I will do my best to get it cleaned up. Also asked for Potterhouse Lane to be cleared of litter yesterday following the grass cutting which always shows up litter.

Based on requests last year for grit bins and road clearance I have put in a number of requests for bins. Also pushed for changes to the way in which bin allocation is scored, which appears to have been successful. Hopefully more areas will get grit bins this year. Let me know if there is a specific area where you had big problems last year, but also normally have problems as the Council still has limited resources on this. I am working with Framwellgate Moor parish council who are looking at assisting with some work this coming winter.

As part of our drive to improve youth provision at Abbey, some positions have been advertised for youth workers. This is part of a wider recruitment across Durham City and Chester-le-Street.  Newton Hall councillors along with myself are working with youth and leisure services to bring better provision to the Leisure Centre and hope to be able to announce improvements in the coming months following consultation with young people. This is something we have been pushing for for over 2 years and it is good the Council is finally putting into action our recommendations and working with us. TheRe are other jobs also available on the Council website.

www.durham.gov.uk/jobs

The recent changes to bus services affecting Brasside, appear in part to be down to blockages elsewhere in Durham – in particular Gilesgate Bank. The Council is consulting on an extended bus lane along that road, but the problem is the roundabout in the City. I am now in discussions with Gilegate Councillors, Bus Co’s and Officers to see if a solution can be found which will then allow improvements to bus services not only in Brasside but throughout the area.

The new parking scheme on Framwellgate Moor Front St has been a roaring success. I am very happy that I was able to get this implemented. Having spoken to residents and shopkeepers, all (so far) are agreed that there is less parking on pavements (so less risk to pedestrians), and the parking bays are no longer full of all day parkers helping local businesses and shoppers and passing trade.

If you do need to park all day there is plenty of space in the car park at the rear of the Community Centre which I arranged to be resurfaced last year.

If anyone does have any parking issues from this, please let me know.

The Council Tax in our area is made up of Five elements – County Council, Parish Council, Police, Fire and Charter Trust (Mayoralty).

For most people the Mayoralty is less than £5 a year, the big element (over £1000) is for the County Council.  For the Parish Councils it is around £30 a year.

The Coalition Govt has offered 2.5% for councils if they freeze council tax for residents. If implemented by Durham County Council will mean a second successive year of Council Tax freeze compared to a doubling of Council Tax under the Labour government.

Each council has to decide if it wants to accept the 2.5% grant or ask for more money from taxpayers.  I expect DCC will accept the grant offer, freezing the biggest portion of council tax.

What is less certain is with regards to the Police and Fire and Parish elements of the council tax.  As a member of Framwellgate Moor Parish Council I get the feeling that there is no desire from Lib Dem or Independent Councillors to increase the parish precept. Waiting to find out about Bearpark and Witton Gilbert parishes.

Police and Fire have not yet announced any figures however an offer from government to pay for a 3% rise, if accepted could mean no council tax rise at all for residents.

The final part of the Council tax bill – is a few pounds for the Charter Trust and Mayoralty of Durham City. Last year I negotiated with the County Council alongside other Lib Dem Charter trustees and reduced down service costs and consequently the Charter trust levy by 14%. I will be pushing for a minimum of a freeze this year and personally think we could reduce the figure down a bit more.

The more money in residents pockets the better.

Time to start tidying the garden. The garden waste collections are scheduled to end the first and second week of November, although with the recent mild weather we might find a lot of leaves still needing cleaning up after this date! I have been pushing the council for months to include details on their website of garden waste times but so far no action.  It’s a joke how many things you can’t check for on the council website.  if they got more information onto the site, they would have fewer delays when people call with more serious issues.