Call from council to be on your guard against rogue traders

Residents are being warned to be on their guard against rogue traders after a string of reports of doorstep crime.

Up to 10 incidents have been reported to our consumer protection team and police in the last few weeks.

Most have featured householders being offered bogus property improvement services, such as roofing and garden work – also known as fair weather crimes.

In some of the cases victims have reported that the rogue traders have driven them to the bank to withdraw cash.

Who is being targeted?

The incidents have taken place throughout the county and victims have been of all ages, including elderly and vulnerable people and women living alone.

Victims have reported handing over between £300 and £2,000 for the work, as well as jewellery. Nearly every case has resulted from cold-calling.

Cold calling

Rogue traders will typically call uninvited at people’s homes and offer goods and services on the doorstep.

More often than not, they exert extreme pressure on householders, charge inflated prices and display poor standards of workmanship.

The summer months often see a spike in these types of incidents as many people think about having work done around the house.

This is when rogue traders are at their busiest and, in many cases, they will target the elderly and vulnerable.

Look out for your neighbour

Trading standards officers from the consumer protection team are now calling on friends, relatives, neighbours and carers to look out for others in their community.

We are advising everyone to be on their guard against rogue traders and we would also ask residents to keep an eye out for any suspicious roofing or gardening work taking place at the homes of elderly or vulnerable family members and neighbours.

Rogue traders have a significant detrimental effect on the most vulnerable in our society and our officers will take robust action against anyone found to be taking advantage of people in this manner.

Our advice:

  • DON’T accept the services of uninvited, doorstep callers.
  • DO seek recommendations from friends and family.
  • DO try and use members of a trader’s scheme, for example Durham County Council’s Registered Trader Scheme.
  • DO call the police or trading standards if you suspect that rogue traders are operating in your community.

It’s time for Utilities to fix their damage permanently

It is increasingly annoying to see utility and other companies leaving our area looking a mess. They make huge profits, and as the example here on Dryburn Road shows, they are ruining grassed areas. The Council does’t seem to bother taking action until we intervene. Here, BT is parking regularly on the grass and has damaged it to such an extent that there is now standing water most of the time. I have asked our highways department to get them to fix this properly. If no other option is available they should create a hardstanding at this location so that when they access the broadband box they do not leave a mess. If you know of a similar location in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me, Brasside or Newton Hall, please let us know.

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Petition to save the Human Rights Act

Since the election, we have seen how a right-wing Tory Government will run our country without the Liberal Democrats to reign them in. There is no better example of this than their plans to ditch the Human Rights Act (HRA).Next week the Lib Dems are leading debates in Westminster about the Human Rights Act. So far, more than 27,000 people have backed our campaign to save the HRA. Please do the same by signing here:

http://change.libdems.org.uk/human-rights-act?recruiter_id=64588

The HRA was drafted by British lawyers in the aftermath of the Second World War, and gives us so many fundamental protections that we rely on in our day to day lives.

It has held the state to account for spying on us, safeguarded our soldiers and supported peaceful protest. It’s helped rape victims, defended domestic violence victims, guarded against slavery, protected elderly couples in care and shielded press freedom.

If, like me, you want to continue to protect those vital freedoms then please sign our petition today by clicking the link below. You can also read my speech to full council from last week by clicking here.

Sign the petition by clicking here

Six House Planning Application in Pity Me

The piece of land which used to be a woodland at the entrance to Pity Me currently has planning permission for five houses. This was challenged by your Lib Dem councillors as over development but passed by the Labour majority planning committee. There were numerous faults with the way in which that planning application was managed by the council which resulted in a Level 2 complaint and a report from the council at my request. There would have been a total of 23 bedrooms in the houses and insufficient parking in the previously approved application.

The new application has now come in for SIX houses.  These are individually smaller than the houses passed in the previous application but serious concerns must be raised.

You can view the application here:

http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NPQKJNGDL3T00

And can comment using the online system or by emailing  dmcentraleast@durham.gov.uk

My concerns at the moment are, not exclusively:

1. Parking provision

2. Safety of access and egress  at this very tight cul de sac

3. Safety and parking provision during construction

4. Ensuring the remaining trees which had Tree Preservation Orders placed on them can be properly protected as part of this application

5. Whether the building of six houses on a piece of land just 30m wide by 9 meters deep is over development!

6. Safety /utility for potential occupants of the properties – there will be no access to the rear of four of the properties other than through the house – the end house will have a TPO’d tree hanging over it, with little light, this is going to result in blocked drains and slippery paths and pressure on the council, at their cost in the future to remove the trees, which will also further damage the look of the area and upset residents.

7. The applicant proposes to use additional land for the development which is currently owned by the county council which has not been made surplus to requirements, including a grassed area.

Clearly if existing residents are to lose parking area as part of this development, and the community is to lose this grassed area, then the council must ensure that alternative provision for parking is provided and that the revenue from the sale of the council land is used to improve the parking situation for residents in this area.

 

Community Speedwatch in Pity Me and Newton Hall

On Tuesday we carried out with volunteers and the police some community speedwatch sessions on Front Street in Pity Me and Canterbury Road in Newton Hall.

The results showed a very low level of speeding with only one vehicle at each location travelling at over 35 miles an hour (one at 35 and one at 37).

Out of 138 vehicles recorded in Pity Me, just seven were over 30 and most of those were at 31 or 32mph.

On Canterbury Road numbers were even lower.

I always take these figures with a pinch of salt because different times of day produce different results and also, with the best equipment and best will in the world drivers may spot the signs and start to slow down before you record the speeds, however the results are very encouraging.

The council rotates speed visors southbound on Front St and Canterbury Road, and I used local funding to provide a permanent visor between Pity Me and Framwellgate Moor which appears to continue to work well.

If there is a particular location where you want to get involved in doing a speed watch please get in touch with me.

Council planning system has disappeared today – Update

Update – it’ back up and running again.

http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/search.do?action=simple&searchType=Application

Bizarrely the planning systems of every other council are working fine even though they use the same system, and  all other parts of the Durham County Council website are also working perfectly well.

Here’s what you get:

Page not found

The requested URL was not found on this server. If you had typed the URL, please check especially the following possibilities:

  • Perhaps the URL you typed contained lower case letters instead of upper case letters, or vice versa? URLs are case-sensitive, generally speaking.
  • A space somewhere? A URL must not contain a blank (space) character.
  • Check whether there are some extra characters at the end of the URL, or perhaps some missing characters.

So to get around this, if you wish to comment on an application you can email: dmcentraleast@durham.gov.uk or write to:

Planning Development (Central/East)
Room 4/86-102
County Hall
Durham
County Durham
DH1 5UL

Durham Moor / Framwellgate Moor State of Area

We have submitted over a dozen issues relating to the state of the area in the last day or so.

Footpaths like Holmlands Crescent which has been falling to bits for years and the Labour-run council still refuses to repair it: Perhaps our fifth request for action will see results:

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Also on this street a water cover which quite clearly was a trip hazard last year – google doesn’t lie! and still has not been picked up by the council despite several reports that they have checked the area.

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The state of some of the driveway entrances on High Carr Road. On one side of the road after we reported it repairs have finally taken place, albeit months and months after we reported it. On the other side weeds may hide the true depth of the damage, but none can say this is not a disgrace, more temporary repairs than you can count:

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Around the corner on Finchale Road, issues which we have reported today which shouldn’t happen but which the council may not be aware of. What appears to be a utility repair which is clearly not to standard, and near it a wall which is dangerous – where I could pull the bricks out if I tried! We have also reported the path running to Newton Drive, full of litter, needing weeds, gravel and soil removed. I am confident the council will address these asap and will be checking it.

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Clearly some issues can arise at short notice like a utility repair, but I have serious concerns that trip hazards which were there last year, on pavements which the council will say have been surveyed at least once and maybe more than once, are still there.

 

 

 

Salutation Pub Update

Some residents found that the Council links to documents for this application were not working. The link to the planning application documents is:

http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NOPJ8HGDKVY00

Alternatively if you have comments about the proposed changes to convert the pub into flats and two retail units you can email  dmcentraleast@durham.gov.uk  quoting DM/15/01606/FPA.

Your Lib Dem councillors are strongly opposed to further takeaway units being placed in the pub. We also want to see improvements to pedestrian access to this area as there are no proper crossings to the pub site, something we have raised many times with the council.

Officers have agreed to extend the consultation period to at least 13th July, and given the interest in the application will place additional adverts on lampposts in the area following our requests for wider consultation.

 

Lib Dem school success – Labour school shame: School falling down – Money siphoned away for management fees – £689,000 being spent on school soon to be bulldozed

I challenged Cllr Ossie Johnson, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People’s Services yesterday with the question at the bottom of this post about school repair funding.

Thankfully, the Council has now agreed to our local Lib Derm proposals to draw up plans to provide loan schemes to schools so that they can carry out work to crumbling buildings. SUCCESS!!! However:

Cllr Johnson stopped short however of agreeing to put any direct council funding into our school buildings. Building which are the direct responsibility of the Council.

He said that the Coalition government had refused his request for funding for one school, in Seaham. A complete nonsense given that the coalition provided £14m and the school is currently being built as we speak! He also sought to defend the fact that the council is currently spending £689,000 on the old Seaham school which will be demolished next year – blaming everyone else other than the Labour-run council. Apparently the school is in such a dangerous state that part of it will fall down if not repaired. Given that it is Labour which is responsible for this building and has been for decades, it is therefore Labour which is to blame for this.

And Mr Johnson complained about lack of government funding but did not answer my follow up question where I challenged the way in which Durham Council is spending the money government gives it.

It appears millions of pounds of government funding may not have gone to pay for repairs over the years because DCC takes a proportion of the money to pay internal council management fees. I am also not convinced we are getting the best value for the work which is done. Your Lib Dem councillors will not let this issue drop.

 

It is very clear that the Council is failing in its duty to ensure our young people are taught in properly repaired schools and whilst as Lib Dems we will campaign for the government to provide the Council with extra funding for new schools and for repairs, we must also make sure that the money which is given is properly spent, and where the council has the resources that it puts extra funding in.

For this reason, after a week of trying to get the figures on the total repair requirements for each school I yesterday sent every single County councillor the full list of backlog repairs. Now no Labour council can say they didn’t know the scale of the problem, and perhaps they too will want money spent more wisely and at least some funding put in from the £160m in council reserves!

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My question:
At this years budget meeting Lib Dem councillors proposed bringing back loan funding for school repair and maintenance, along with proposals to provide direct  funding from the County Council to improve our school buildings. Whilst this was voted down by Labour councillors, there was an indication from the Portfolio Holder that he was willing to look into this going forward.

The new Conservative government is likely to cut investment in school building below the levels seen during the Coalition government which provided funding of £140m.

This makes local Lib Dem proposals even more essential.

Whilst taking into account further budget pressures likely to come from the government in its July budget, could the portfolio holder confirm progress in this matter.
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My Human Rights Act speech and the shaming of Cllr Paul Taylor

Yesterday at full council my motion challenging Conservative Plans to scrap the Human Rights Act was passed by 90 votes to 4. The first time I can recall Labour voting for an unamended motion from a non-Labour councillor. An achievement in itself.

However the importance of the purpose was not apparent to Cllr Paul Taylor (Brandon), who in my view humiliated himself and his party when he seconded my speech on behalf of the Labour group.

His speech was basically a triade against the Lib Dems. He overran his time, shouting down the Labour chairman of the Council with total disrespect, and showed absolutely no understanding of the importance of the issue at hand.

The fact that Labour allowed Cllr Taylor to be the person to second my motion could be seen as a triumph for free speech. The irony though was that far from showing that Labour supported my challenge against the Conservative plans to set their own levels for human rights, what it actually showed was that in County Durham Labour are still stuck in the past. Trible politicians incapable of working with others for the greater good without chucking in some backstabbing.

I would fight alongside Cllr Taylor to protect his human rights and right to free speech. Free speech which allows me to say that his behaviour was appalling and his speech degrading. If I were a County Durham Labour councillor I would be deeply embarrassed this morning. Thankfully I am not and my motion was passed – one little success in the fight to protect our human rights. I hope every council in the country does the same.

My motion:

The Human Rights Act enshrines a number of fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals can access.

Council believes these fundamental rights & freedoms are crucial for a fair, free & democratic society & that everyone in County Durham and across UK is entitled to have these rights respected, even when we disagree with their beliefs or actions.

Council further notes that, at a time when we are honouring those who fought in the Second World War and the purpose for which so many lost their lives defending our liberty and freedoms, we reject the Government’s proposal to repeal the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Council therefore resolves to:-

  1. Reject the intentions of the current Government to repeal the Human Rights Act & replace it with a bill of rights.
  1. To write to the Home Secretary & the Justice Secretary to express opposition to any attempt to repeal this Act.

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My speech:

The atrocities of World War II revealed to the world what a government can do to its own people when there are no limits on state power. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, set down in stone the basic rights and freedoms we all have as human beings. It set the limits below which no state should go and helped formulate the European Convention on Human Rights.

These are protections like the right to life, to liberty, freedom of expression, and the right to a fair trial.

These human rights are not a privilege or within the gift of governments; they are the basic minimums every person should have, and which every government is responsible for upholding.

You know, for a long time the only way people in this country could access these rights was to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights, after repeated appeals in the UK

Our Human Rights Act allows anyone to claim these rights in any UK Court and be heard by British judges.

The Act also places an obligation on us as councillors and on this authority as a whole to respect and protect County Durham residents’ human rights in all that we do.

The Conservatives want to scrap the Human Rights Act & replace it with a British Bill of Rights. They want to be able to set the level of our human rights. They want to demand that the role of the European Court of Human Rights be reduced to an “advisory” role. If the court refused to accept the plan, Britain would resign as a member.

You cannot dictate to a supra-national court. Human rights and the European Court sit above national governments.

They are removed from the interference of the state precisely to avoid a return to the horrors of the Hitler regime and the Second World War.

This government seeks to erode our rights by using the language of fear, the illusion of necessity, goaded on by a right wing press hell bent on hating everything European.

And the result if the Tories get their way?

It is unthinkable. We would be saying that as a country we do not believe in universal human rights, we only believe in British human rights.

The damage to the UK’s reputation would be immense.

Despotic regimes using our example, setting their own levels of human rights. The erosion of rights worldwide slowly shattered as each country decides for itself what human rights are allowed, who is protected and who is not.

Now there are members of the Conservative party and the right wing press who will talk of scaremongering, but consider this, and lets bring it down to the nuts and bolts of day to day living.

The only other country in Europe not signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights is Belarus, where you can be dismissed from a job with absolutely no justification needing to be given.

Does anyone think that that doesn’t appeal to some right wingers in the Conservative Party?

Equally, there are countries in the world where political parties see property as theft!

Imagine politicians in government who would like to take away your home simply because you have more money than someone else.

Does anyone think that is not a possibility under a future far left wing government?

Those seeking to erode our human rights should think long and hard because one day it could be their rights which are taken away. Their stately home and duck pond confiscated.

Now we all know that it can be difficult talking about human rights in the context of immigration, of terrorism, of horrendous crimes.

And of course you can be annoyed about the kinds of decisions the law throws up. But I would rather be annoyed, even infuriated, to be safe in the knowledge that my freedom of beliefs, my freedom of expression, my human rights, are protected.

Universal means all of us including those you hate.

Human rights are the rules which all governments should follow. There is no choice for our government. No half way house. The Human Rights Act is our safety net. It is the cornerstone of our democracy.

Any move that takes the UK away from these universal standards risks what protects us all. Both in this country and overseas.

So Theresa May, Michael Gove, David Cameron, I am using my right to free speech to tell you: There are no levels when it comes to human rights. They are inalienable. They are universal. Keep your hands off them.

Fellow councillors support this joint motion and send the message that we will not allow this Tory government to destroy the system that protects us and the residents of County Durham and will never allow them to destroy our reputation as a fair, free and open society.
Thank you Chairman.