Lib Dem councillors attend Greenbelt protest in Durham City

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Cllr David Freeman, Cllr Nigel Martin and I attended the County Plan protest in the Durham Market Place today. It was well attended with some good speeches.

I have arranged a meeting with the Head of Planning this coming week to get to the bottom of how the Council plans to proceed now that it has managed to get around the Inspector’s decision to reject the County Plan.

As I see it there are a number of ways the Council could deal with this:

1. Put out an alternative County Plan in a few months for “consultation” and then ignore every view which comes back – as it has done throughout the process.

2. Arrange proper consultation sessions before producing ANY proposals and then produce an alternative plan without taking account of residents proposals – less likely but wouldn’t surprise me.

3. Arrange proper consultation on the areas of the plan which the Inspector and residents disagreed with – before producing a proposal, including the changes residents want and publish the alternative plan – how it should be done but almost certainly will not happen!

Whatever happens you can be sure it will be Lib Dem councillors standing up for our World Heritage City against a Labour-run council which so far has completely and utterly ignored the views of the vast majority of residents from Durham City and the surrounding villages.

Council pollution failures

As reported in the Echo today, Durham County Council has for many years now been failing to get to grips with pollution problems in Durham City:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/northdurham/durham/13782692.Council_blasted_over__quot_too_little_too_late_quot__response_to_air_pollution/

Ever noticed when the council has a good news story a Labour politician comments. When its a bad new story its always an officer. That way you can always blame someone else! Total lack of political leadership.

County Plan demonstration this Saturday in Market Place

The friends of Durham Greenbelt are calling for a big turn-out this Saturday at noon in the market place.

The Council has managed to get a deal for a new examination in public on the County Plan. This means that the City is now at risk again from over development.

If you feel strongly that Durham should not be turned into a concrete jungle, make sure you turn up on Saturday morning. The more people are there, the less chance the Council can ignore the views of residents.

Please pass this message on through social media and word of mouth.

And still we wait for action on Abbey Road

This photo from today. IMG_0569The black car is parked up, The others are all on the pavement. In the other direction cars parked for over 100m. How much longer must we wait for action.

All those who could deal with this now know about it: senior council officers, the portfolio holder, the police and crime commissioner and for that matter the press who I hope will embarrass someone into addressing this.

 

 

 

Abbey Road safety deteriorates further – Council still says its safe

Problem parking on Abbey Road has now passed the point of being dangerous.

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As I have previously mentioned a traffic order has been secured following our intervention but this is going to take time for yellow lines to be implemented.

For the last two weeks parking near the garages and NWL has reached very dangerous proportions with now 20 cars parked in a line at one point.

Senior council officers have told me that this is not dangerous. Here are comments from some residents. Apologies for the language but I think it conveys the severity of the situation. If you read my previous post on this, you will see my more detailed explanation from last week and comments from a Council officer, who whilst I am sure would’t mind being named, I feel it appropriate to keep him anonymous for now. previous post click here

UPDATE: As well as contacting the press I have also raised the issue with the portfolio holder Cllr Stephens and the police and crime commissioner Ron Hogg.

Residents comments:

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Please can you shed any light as to why all of a sudden Abbey Road is flooded with parked cars on booth sides of the road.  I have just returned from shops at the arnison centre and I have narrowly avoided being hit by a Bus approaching me on the wrong side of the road! The problem seems to be getting worse. This evening the fact a lorry leaving one of the garages made the matter worse. It was unable to manoeuvre safely as a row of cars had parked opposite the access road. I strongly feel that if this parking issue is not addressed ASAP unfortunately there will be a serious accident.

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My son can’t get out of Smithfield as a low loader is straddled across the entrance to the road. The reason ? The vehicle can’t move because of the congestion further to the east of the turning. He has an important business appointment, he’s self employed. Consequence is xxxxxxxx are trading and my son can’t!!! Another missive to relay the powers that be !!
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Thanks for the prompt reply. You have made good progress. This morning. (I walk the dog along to The Carrs) there are 21 cars. They stretch over 100 metres. Those who think it isn’t dangerous for buses, wagons, trailers and Sainsbury/Asda etc delivery vehicles to scrape through the “middle lane” are deluded.

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It is an absolute cheek that such behaviour is not being tackled by the council. Your efforts in persuading the council they are wrong are appreciated.

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I was driving along Abbey Road towards Pity Me the other day and came across the cars on the bend and I thought, what the****. From what I could see the way was clear,so overtaking with caution I proceeded along until suddenly a large van came hurtling towards me. How we scraped past each other I will never know? I will tell you this ****,I thought I was going to have a second heart attack!!.
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They will wait till some one is killed that is the council for you waste of space

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Holmlands Crescent repairs carried out, more reported

holmlands crescent path repair

Picture of work done.

For some time I have been asking for this path to be fixed. Well perseverance pays off. This and other repairs I reported on Holmlands Crescent have been actioned. many more are still waiting to be done.

I have of course had to report more problems on this and other streets in the last few days including broken paving and kerbs, potholes, trip hazards and requests for resurfacing, including but not exclusive to Hudspeth Crescent, The Avenue, Durham Moor Crescent, Woodbine Road. More will no doubt follow in the coming days.

It’s just a shame the County Council isn’t more proactive. If it spent the money it had more efficiently and listened to Lib Dem councillors, a lot more work would get done, for a much lower price and repeat repairs wouldn’t be necessary. (more…)

£38000 for a glorified tuck shop

Durham Council is spending £38000 on a cafe in county hall, a building it has announced to wants to bulldoze. How on earth can it cost that much.

Full story from Northern Echo:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/13714132.Cost_cutting_council_under_fire_for_spending___38_000_on_new_coffee_shop/

A COST cutting council has come under fire after planning to spend £38,000 on a new coffee shop.

Durham County Council – which just this week announced plans to cut home-to-school transport funding and charge the poorest pensioners for community alarm systems – intends to convert a former security office at County Hall into a shop selling drinks and snacks. (more…)

Vote Early Vote Often – It is Labour-run County Durham after all

In the Shotton and South Hetton By-election, 164 people have had the chance to vote twice after the Council’s printers sent out two postal votes to 164 people.

This is at least the second time there have been problems this year with elections in the County. Clearly it is time for another investigation before someone starts to question the probity of the election process!!

Vote Early Vote Often seems appropriate.

I note from The Times today that Matthew Parris says he has registered his four Llamas to vote in the Labour leadership election. Initially I thought I had misread it and it said you can vote for four Llamas.

 

Council refuses to advertise externally for new Chief Exec

Our esteemed Labour-run council has refused a Lib Dem request to advertise the position of Chief Exec outside of the Authority.

This was with the support of at least one of the independent group leaders and the Conservative group leader. Only the Lib Dems pushed for transparent process.

I fail to understand what the council has to lose by advertising to get the best person for job. None of the internal applicants would have anything to worry about if they are up to the position. There are senior officers who may be capable of being Chief Exec but it is unacceptable for local residents to not have a fully open selection.

The council has reduced the salary for the position from just over £200k down to £185k. However this is unlikely to save any money since the existing Chief Exec hasn’t been getting pension contributions from the Authority for a few years, and there is a good chance whoever comes next will get those contributions which could cost up to £35,000 a year.

It is time that Durham County Council reduced the number of Directors. If it is to select a Chief Exec from inside, there should not be a replacement position for the vacant Director position, but rather a reorganisation.

The council could operate quite comfortably without the Assistant Chief Exec position and one less director – many others do. The position of Director of Adult and Children’s Services has a budget and responsibility which is many many times that of other departments, so there is plenty of scope to make savings which could amount to £1m a year and help to protect other front-line services.

We have suggested this for many years and if it had been done already, millions of pounds would have been saved. Sadly our Labour-run council is ALWAYS behind the curve, and never a week goes by without it wasting money.

No answer to housing question at Cabinet – And no social housing either

Our Labour-run council is planning to build some private housing which it will then rent out. Great on the face of it. But it will not allow anyone on a low income to rent the properties. Rents will be as much as £200 a month over the local housing allowance rate.

I asked if after six years of my asking they would work with me to get some social housing built in our area. No answer was given to my question.

So we have a Labour run council happy to build luxury homes with taxpayers money and refusing to rent them out to anyone on housing benefit, whilst at the same time refusing to invest in social housing.

Meanwhile the Tories are putting social housing at risk through forcing the sale of homes without the money being made available to build new ones.

Begs the question “What’s the Difference between the Tories and Labour?

Forcing the sale of social housing without the money to reinvest is a madness – I expect that from the Tories. The Labour Party refusing to invest in social housing – that goes beyond madness, it is nothing short of disgraceful.

I will continue to push for social and affordable housing in our area on brownfield sites regardless of what our Tory-lite-Labour council does.