Council reserves rocket to £208 million

I attended the Cabinet meeting today to challenge the Council on its finances.

Total reserves have increased by £48.5m more than was predicted last April.  and by £24m more than was forecast back when this years budget was determined in March.

This has now reached the point of lunacy. I am really surprised that the Government hasn’t intervened.

What is very clear is that not only was there no need for the council tax rise this year, but other requests for additional investment from Lib Dem county councillors into Schools and Highways budgets could have been met, and money could still have been added to reserves.

Labour councillors once again cited the government cuts, but none could really justify hiking reserves. Indeed my request for a full review of all earmarked reserves did not appear to be taken up, so we will be looking at taking this matter further. The council for example now has over £15m in an insurance reserve – double that of many larger councils.

Labour are creating ways to hide money – 58 reserves and cash limits, some of which haven’t seen a penny spent for years or continue to see increases.

If the situation continues at its current rate the council will soon have half a billion pounds in reserves whilst our footpaths and roads fall apart and schools see wind blowing through their windows.

I noted during the meeting that council plans also include council tax increases every year for the next few years. So take money out of the economy by fleecing County Durham residents, then put the money in the bank, do nothing with it and earn next to no interest.

This really is a shocking state of affairs.

Milburngate Bridge closures

Below is the press release from the County Council about the closures planned for Milburngate Bridge. We did raise a variety of issues and suggestions with the Council about this asking that they do more to help reduce traffic in the City centre during the repair works and to look on this as a possible trial for longer term traffic reductions.

The council pretty much ignored us when we held a meeting with the Head of technical services a while ago. We asked for amongst other things:

Use of County Hall car park at weekends for free for visitors to the City.

Getting as many staff as possible to work from home at the Council and other large employers in the City.

Making the park and ride free for vehicles with multiple occupants.

Moving council meetings out of Durham City.

A huge number of other possible traffic reduction measures could have been looked at, but it was clear they didn’t want to listen to us.

Council press release:

People are advised of how they can help keep disruption to a minimum ahead of work starting on Milburngate Bridge in Durham.

The essential project, which will involve a major renovation of the bridge, gets underway on Sunday 12 July.

It will continue throughout the school summer holidays, when traffic using the route in peak hours usually falls by around 20 per cent, in order to minimise disruption as much as possible, although delays and congestion, particularly on other routes in and around the city, will be unavoidable.

Work will normally be carried out between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week, but working hours may be prolonged, if needed, to reduce the time it will take.

One lane will remain open at all times throughout the scheme and a footpath will also be provided.

The project will be delivered in three stages (see attached maps) – the first will see work carried out on the south lane and footpath, the second will be the north lane and footpath and the third will be the two centre lanes.

Start and end dates of each stage will be publicised as the scheme progresses.

The Claypath slip road will be closed throughout the works and the Walkergate slip road, which is off the south of the bridge on the same side as The Gates shopping centre, will be shut throughout the first stage of the project from Sunday 12 July until around 30 July. Diversions will be in place.

The footpath underneath the bridge between The Gates shopping centre and the Passport Office will be closed for part of the project – further updates will be provided closer to the time.

 

Access to Pimlico from Quarryheads Lane will be closed to all traffic for the duration of the works to prevent the road being used as a rat run. Local traffic will be able to access Pimlico via Grove Street and the parking bays will remain open.

It will also be necessary to close Milburngate Bridge completely for at least five nights, normally between 8pm and 6am – dates and alternative routes (see attached diversion map) will be publicised nearer the time but the first overnight closure will take place on 12 July.

The council is now advising motorists, public transport users and pedestrians of a number of steps they can take while the work is carried out.

John Reed, head of technical services, said: “We are doing our best to minimise disruption as much as we can by working from first thing in the morning to last thing at night as well as working overnight on some occasions.

“However, people need to be aware that there will unfortunately be delays in and around the city so we are urging everyone to help us keep this disruption to a minimum by only travelling if it is absolutely necessary.

“You can also consider alternative travel arrangements such as park and ride, avoiding peak times when travelling, thinking about changing working patterns, planning extra time for your journeys and planning any deliveries around peak times.

“We hugely appreciate the public’s understanding and cooperation in advance of this really important work.”

Cllr Brian Stephens, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, added: “This work is essential and has to be done in order to secure the future of this vital route through the city for both those who live and work here and visitors.

“We completely understand that delays and disruption on the roads can be frustrating and we would like to thank motorists for their patience and encourage them to think about what steps they can take during the project.”

The bridge, which is nearly 50 years old and carries about 48,000 vehicles every day, is still safe but the work is now needed as it has been nearly 20 years since its last major renovation.

The work will involve new drainage, parapets, resurfacing, concrete repairs and a replacement waterproofing system.

Once the project has been completed the bridge is not expected to need any further major maintenance for around 15 to 20 years.

The scheme is expected to take around seven weeks to complete and cost up to £1m in total.

To keep up-to-date with the work, including live webcam streams, visit www.durham.gov.uk/milburngate and use #milburngate on the council’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Ends

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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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.

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

—–

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.

County Plan Chaos Continues as government freezes Judicial Review and Council Chief Exec to retire

The Department for Communities and Local Government has intervened in the County Plan debacle and ordered a one month stay in proceedings. It appears they are requiring the Council to enter meaningful dialogue with all interested parties.

We have repeatedly said that the council has utterly failed in its duty to have proper discussions and this is now apparently the view of DCLG.

We could be a step closer to a solution.

On Wednesday we will challenge the Council leader over this.

Ps. The Council Chief Exec has announced today, coincidentally the same date as the County Plan news has come out that he is to retire. As I said, absolutely, unequivocally, without any possible doubt, a clear coincidence!

 

Attendance management Council meeting cancelled – with just 15 minutes notice – none of Labour councillors could attend!!!

I arrived at County hall with a bit of spare time this morning to reread some paperwork for a working group which is looking at Attendance Management and Sickness Absence.

15 minutes before the meeting was due to start the Labour councillor chairing the meeting found me and told me it was cancelled because none of the Labour councillors could attend because they were all in a Labour group meeting which had overrun. SO MUCH FOR ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT!!!

Surely the Labour councillors on the working group could have excused themselves? It makes a mockery of attempts to solve the crisis of sickness absence if 90% of the councillors on the committee decide they can’t turn up.

It also surely sends a wider message that ensuring we have a proper system in place for sickness absence and attendance management means less to Labour councillors than their own internal arguing.

Durham County Council has let down its staff for years by failing to address sickness absence. When the average number of sick days days off by staff each year is running at around two and a half weeks, and has done for decades, something must be seriously wrong with how the council is treating its staff.

This is not about cuts because sickness absence was as bad fifteen years ago. This is about mismanagement of the Council by Labour, and quite frankly with Labour in charge at County Hall I can’t see anything changing..

At the last meeting of the working group I suggested that we should find out about what training other organisations carry out in relation to managing sickness absence and attendance issues.

One Labour councillor responded that doing that would be like comparing CAMEMBERT with CHEDDER – a waste of time. What planet are these people on? Clearly the outcome of this working group is a FETA compli! No doubt we will be BRIEfed that it isn’t at the next meeting!

How can comparing how other councils, public sector bodies or private sector organisations manage sickness absence be a waste of time? Totally crackers!