The construction of the new sports hall at Framwellgate School Durham is well underway. The old sports hall was in dire need of replacement after years of under investment by successive governments and the Labour-run council in to school buildings.
The school secured a £2m grant for the work and the school is looking to open the facilities to the local community once the site is completed. Your local Lib Dme councillors are working with the school on this and other projects.
In September last year I complained that the council’s main email address help@durham.gov.uk had a full inbox – so no one could email issues. At the time I thought it was laughable that such an email would have a data limit for one of the biggest local authorities in the Country.
I made this clear to officers when on the 19th October it was again full and asked for action.
Today I find groundhog day is upon us.
To some this might not seem so important, but every single bounce back could be an important issue and some people may miss the bounce back or have to wait and telephone to report issues, clogging up phone lines for more important issues. It’s totally unprofessional for such a large public organisation to repeatedly over many months have this problem and fail to address it.
You could understand if an individual had this problem due to the fact that their inboxes are limited in size at the Council, but for the main front facing email address to be full or have a limit is unacceptable.
This time I’ve asked the Chief Exec to take action.
Around there area there are a number of places where walking on the pavement isn’t always that easy – especially with a pram. I imagine in a wheelchair or without sturdy boots you’d struggle to. Here’s an example:
This is near Darcy’s garage on Old Pit Terrace. I’ve reported it a number of times but the Council does not see this kind of thing as a priority.
Of course there are more pressing problems for the Council but I still think it should be fixed.
Getting your feet wet is far safer than pushing a pram into the road, but not having to do either would be better.
If you know of anywhere which is the same or worse let us know.
One of the problems with the Council, in good faith coming in and doing work which should have been done years ago is that you find out that perhaps better maintenance might have been cheaper.
This is the main path from Framwellgate Moor down to Pity Me following the work to cut the grass back to the original path edge.
I expected it to be a bit worn but what should have made the area look better has been commented on by some residents as highlighting the need for a newly resurfaced footpath and safety repairs. Trouble is, it looks like the pin kerbs at the edge of the path may have rotted away, and a simple job is now going to be more costly.
I’ve passed the photos on to senior officers at the Council, where I imagine the highways department is a bit upset with the Clean and Green department for showing up the state of the path!
Great to see the electrical installation works continuing to finally get the broadband box operational for residents on Rosemount estate. We’re keeping an eye on this as always to make sure there are no further delays.
An hour and a half walkabout of the area on Friday with Durham City Homes officer unearthed a wide range of issues to get sorted out most of them for the Council.
Various property repairs including to flats at Priory Road.
The aftermath of flytipping at Frankland Road garages in dire need of clean up, which has been passed to the Council’s clean and green team and Durham City Homes officers for urgent action. I was really surprised at just how bad this area was and will be checking up on it again:
Elsewhere, it was good to see the old Brackenfield Road garages coming down. The new driveways our pressure helped to secure are set to be installed in the coming weeks along the road and the garage site will be available for additional parking too. (more…)
Our continued campaign to crack down on those takeaways which have no regard for our area is keeping up pressure on council departments.
A sample of yesterday’s mess 
:
This morning is budget day at the Council. With my Lib Dem colleagues we have been pushing using for greater investment in road and footpath repairs, an initiative to help local communities install 20mph schemes and funding to help groups hit by Labour’s devastating youth service cuts.
Once again Cllr Napier (Labour Deputy Leader) said the council has used reserves – £70 million since 2011. Once again I had to point out this was not true – In 2011 reserves were £97 million – they are now over £200 million. So his comments are indefensible – he is treating the public with the upmost disrespect by saying things which are patently untrue.
Our proposals to invest more in roads and footpaths, to protect youth services and provide funding for community safety were voted down by Labour councillors.
This despite the fact that we were funding them from money which the council had placed into its reserve against its own policy.
General reserves should not rise above 7.5% of council spending according to the councils rules. They will be up to £2m above that, in breach of the Council’s own rules yet Labour councillors refused to listen and refused to support spending on the priorities we put forward.
Having refused to accept our proposals this left the money in the accounts unallocated. In addition, with reserves of well over £200million, it was simply not right to then ask the public for a 2% council tax rise on top of a 2% rise for adult care.
So we proposed removing the 2% rise. This was also voted down by Labour who offered no explanation of why reserves had gone up rather than down as they suggested.
So once again services are cut unnecessarily and more money will sit in council coffers unspent – taken out of the pockets of local people.
Jade lives in Newton Hall with her parents and has a genetic condition which causes her joints to spontaneously dislocate at any time.
They need alterations to their house so she has proper access to it.
We all see adverts and news stories asking for help for people across the UK or even overseas. On this occasion we can actually help someone who lives just round the corner.
The Council has so far agreed to fund part of the works through funding provided via the government, however the overall cost is far higher than the maximum grant available. I am currently pushing for further help and to get things moving. However we need to do more.
There’s more information on the funding page about the conditions Jade is living in and the work needed. The have so far raised over £8000 but need to get closer to £30000!
Link to fundraising page: https://gogetfunding.com/disabled-house-renovations-for-jade/