Council cutting home to school transport for exam students, the disabled and those with no viable public transport

No I am not making this up. Here’s the link:

Consultation link: http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/6658/Home-to-schoolcollege-transport-consultation

The council has over £200million in reserves and says it wants to:

Remove the automatic entitlement to free home to school transport for:

  • pupils in years 10 and 11 who move house while in the middle of their exam years,
  • post-16 students who live in areas where there is no viable public transport system,
  • post-16 students who cannot travel independently due to a medical condition or disability.

Their justification is:

They say they need to find millions of pounds of savings and:

1. Removing these automatic entitlements will help us to target financial support to those households in greatest need.

2. The proposals include the option to set up a Hardship Fund to meet transport costs in exceptional circumstances where families need financial help.

A few of my concerns here are:

1. That whilst it is possible council officers will act in a proper manner and make sure those on the lowest income get assistance, that is by no means guaranteed as they will be under pressure to meet financial targets.

2. Who decides which families are in hardship and at what level. A parent could earn more than the threshold, but have lots of other bills to pay.

3. Why seek to disrupt a child in the middle of their exam period, just seems plain wrong.

4. Parents of children in rural areas may have higher costs already such as transport. This policy could disrupt parental work patterns and put at risk those living in more rural communities.

5. As for those with medical conditions being penalised – really what planet are this Labour-run Council on!

I wonder what Jeremy Corbyn would think of a Council paying a Chief Exec nearly £200k but not able to help a disabled child get to school so their parents can get to work.

I’m not even sure David Cameron would approve of this.

The Council has repeatedly refused Lib Dem calls to cut the number of directors earning £120,000-£200,000 a year.

They have delayed plans to reduce mileage allowances for councillors and staff from 48p a mile to 45p a mile which would save a third of the money.

The council has refused to scrap its publicity magazine or its SIX publicity departments which would save double the savings from these transport proposals.

Presumably our well paid execs and Labour councillors need as many means as possible of telling as many people as possible about which cuts to the vulnerable they are planning.

Which seems more important to them than school transport for a disabled child!

I for one do not support their proposals.

Consultation link:

http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/6658/Home-to-schoolcollege-transport-consultation

 

Well done Newton Hall Women’s Institute

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Newton Hall Women’s Institute has raised funds for a new community bench in Newton Hall to celebrate 100 years of the WI. There was a great turnout on Wednesday for the grand opening of the bench, which I was given the honour of carrying out.

A big thank you to the WI for raising the funds and to council officers who helped them arrange this.

Newton Hall WI has over 80 members and meets each week at Bede Lodge Social Club on Finchale Road. It is always looking for new members, sadly I can’t apply to be a full member as a man, but I can still enjoy the free cake I got today!

And they have made it onto the Northern Echo:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/northdurham/13794337.A_welcome_break_for_shoppers__as_WI_buys_Newton_Hall_bench/

 

Article 4 Direction – Framwellgate Moor area

The Council is consulting on implementing an order to restrict the percentage of houses on any particular street which can be converted to houses of multiple occupation (HMO). This does not include Framwellgate Moor or Pity Me, but does cover most of the wider Durham City area.

In the City and surrounding areas many streets have such high levels of student occupancy that it impacts upon the sustainability of the area. HMO’s can also be non-student houses with more people living there than the property can sustain. Under Council plans, conversion to an HMO  would require planning permission when the number of HMO houses on a street exceeds 10%.

We asked for Framwellgate Moor & Pity Me to be included in the boundaries proposed for the Order, but the Council has not done this. Parts of Framwellgate Moor have very high percentages of HMO properties. This can cause problems due to lack of space for bins, insufficient parking, over-development, empty properties and in some cases, rogue landlords leaving properties in a poor condition or allowing overcrowding.

For this reason we are asking that you respond to this consultation. We are putting forward a proposal for the whole area to be included in the Order. In case this is not approved we are also asking that at the very least the Terraces in Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me are included.

This would not halt all conversions to multi-occupancy homes. However it would allow the Council to restrict such changes via the planning system where it was felt the balance had gone too far.

We already have problems on some streets. Our biggest concern is that if the rest of the City is included in the restrictions, developers will seek to concentrate future HMO development in our area – with no ability to stop it. This will lead to an increase in the problems we outline above.

We ask that you support our concerns by taking part in this consultation. The Council didn’t provide a consultation event in Framwellgate Moor so we have arranged one at the Community Centre on Mon 5th October from 3pm-6pm.

Please attend the event and/or email your views to spatialpolicy@durham.gov.uk and copy one of us in. Or you can write to: Spatial Policy, Rm 4/24-35, DCC, County Hall, DH1 5UL.

More information can be found on the Council website here:

http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/article4hmo

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.

Safer access to the Arnison Centre – after Lib Dem intervention

I have always thought the Mercia side of the Arnison Centre was one of the daftest designed car parks around. Some months back we asked the owners if they could sort out the entrance where just about everyone caught their wheel on the edge of the kerb. I am pleased to confirm that some weeks back this work was completed and it is now that little bit safer to access the Centre, even if it is still a congested carpark.
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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.

Footpath replacement work finished and underway

In recent months we have had to put pressure on to get repairs in our area. I had to chase up on the footpath leading into Abbey Road industrial estate which was down to the sub-base, falling to bits. Work has started this week to fix it. (Although the traffic lights are a bit of a problem, interfering with the horrendous parking farther down the road.)

In Newton Hall, a good job has been done to replace some awful flagstone paths following our intervention on Farnham Road:

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