Investing in our communities

Yesterday at our cabinet meeting we started to address some of the failures left by the previous Labour run County Council.

Under Labour many important services have not been properly invested in nor properly managed. Lib Dem councillors working with colleagues in the joint administration are determined to turn our county around.

This starts with fixing some of our frontline services and tackling climate change.

People working in the care sector in County Durham have been woefully under paid by Labour. By increasing the wages of those helping our most vulnerable residents we can make sure that we reduce the risk of staff shortages but also give people a wage that is far better. We’ve already intervened months before the start of the next financial year to pay care workers a much better wage.

  • Under Labour most of our team working to tackle Climate Change were not even on permanent contracts. We are fixing that so that we can make a real difference making our County’s environment better. This will end up saving us money too.
  • Under Labour road sweepers were cut by more than a third. We don’t even know where they have been! So we are installing the hardware and software so we know exactly which streets have been swept and which have not. And we are going to increase the number of sweepers too.
  • Labour left our neighbourhood wardens teams without a proper management structure. We are fixing that and making sure they have the tools and the management that is needed to improve our communities.
  • In Pest Control Labour left us with delays of up to 10 weeks to investigate issues. We are putting in the staff to treat these issues, investigate more quickly and also be able to assist with a welfare and community scheme to tackle issues when residents simply can’t afford treatments.
  • In allotments, despite having hundreds of sites to manage, under Labour we had next to no staff to address issues at these sites. By putting in the monitoring and enforcement needed we can start to increase the number of allotments being used for the purpose they should be used and tackle nuisances. In our area we are also getting close to being able to start work on providing new allotments in Framwellgate Moor working closely with the Parish Council too.
  • So many of our older wheelie bins are starting to break, but Labour didn’t leave any money in the budget for replacements so we are putting in that investment too.

We are also dealing with some significant increases in costs. The Council is expecting to see a £3.1m increase in energy costs for running council services. Labour could have invested more in solar panels, insulating our buildings, increasing the number of electric council vehicles to keep down these costs. We are going to do this to make sure that our council’s energy bills can be brought under control. We should be charging council vehicles with solar energy produced by the council, heating buildings with green energy produced onsite.

This week at Abbey Leisure Centre 90kw of Solar Panels were installed, along with Heat pumps which will run off the solar power, heating the building, LED lighting is being installed to cut electric bills and we will be looking at doing this on many more buildings. By cutting our energy bills we will have more money to protect frontline services.

This and much more investment will be announced over the coming weeks as we start to turn around our county.

All credit to our refuse teams!!

I spent some time helping collect recycling earlier this week. A real insight in to just what an amazing job the team does. Once you’ve got your head around which button does what, the hard work starts.

The wheelie bins seemed relatively straighforward after a while but the glass was a nightmare to empty, bending down picking up the boxes really takes its toll. If I’d done a full day I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been moving the following morning!

Since the Covid pandemic started the volume of waste has increased dramatically across the County, which has put pressure on our refuse teams but has also significantly increased disposal costs.

A huge thank you to the teams out there on the ground and everyone supporting them.

Urgent Public Health Message – Avian Flu in Brasside

We now have confirmation from the Director of Public Health for County Durham that there is a confirmed outbreak of Avian Flu at Brasside ponds in a number of wild birds.

Across the whole Country we are seeing increasing reports of dead birds from this disease.

As a result of the confirmed cases, our neighbourhood wardens have visited the area, offering advice and guidance to walkers. Posters have also been put on display around the pond.

We are encouraging members of the public not to feed the birds, or to go near dead or dying birds, to avoid interaction with the wildfowl and to wash their hands often, especially after contact with any animal.

Although members of the public may feel concerned, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low and that Avian Influenza is primarily a disease of birds.

We are working closely with UKHSA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to monitor the situation.

Further advice and information can also be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#public

Where and when you can you get a walk-in Covid-19 jab in County Durham?

NEW* Thursday 23rd December, Durham, County Hall, DH1 5UQ, 9.00am – 7.00pm

First & second doses & boosters (Pfizer)

Age 18+

Thursday 23rd December, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 7:35pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. Please check notice at top of this page for further details.

Friday 24th December, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 1:30pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. 

NEW* Monday 27th December, Durham, County Hall, DH1 5UQ, 9.00am – 7.00pm

First & second doses & boosters (Pfizer)

Age 18+

Tuesday 28th December, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 7:35pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. 

NEW* Tuesday 28th December, Durham, County Hall, DH1 5UQ, 9.00am – 7.00pm

First & second doses & boosters (Pfizer)

Age 18+

Wednesday 29th December, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 7:35pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. 

NEW* Wednesday 29th December, Durham, County Hall, DH1 5UQ, 9.00am – 7.00pm

First & second doses & boosters (Pfizer)

Age 18+

Thursday 30th December, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 7:35pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. 

NEW* Thursday 30th December, Durham, County Hall, DH1 5UQ, 9.00am – 7.00pm

First & second doses & boosters (Pfizer)

Age 18+

Sunday 02nd January, Durham, Arnison Large Vaccination CentreDH1 5FA

8:15am – 7:35pm

First & second doses & boosters for eligible cohorts only

Limited walk-in slots available at intervals throughout the day. 

Walk-in Covid jabs available for: • 1st & 2nd doses • Age 16 & over• 18+ Must be a minimum of 8 weeks between 1st & 2nd doses• 16-17 Must be a minimum of 12 weeks between 1st & 2nd doses

Covid boosters available for:• Age 18 & over• Frontline health & social care workers• Age 16+in at-risk group for COVID• Must be a minimum of 3 months (91 days) since second dose  

*More clinics will be added as the vaccination programme continues

Get your booster vaccine this week

just had my booster vaccine @ The Arnison Centre Boldon House. Tip: Left hand queue today is for those with an appointment – Right hand queue for walk-in. My appointment was for 3.30 and I was jabbed by 4pm so despite the queues the NHS staff and volunteers are getting people through really quickly and are doing a great job.

You can book an appointment online at

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

All the advice is that the booster makes a massive difference to your immunity. Just as important though, the more of us get the booster the less pressure we put on our hospitals.

So many people are waiting for other surgeries like hip replacements and cancer treatment and the more Covid patients end up in hospital the longer it will take to treat people.

Let’s make Durham the most boosted place in the Country to help our NHS, protect ourselves and get rid of Covid.

Storm Damage and safety

Our Council teams have worked throughout the night alongside the emergency services to address serious damage from Storm Arwen. Please take care when out and about today as we have had to tend to dozens of fallen trees and there will still be some roads impassible whilst work is ongoing.

Some council and private properties have been damaged by the storm. Check your own property for signs of any damage and be careful.

The Council has an emergency number 03000 262195 if you find fallen trees or spot something else which is unsafe or you can email help@durham.gov.uk – you will get an automated response so if it is an emergency issue copy one of us in.

Remembrance Day Thank You – Lest We Forget

A huge thank you to everyone who attended Remembrance Day in Framwellgate Moor on Sunday. It certainly looked like more people than ever came along, including the impeccably dressed Scouts.

The newly improved memorial also made a big difference. Thank you to the County Council for arranging a short notice road closure and to Parish Councillor David Wheeler for as always leading the British Legion preparations, our Parish Chair Karon Willis and Rev Caroline Dick.

It was a great honour with the other wreath bearers to recognise and remember those who lost their lives so we can live in peace.

Thank you to Gary Tidbury for providing some of the photos from Sunday.

Finally – Bus gate Safety Camera

After a decade of the previous Labour administration failing to take action to make the bus gate in Framwellgate Moor safe from drivers flying through it, we’ve fixed the issue. We’ve passed the order and a new camera is being installed.

For many years residents have complained of cars shooting through the bus gate nearly knocking people over. I’m happy to say this site is now that little bit safer.

Volunteers and Councillors Painting Railings in Durham City

When I was in Durham City a few months ago discussing the weirs, which are hopefully being cleared soon, I mentioned the railings from the Radisson Hotel along and under the bridge looked dreadful. Turns out they hadn’t been painted by the previous administration in over 10 years!

Great news though, as today we started the job with the help of volunteers including the manager of the Radisson and his staff, Balfour Beatty employees, our clean and green team as well as my colleague from Neville’s Cross, City of Durham Parish Councillor and County Councillor Liz Brown.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and the railings we’ve done so far already look much better!

The ducks and geese seemed to enjoy the company as did a lone kingfisher and a few jumping salmon.