Before the last election one of the small independent groups on Durham County Council with four members had two members with disabilities. The introduction of push button voting and other technology caused problems so a table was placed at the front of the chamber for the four councillors to sit at, in front of the official opposition, and in fact further forward than the Labour cabinet too.

Now that sadly the two councillors who required to sit at the front are no longer councillors, one having died and another having resigned with ill health, Cllr Shuttleworth’s group only has two members (including himself). Neither of them need to sit at the front, so the council removed the table and notified Cllr Shuttleworth of this.

In response Cllr Shuttleworth spat his dummy out and went to the press to complain.  Presumably his complaint is that the council protocol which he passionately supports when Labour do not follow the rules, somehow doesn’t apply to him. Today it appears he put the table back himself. He then didn’t speak once throughout the whole meeting. Which begs some questions in itself.

This got me thinking, what would happen in Parliament if a member of another party put a chair in front of Ed Miliband at Question Time, sat down and said nothing for the whole event. I guess some people would see it as a blessing, but others might see it as rather rude and suggest that policy is supposed to apply to everyone equally. The said person would certainly be asked to move.

It further got me thinking as to what the definition of a group is. Each opposition group leader receives an additional allowance for their extra responsibilities of £3325. If your group is made up of yourself and one other councillor should you receive £3325 extra in taxpayers money?

Needless to say I got on with the proper business of council, challenging officers and the Labour run Cabinet on a number of issues and supporting them on others, whilst all the time observing the rather quiet back of Mr Shuttleworth’s head.

I today questioned the Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Napier on funding for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. The Council has asked the CAB to work up proposals which could see a £150,000 cut to the funding. Cllr Napier confirmed that these cuts are not yet council policy and I therefore hope that this cut in essential funding will not come forward in Labour’s budget proposals.  If it does I will do all I can to try and convince Labour councillors that cutting this service would be inappropriate and very damaging.

On a second point I raised concerns about the existing funding and future funding gap for home visits for the most vulnerable in our County. At present CAB funding doesn’t provide for home visits for housebound residents who are physically disabled or have mental health issues. These most vulnerable people have to rely on other organisations or in many cases get no help at all. There is a service in the County run by the Christian partnership and Money Advice Service which helps with home visits but it is not getting direct council funding. It helped secure over a million pounds for vulnerable residents last year in benefits and financial assistance.

It is critical that as a council we recognise that perhaps 40% of the most vulnerable in our society need help and advice at home, not a 15 minute phone call and a trip to an office somewhere.

Councillor Napier both in public and in private has now confirmed that he will fully investigate my concerns to do all he can to help these residents. I look forward to seeing what is brought forward and will of course challenge again if the result is not sufficient.

The number of senior managers at County Hall has fallen from 38 to 29 in the last few years.

Sadly, our Labour-run council is still paying the Chief Exec seventeen times the pay of the lowest paid full time workers. And earlier this year Labour refused our Lib Dem call to introduce the living wage for staff so that they are paid £7.65 an hour!!

So Labour is happy to pay the Chief Exec over £100 an hour but can’t find the money to pay its lowest paid a decent wage despite having £100million in reserves. That’s not socialist, it’s certainly not liberal, and it’s an insult to hard working staff on low pay.

There’s nothing wrong with your computer! The Council’s new website has crashed. Hopefully will be back up and running in the morning.

New LED street lighting has been causing a lot of concern from residents across the area. The lighting saves a fortune for the council on energy bills and cuts our impact on the environment. However it also makes some areas look like the black hole of Calcutta!

On The Orchard in Pity Me the wrong lighting was installed to two columns and this is being changed after I challenged the darkness.

However across the rest of the area including Woodbine Road, lighting is for many residents simply too dark. We have raised this issue with senior officers but they are adamant that it meets legal requirements.

It may be legal, but for many residents it is insufficient. The council needs to reconsider its policy and look at brighter LEDs – particularly in areas like Woodbine Road where there are a large number of bungalows.

Lib Dem MP Andrew George is a step closer to making the Bedroom Tax fair. The Tories want to waste so much time that his proposed legislation is timed out in Parliament. On Wednesday evening  we will make the Tories get their sleeping bags out according to Mr George:

Andrew George said: “The Tories are trying every snide tactic in the book to stop my Bill.

“But we will sit through the night if we have to and show we have more stamina than they have. They can bring their sleeping bags.”

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Reforming this crazy legislation is a necessity as I have said repeatedly for the last two years in Council and on my blog.

If this succeeds then the next hurdle is the other George – Mr Osbourne who doesn’t want to give the money to pay for it.

I wonder how many spare bedrooms his house has?

I am currently fighting to protect council funding for advice services. The Council has asked the CAB to work up proposals which would see it facing £150,000 of cuts to its funding from the Council.

Council reserves rose to over £100million this year – food for thought!!