Following on from my earlier post (see below). We have now set up a petition to keep the post office where it is:
Another £400 plus tax cut on cards with Lib Dems
A Liberal Democrat government will make further cuts in Income Tax and reduce National Insurance for millions of workers under manifesto plans announced today.
The party plans to raise the personal allowance to at least £12,500 by the end of next Parliament.
This move would cut income tax for 30m workers and be worth £400 per year to a typical basic rate taxpayer. (more…)
Saving Newton Hall Post Office
We are backing a campaign to keep Newton Hall Post Office in its current location because proposals have been put forward which would see it move to McColls and lose many of its services as well as a serious risk to capacity.
The Post Office should in our opinion keep the existing site and invest in it to provide disability access and modernisation. It would be open on Saturday afternoons and potentially two evenings a week. The McColls despite comments that it would be open longer hours, would have limited services during these hours and some services would not be offered at all. We are working on making it easy for residents to sign a petition which currently has 700 names but has had to be removed from the post office.
Link to Northern Echo website: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/northdurham/11404498.Fighting_to_save_Newton_Hall_post_office/
We have secured a meeting with senior Post Office management next week to put across the views of the local community, and I will add a full list of all our concerns to this website tomorrow, hopefully along with links and downloads to the petition.
LABOUR FORCED TO APOLOGISE OVER CHILDREN’S CENTRES
Labour politicians and the Director of Adult and Children’s services have been forced to apologise after failing to follow correct procedures. Full story on Northern Echo. We had to dig deep to get the information we needed but were helped along by a Labour councillor telling us if we had been members of the Labour Party we would have found out about the report 3 weeks earlier – a clear breach of the council constitution to brief only some and not all councillors.
LABOUR REFUSES TO PAY STAFF A LIVING WAGE
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11361115.Lib_Dem_bid_to_force_Living_Wage_fails/
Labour, aided by a couple of Tories today refused to agree to pay the living wage. The Northern Echo explains it in pretty accurate details.
Fortunately from September, residents can record council meetings, so the true depths of Labour incompetence will be visible to all!
MAJOR SEWAGE UPGRADE WORKS ON NEWTON HALL
Northumbrian Water is to carry out major works lasting up to 6 moths in Newton Hall, to improve capacity and reduce flood risk. As part of these works your Lib Dem councillors have been in discussions, and new play facilities are to be provided after the works have been completed, at Salisbury Road where a large holding tank is to be installed underground.
More details on Northern Echo site: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11357062.Work_to_upgrade_sewer_network_due_to_begin_at_Newton_Hall__Durham_City/?ref=var_0
Dryburn Road Set for resurfacing
We have been successful as your local county councillors in securing work to get Blackie Boy Roundabout and Dryburn Road fully resurfaced. The money has come from additional funding provided by the Coalition Government. Work is due to start in September.
Major Road Patching Works in Pity Me
For quite some time we have been working to get improvements to roads in certain areas. We have now managed to get some major patching works done in Pity Me, after extensive requests. Bishops Way and The Orchard were done a few months back. In the last week Hudspeth Crescent, The Avenue and parts of Woodbine Road have been repaired after I intervened when it became apparent the work was not down to be done any time soon.
Living Wage Vote for Council Staff – Press release
Durham County Council will vote on a proposal by Lib Dem councillors to pay the living wage at July’s Full Council meeting.
Lib Dem councillors will call for a named vote on the proposals so that residents across the County will be able to “hold their councillor to account for their actions”.
Durham’s unitary authority is spending over £440 million each year, and the cost to introduce the living wage of £7.65 an hour would be just £500,000, a tiny fraction of the overall budget of the council.
The Council currently has over £100m in reserves.
Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall Councillor Mark Wilkes, who will propose the change. says:
“We have waited a year since supporting a study into the introduction of the living wage. It’s long enough to wait. This council has over £100 million pounds in reserves, and for the next couple of years it can use less than one percent of these to pay staff a proper salary. This will give the Council time to find the efficiencies needed to cover the cost.”
Last Thursday, staff held a one day strike over pay at local authorities up and down the country including in Durham. At many authorities staff are already paid the living wage, but some local authority staff, according to unions, are still being paid as little as £6.75 an hour. The living wage is set each year by an independent body and for areas outside London it is currently £7.65 an hour. Unions have long demanded the living wage should be paid as an absolute minimum. Many private companies now also pay the living wage, with international company Nestle one of the most recent to announce its support. But whilst the Labour Party appears to have decided that the living wage should be part of its policy, locally Durham’s Labour-run council has so far failed to act to increase the pay of its lowest paid workers.
Lib Dem Councillor Richard Ormerod (Elvet and Gilesgate) says of this:
“The Labour Party talks about being for the low paid, but when it comes to acouncil they run, they have not stepped up to the mark. Low paid staff can’t wait any longer.”
Cllr Wilkes added:
“As one of the biggest employers in the North East, Durham County Council can send out a message to all employers that they should be paying the living wage. But to do that it must show that it is doing so itself.”
Councillor Amanda Hopgood, Lib Dem group leader says the Lib Dems will call for a named vote at full council on Wednesday 23rd July saying:
“We can’t continue to pay people less than the cost to live. When some senior officers are earning £140,000 a year and the Chief Exec is paid over £200,000 it is morally unacceptable to refuse to pay hard working staff the living wage. “Every councillor will have their vote recorded so residents know exactly what they stand for.”
The Liberal Democrats nationally have secured income tax cuts of £800 forthe lowest paid in the Coalition Government. They want to go further with a target of no one on the minimum wage paying income tax. The planned council vote also includes a call on government to increase the minimum wage (currently £6.31) to the level of the living wage as soon as possible. Full Council meetings are open to the public and start at 10am.
MOTION TO COUNCIL
Durham County Council resolves
a) to become a Living Wage Employer at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than the start of the next financial year,
b) to use these positive steps to promote the introduction of the Living Wage for all County Durham employees in both the public and private sector,and
c) to urge the government to increase the minimum wage to the level of the living wage as soon as is practicable.
Watering Flower Tubs
Around Pity Me, Brassside and Framwellgate Moor we have 20 flower tubs, which I arranged to be put in place some years ago. Over the years I have had to find funding to keep these going, but this year, given the financial conditions and following chats to the council and local residents I have taken a different approach.
Some residents have planted out tubs themselves – Thank you! The rest I have personally been out and planted after getting a great deal from Finchale Training College for flowers.
Many residents have agreed and have already been helping with watering the tubs, but there are a few we still need help with along Finchale Road in Framwellgate Moor, so if you live nearby and see any of the plants wilting in the heat and live nearby , please help by giving them a drink – water of course.
In the meantime I am popping round with a big tub of water and keeping those not currently watered by residents in good health.