I have been out today assisting with flooding problems in Witton Gilbert, Brasside and Pity Me. if anyone has any problems, they can call the council on 01913706000 or contact me if that doesn’t work. Managed to get council officers out (despite the county wide problems), to help with problems in the centre of Witton Gilbert and down in Brasside again, in both cases there are various things which are still needing to be done by the council which I continue to chase up on.

The A167 from Plawsworth to Pity Me remains closed southbound, Potterhouse lane is still dangerous and there is some flooding on the Fram to Sacriston road though not as bad as earlier. Across the County a huge number of roads are under water:

Update at 5pm from Council: (more…)

Please be aware that across the County there are a large number of closed roads and flooded areas. In our area the A691 Durham to Witton Gilbert and the B6532 from Fram Moor to Sacriston are flooded in a number of places and only passable with care. There is also flooding on Potterhouse Lane and I would urge people not to drive this way.

Teams have been out in Witton Gilbert to assist in clearing water at the White Tun which so far is not as bad as last time, and I have also been to Brasside where water is pouring off the farmers field again behind Beech Close.

Any problems call the Highways Action Line on 01913706000, if you don’t get anywhere call me on 07500125325 or 01913725866. Take care driving and don;t go out unless you have to.

Here is the latest update from the County Council: (more…)

does Durham County Council want to get?

Councillors attend scrutiny meetings where we are supposed to challenge what the council is and isn’t doing, to try and improve it. So you would assume that when we make comments and ask questions, someone would write this down so that there is a record of it. In a sinister move however, on the Economy Scrutiny committee, over the last few months, all mention of councillors names has been removed.

When I challenge a particular aspect of the council’s policy or performance or make recommendations, it should be stated in the minutes, however of late, it simply says “members commented”, meaning that there is no record of what any particular councillor has said.

So much for accountability. Minutes with no-ones names on them – So much for the council’s “Altogether Better” strapline. it also makes it easier for the Council to miss out comments which might be negative in the hope that no-one notices… no surprise there then.

At a scrutiny meeting today we were told that the new website www.businessdurham.co.uk has been up and running for 2 months. I have just had a look at the site and compared to what was on offer before it is a hundred times better, although still needs more information adding. It is however exceptionally slow and in internet explorer it didn’t seem to want to open at all.

What shocked me most in the meeting was that they didn’t even have a link on the Council’s own website to this site. Given the appalling lack of information on the council’s website about setting up a business, this is unacceptable. Hopefully the council will recognize this now and get the links onto their site along with necessary information.

I have asked how much money they have to spend on busines development within this organisation and where the funding comes from.

You can view the candidates here www.choosemypcc.org.uk

As I have said before, most Lib Dems don’t agree with politicising the police. There’s no Lib Dem candidate in the Durham area, but at least one of the candidates is independent of political parties. If everyone sends the message that we want to keep politics out of policing then perhaps we will end up with someone who knows what they are doing who isn’t biaised by national political debate. Crime in County Durham is at record lows, lets hope it stays that way and keeps falling.

A full litter pick of Potterhouse Lane, Pity Me should now have been completed by Streetscene (Thank you), and an attempt to cut littering on the road has started with signs. If anyone spots anyone throwing  litter out of a vehicle anywhere, safely note the registration number and report it to the police.

The main problem in this area is takeaway litter thrown from cars. It costs a lot of money to clear up litter so for the umpteenth time we are trying to tackle the problem on this lane and the surrounding area. You can report any problem areas with litter by emailing hal@durham.gov.uk or calling the Highways Action Line on 01913706000. Copy me in or let me know so that I can make sure any necessary work gets done.

Your County Councillors have been pushing for speed limit changes in Bearpark for years. We have finally got to the point where the changes are being advertised formally after recent consultation. The changes will be advertised formally on the 15th November and I will post information here as well.

it is great that after so long of pushing for these changes were nearing a point where some improvements can finally be made. i only wish it hadn’t taken the County Council so long to get to this point.

On Tuesday I attended the Parish Council meeting where a separate meeting had been arranged at my request with one of the council flooding officers to go through all the things being done by the council following my intervention after the recent flooding. a number of residents attended as well as parish councillors. (more…)

I asked earlier this week for the Council to tidy up the war memorial in Framwellgate Moor. As a result, the footpath has now been cut back to its original width, the hedges pruned and the rose garden cut back and weeded. Overall a good job done by the street scene team – well done.

I do wish that the County would ensure however that this work is done regularly and not just when I ask.

Next week the whole of County Durham and Darlington will vote for a Police and Crime commissioner.

I personally believe this should not be happening at all. Durham & Darlington Police are run very well. Councillors, elected by you, along with independent members monitor the running of the force and with the strong leadership of a Chief Constable it has always worked well.

The creation of a political leader of the police opens the police up to manipulation by whichever party’s candidate happens to win. Most Lib Dems in the area don’t agree with this and there is no Lib Dem candidate.

There are four candidates standing, and their manifestos can be seen here:

http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/candidates/area/durham

I will be voting for the only one without any political attachment, though I wish these elections were not happening at all and the cost of them was being spent on front line policing.