At yesterdays Cabinet I raised serious concerns about the spending on bus services in County Durham. I think the Echo article is worth a read:
Labour is stopping its elected members including its own councillors from scrutinising important issues. Further proof of how undemocratic DCC is.
On the day that the Northern Echo reported on our campaigns to stop the slashing of Library opening hours, the Council Website removed the link to the library consultation on its front page – and replaced it would you believe with a report on how accessible the website is! You really could not make this up! They also added information on archeology and an article on country dancing. Now whilst all of these are clearly important to those interested in them, to remove any mention of the library strategy which is affecting nearly every community in the County on the day our petitions are launched strikes me as a bit too much of a coincidence……
To sign the Newton Hall library petition visit www.durham.gov.uk/petitions
To comment on the consultation visit: http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=7639
Our petition to stop the opening hours being slashed at Newton Hall library has gone online. It can be signed at www.durham.gov.uk/petitions
Durham County Council is currently consulting on cutting the opening hours of Newton Hall Library from 43 to 20 hours. Libraries are a community asset which should be protected. Alternative means of funding have been identified by councillors to keep libraries open for longer and we believe that the Council should protect this well used facility and has the money with which to do this.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT: We provided numerous ways to fund keeping libraries open for longer including cutting teh cost of councillors, reducing te number of directors, cutting the council publicity rag county news, merging together the numerous communications teams in county hall, cutting other waste, purchasing more effectively and efficiently. All were rejected by Labour despite being confirmed as possible by officers. So these really are Durham Labour Party cuts.
The A691 Sniperley Grove, between Sniperley Roundabout and The Park and Ride is to be closed this Saturday to carry out resurfacing works. I asked in February last year for repairs to be done and am glad to see that a more permanent resurfacing is being carried out.
Details: A691SniperleyPLAN
A691 Sniperley Grove, Durham
Temporary Road Closure (more…)
Tomorrow the Labour Cabinet at County Hall will agree to press ahead with a tendering exercise for subsidised bus services across the County.
The £3.3m contracts have never been shown to councillors. We have never had the opportunity to comment or put forward recommendations. Councillors should have been able to ask about conditions relating to quality and punctuality of bus services for these subsidised routes. It is completely unaccceptable when more than 10% of all bus services in the county are arriving late, not to have proper conditions in place to penalise the worst offending companies.
Over two years ago councillors were promised that when important contracts are being set up for council services that we would get some input. This followed on from past mistakes with procurement. Once again we don’t get a look in. Democracy is dead in County Durham until such time as Labour loses control of DCC.
On the subject of procurement – if anyone in the wider county has received their new recycling bin, please let me know if you think the quality is to the same standard as your general or garden waste bin.
Someone has told me that the new bins are poor quality, which is surprising given all the bad press about the award of the contract..
I have been working with Newton Hall councillors Mamie Simmons and Amanda Hopgood on trying to stop the cuts in library opening hours at Newton Hall Library. Labour is consulting on slashing the opening hours from 43 to 20. Such a huge cut is unacceptable, especially when you consider that at the budget setting meting a few weeks ago we gave examples of where money could be saved to the tune of millions of pounds, some of which could have been used to protect frontline services like libraries.
Many people believe that these cuts have to take place because of reductions in government funding, but when you consider that we have proved that £100,000 could be saved from councillor costs, £500,000 from bringing together communications departments, £150,000 from scrapping the County News Council propaganda magazine, and that over £3m is sat there nt allocated to anything. Also, the council is paying out over £1.3m for directors – when other councils do with far fewer.
So all in all there is plenty of scope to find money to protect frontline services from Labour cuts.
We hope to have a petition up and running on the council website in a few days at www.durham.gov.uk/petitions and will be putting out petitions around the area. We have also had 3000 leaflets delivered telling people about the cuts and the petition.
A traffic order to prohibit access to Aldin Grange Terrace from the C17 Main Bearpark Road is to be heard at Highways committee this Thursday following a couple of objections to the proposals. At the moment cars can enter and exit at the bottom end of the terrace, but concerns were raised that this wasn’t safe due to the sharpness of the bend.
Both myself and your other county councillor are supporting the proposal which will still allow cars to drive up and down the rest of the road. More details can be found here: http://democracy.durham.gov.uk/documents/s18302/Unc%20Aldin%20Grange.pdf
For the last four years I have been trying to get action on speed limit changes on the C17 road from Neville’s Cross through Beapark to Ushaw Moor.
The council has finally come up with proposals for a new 40 mph zone to be installed at either end of the village to help to reduce speeds. I am concerned about the start and end points of these newly proposed zones, and have asked that an officer attends the next meeting of Bearpark Parish Council (21st March – 3rd Wednesday of the month.)
You can view the proposals here by clicking on the links below. Residents affected should now have received a letter about the proposals and I am delivering a leaflet to the whole village which mentions the proposed speed limit changes too.
Aldin Grange end – pdf C17 Toll House Road to Bear Park Area 2 A4 Plan
Ushaw Moor end – pdf C17 Toll House Road to Bear Park Area 1 A4 Plan
Please let me know if you have any comments by emailing me or alternatively email the council at northernareatechnicalsupport@durham.gov.uk
The principle behind this is that having a buffer zone which is a 40mph stretch allows reminders along the road and reduces people’s speeds more gradually instead of going straight from 60mph to 30mph. The issue is that at the AldinGrange end, they are proposing to remove the 60mph zone altogether which may reduce the positive impact, however I look forward to seeing responses and listening to officers on this. We also need to consider if the the location of the start and finish points are correct.
Following on from the new outdoor gym being installed at Witton Gilbert, Fulforth Park, I have managed to get the County Council to agree to some repair work and full repainting of the existing play equipment on the site. The painting should be done within the next week and will make the site look great, a number of repairs including new swings may take a little longer.
A167 Pity Me to Sniperley Park and Ride, Durham
Temporary Prohibition of Driving Southbound Notice
The County Council intend to prohibit vehicular traffic, from 8.00am on Sunday 4 March 2012, from travelling southbound along a 1.56km length of A167 Pity Me to the A167 Sniperley Park and Ride Roundabout, Durham.
The closure, which is being effected by means of Notice under Section 14(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, is necessary to enable cats eye and white lining works which will probably take some 12 hours to complete, to be carried out to that length of road.
Throughout the period of closure an alternative route will be available to vehicular traffic from the northern side of the closure from A167 Pity Me Roundabout via C100 Front Street, Pity Me and Framwellgate Moor to Sniperley Roundabout to the southern side of the closure and vice versa.