Miller Homes is due to start piling works at the Meadows development on Finchale Road week commencing ?16th April – 3 to 4 weeks. They have agreed to put out letters to residents in the nearby area in case of any problems, following concerns in previous years. If anyone needs to contact me about this please feel free to do so.

Work is due to run from 8am to 5pm and if there are complaints I will discuss with Miller about these times.  Its good to see that the housing market is picking up a bit but we need to keep an eye on the vibrations and noise.

Next phase of consultation on setting up of a town council for Durham and possibly a parish council for Newton Hall starts today. Below is council press release.

This will affect several hundred households in Framwellgate Moor on Westcott Drive area, Around Brackenfield Road and also some houses near Aykley Heads. For these houses it probably makes more sense for them to be part of Framwellgate Moor Parish Council rather than a new Durham town council.

Council press release:

The next stage of a consultation on the creation of new parish councils in Durham City and Crook will begins today (Mon, 2 April).

Durham County Council is looking at options for the future governance of the two areas following requests from residents.

An initial consultation on outline proposals took place at the end of last year and the feedback received has now been used to prepare more detailed proposals.

The second phase of the consultation, which runs from today until Thursday, 31 May, will give residents the chance to comment on these options.

Cllr Simon Henig, Leader of Durham County Council, said: “We are grateful to everyone who responded to the initial consultation. This is an extremely important review of the way in which a range of services in Durham City and Crook will be managed in the future.

“The next stage of consultation provides a number of options which are being put forward in direct response to the feedback we received during the first stage.

“Once again, I would strongly urge residents and all other interested parties to take part and put forward their views.”

Householders should receive their new consultation documents in early April. Further information on the consultation, including the full draft recommendations for each area, is available at www.durham.gov.uk/communitygovernance

Some of the litter bins have been missed in the last week or so on the emptying rounds. I have passed the complaints of residents to the streetscene teams as the bins are supposed to be emptied daily during term time. Term restarts 16th April, so if anyone notices the bins are not being emptied after the 16th please let me know. I have asked for all the bins to be emptied today as soon as possible to avoid any more litter blowing into the streets.

If anyone is wondering why their recycling was missed or only part collected today it is because one of the refuse vehicles broke down.

Staff are working hard to catch up today and tomorrow.

Two highly publicised Transit 15 schemes in Framwellgate Moor have been scrapped.

The proposals for a bus lane running up Dryburn Park Road to Sniperley roundabout were due to cost over £200,000, but after meetings with residents who raised concerns, along with highways officers it became clear that the cost benefit of the proposals simply didn’t add up.

A scheme to turn the bus gate at the Salutation Pub into a two directional access for buses has also been shelved. This scheme had a number of positive aspects including provison of a pedestrian island and I am working with officers to see if  this can be kept. A few residents had complained that proposals would have meant too many buses using Durham Road/High Carr Road.

I believe that the controversy surrounding the bus shelter mistake by DCC may have made them think again after the very clear challenge to the cost effectiveness of these schemes. I guess the question now is where will the £400,000+ now be spent.

One thing that is being looked at is promoting better use of the two lanes coming off Sniperley roundabout where rush our traffic blocks up going towards Neville’s Cross – something I recommended during discussions.

Durham County Council will resume collections of garden waste from Tuesday, 17 April.

Householders who are part of the collection scheme will receive a calendar during the coming weeks showing their specific collection dates.

Collections may not match rubbish or recycling collection days, so residents are asked to check the calendar carefully before leaving their garden waste out for collection.

The following items can all be placed in the garden waste bin:

• Small branches
• Flowers
• Leaves
• Grass cuttings
• Weeds
• Prunings
• Hedge clippings

For more information about Durham County Council’s garden waste collections call 03000 26 1000.

Bins should be left out by 7am on the specified collection day.

If the council doesn’t currently collect garden waste from your street, you can call and request the collection of upto 6 bags of garden waste for free.

The number of sides of A4 printed by the County Council for next weeks Full Council meeting for councillors. Plus additional copies at 434 sides per copy for staff and other attendees. Perhaps the council should consider finding a way to reduce this amount of paperwork and maybe save some money along the way. I understand that for those councillors who have their paperwork posted out this cost £3.98 per councillor.

County Council announcement:

A new service to help people with disabilities maintain their independence will be launched on Monday (19 March).

Durham County Council’s Equipment Advice Service will provide information on aids and adaptations to people of all ages who have difficulty managing everyday activities.

People will be able to call or email the service or visit its base at the Abbey Day Centre, Pity Me, from Monday to Thursday between 10am and 3pm. A small number of demonstration items will be available at the centre.

The service also has a website, where people can carry out an online self assessment of their needs in order to get recommendations on suitable equipment.

Cllr Morris Nicholls, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for adult services, said: “The service can provide information and support to people with a wide range of needs including, adults and children with a physical or learning disability, mental health problem or sensory support needs.

“As well as helping to identify appropriate products and suppliers over the phone, via email or in person, the service can also take people through the process of completing the web-based self assessment.

“Staff have worked very hard in setting up the service and I am pleased that we able to launch it despite the financial constraints we are currently working under.”

To contact the Equipment Advice Service call 0191 384 6726, email equipmentadvice@durham.gov.uk or visit www.durham.gov.uk/equipmentadvice

For an online self assessment visit www.equip-yourself-durham.org.uk

Just got our council tax bill like everyone else today. Good to see that for the third year running the grant from government to keep the council’s part of the council tax. So with the Lib Dems in government three years of County Council council tax freeze! After a doubling under Labour that’s not bad.

Plus parish council rates in the Fram Division either frozen or down, thanks to Lib Dem involvement working with other groups across the area.

Plus an 11% cut in the cost of the Mayor of Durham thanks to Lib Dem work.

and a freeze for the police precept too. So only the fire brigade have increased the rate.

Just three weeks back, Lib Dems at Durham Council along with opposition councillors from three other groups supported Lib Dem proposals to cut the cost of directors which would have seen a reduction in their numbers. Durham had 7 other councils have 3.

Labour refused to support these proposals, yet today they caved in and removed one of the director posts, saving over £175,000 a year – it’s a start but why can’t they work with all members of the opposition instead of refusing to listen until after the event. Still – a success for anyone anti-Labour and anti-waste.

I don’t expect Labour to use the money saved from this to protect library opening hours as we wanted – given that at the scrutiny meeting this week on libraries the chairman said we were not discussing the budget – so much for the consultation – but keep up the pressure and sign the petition on NewtonHall library at http://www.durham.gov.uk/petitions and your Lib dem councillors will try and push for another Labour u-turn.

Neither do I expect Labour to protect other frontline services.  It has come to light though that since I kicked up an almighty fuss about slashing pest control officer numbers from 17 to 6 (Yes 6 to cover thousands of square miles of our County), Labour have back tracked and numbers will be 50% higher. Still a huge drop from 17 to 9, but with better working practices not as bad as the hopelessly impossible 6 they originally planned – and three jobs saved! Another Lib Dem success!

What this says is that whereas Labour refuse to listen to councillors in meetings, including their own backbenchers, if residents and councillors kick up a huge fuss over unnecessary cutbacks in the press, it can make a difference.

So if Labour is cutting something you don’t agree with tell the world and let your local councillors know, if it is right to fight a particular Labour council decision, you will get local councillor support.

Just don’t ask me to support keeping officers earning upto £200,000 a year each plus pension!