Attended a meeting with other councillors today to start discussions on problems which may arise from the new system.

A small number of households are indicating that they don’t have space for the new bin and the council is looking at each case individually to see the best solution.

If there are any issues you have concerns with please get in touch with me and we can see what can be done to address them.

I have been looking at the councils budget and they are suggesting that this is only going to increase recycling by 3%. That is quite frankly absurd. When they did this in Derwentside recycling rose by much more and in some part of the country it went up by nearly 50%. This matters because for each extra 1% of recycling the council will save £140,000 in landfill tax and other charges. So if they budget for only 3% increase in recycling when in reality it could be 10%,  they will have more money left over to protect frontline services.

Fellow Lib Dem Councillor Nigel Martin (Nev’s Cross) has posted a really interesting and measured blog on the fall in university applications. Well worth a read : www.nigelmartin.mycouncillor.org.uk

The council has created a very simple video on you tube explaining the changes to alternative weekly collections:

Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNQCfKrI42U

Sill have concerns? Call me.

Labour leader of Durham County Council Simon Henig thinks it is OK for the Northern Echo to print the budget proposals before elected members of Durham County Council get to see them.

Not only is this an affront to democracy it is an insult to the residents of this County who elected their councillors to represent them. It is also disgraceful to have members being asked in the street and on the phone what they think about cuts to a b or c when we know nothing about them.

When I have finished reading the 200 or so pages for next weeks Cabinet I will certainly be making some comments and i expect Lib Dem opposition councillors will have amendments to the budget this year, but please bear with all opposition councillors in the Soviet Socialist Republic of County Durham.

You can view the proposals (or what they are telling us so far) here:

http://democracy.durham.gov.uk/documents/g4413/Public%20reports%20pack,%20Wednesday%2008-Feb-2012%2010.00,%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

The council has been rapid in responding to the call out on Potterhouse Lane, the intial 20minute response and clean up is being followed with full ditch cleaning work to be carried out in the next week or so and repairs to the culvert. Should reduce the risk of any future flooding. They are also working with landowners to clear a similar drain under the A167 near the Pity Me roundabout. Well done!

If anyone has concerns about the new recycling scheme, please feel free to get in touch.

If you are worried about not having the space for the extra bin the council may be able to offer alternatives including a smaller recycling wheelie bin or even a smaller general waste bin as well.

Councillors are discuss the proposals this Thursday for the Durham City area to raise specific concerns in their areas, if anyone has any thoughts let me know.

It takes a lot to impress me these days, but a visit this morning to SW Durham Training in Newton Aycliffe really did. The technology, training tools, equipment….incredible.

Four hours looking at what is being done, listening to concerns about the Council and government and a raft of other things was very informative.

What was shocking however was that there are still companies out there crying out for qualified people in a whole raft of engineering and manufacturing areas in County Durham but can’t find them. Indeed nearly all apprentices who go through SW end up working in very good highly paid jobs.

We very clearly have a problem when with rising unemployment we still can’t get young people interested in taking apprenticeships in these industries. I really do think that it is time for schools to start explaning as the representative at SW told us that there are jobs paying £45,000 out there, that welders, high tech machine operatives, designers etc, etc are desperately needed, that the jobs are interesting and that smaller companies in the North East in industry really are doing very well.

I have come to the conclusion that the priority for the Council must be to do all it can to facilitate getting our young people interested in and into these professions. With Hitachi on the way, shortages of skilled workers, and more money coming soon for apprenticeships from the government, this must be the priority.

That said, the government needs to look at the funding, as does the council and realise that it costs more money to take on engineering apprenticeships than other industries because of training costs and materials costs. Equally we must make sure that there is help not just for 16-19 year olds but also for those older than this. It is a crazy situation when the funding for a 20 year old is half that for a 17 year old, when many companies really value young people of all ages.

The County Council must put money in to help with transport issues, help with training funding and help getting Year 10 and 11 year olds from our secondary school to visit places like SW training and other similar organisations. If we continue to tell our young people that there is no future in manufacturing, engineering and electronics, we will reap what we sow.

And the Government must re-analyse how it funds apprenticeships to put more emphasis on these sectors NOW.

Noticed that there are 10 new jobs posted as available at Durham County Council in the last week or so which can be found at:

http://nd.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/vacancy.nsf/vrd?openview&count=999

Over the last few days I have had to report flytipping and littering problems increasing in a large number of areas including:

Potterhouse Lane (again)

A691 from Fram to Witton Gilbert

Sacriston Lane from Sacriston to Witton Gilbert

B6532 heading into Sacriston

Dryburn Road and roundabout.

If there are any areas where you spot flytipping or littering which doesn’t seem to be getting cleared up email hal@durham.gov.uk or get in touch with me.

Had a long meeting discussing various transport issues today at County Hall.

A couple of residents have asked me why when they get a bus ticket on a concession the ticket doesn’t say the right end location – eg. Leaving Durham to Chester-le-Street but ticket says Newcastle.

I can reassure people that the bus companies are not fleecing the Council in that respect as a set rate per journey has already been agreed in the contracts.

Speaking of contracts, given the past problems with procurement, I have asked if there is any scope for councillor involvement in the upcoming tender for bus services. Unfortunately it looks like the deadlines are very tight, but still worth a try. The biggest bug bear I have is that there appears to be no incentive for bus companies to improve their service within the contracts, rather it is dependent on bad press. I am hoping something can be looked at on this. Also the bus companies in effect self monitor their service, so the Council is somewhat reliant on the companies informing them the correct details of delays/cancellations etc. this is probably the most cost effective way for this to be done, but does make me feel rather uncomfortable – not many examples of selfregulation working well.

I also raised the issue of some buses particularly through villages running within a few minutes of each other as the main companies seek to compete. What this actually ends up doing is giving passengers a choice of two buses for ten minutes and then nothing for 50 minutes – daft and counter productive – one of the problems which goes with bus deregulation!