Local Lib Dems challenge government ban on local authority bus companies

The government is currently trying to change legislation so that local authorities would be banned from starting up bus companies.

The Lib Dem group will call for cross party support on Wednesday against these proposals. We will ask the Council to publicly challenge the plans and to write to the relevant government ministers in protest at these plans.

Any council at some point in the future could find that it has to set up services should there be no local private companies willing or able to run services. The remove this ability is clearly a political move by the Tory Government, and it is unacceptable. Indeed many rural areas of the Country could be aversely hit – ironically many of which are normally Conservative leaning in their views.

Private companies frequently find it difficult to set up bus services in rural areas, and if we remove the ability of a local council to do this then we in effect shut down localism – precisely the opposite of what this government professes to support.

The Link 2 service operated by the Council in County Durham offers a prime example of a service which has been set up to fill a gap in services. I would hate to think that in other areas, should a council wish to,  services could not be set up, or become far more difficult to set up, leaving the vulnerable, disabled or the elderly stranded.

We hope all councillors will support our motion, which Cllr Richard Ormerod is proposing.

Arnison Crossing installed

I’m please to be able to report that following our complaint about the new crossing near to Frankie and Bennies not having being completed, that the site owners moved very quickly and installed the raised crossing.

We remain concerned that many drivers haven’t got used to the new layout and ask pedestrians and particularly drivers to take extra care. I personally observed a driver go straight over the crossing without slowing down, with pedestrians waiting to cross.

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St Cuthberts Hospice – Fireworks Display at Framwellgate School – Supported by your local councillors – Saturday 5th November – Display at 8pm, gates open at 6pm

Have you got your tickets yet for the fireworks display?

It’s in the grounds of Framwellgate School Durham on Saturday 5th November – Display at 8pm, gates open at 6pm.

As your local councillors we have provided funding towards the cost of running the event so that it can go ahead in our area and so that ticket prices can be kept reasonable and some money raised for the hospice.

You can get tickets by calling the hospice on 0191 386 1170 Extension 5 or visit eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/st-cuthberts-hospice-family-fireworks-night-tickets-26919866044

Full details:

St Cuthbert’s Hospice Family Fireworks Night
5th November 2016

The skies of Durham will be brought to life with an explosion of colour as St Cuthbert’s Hospice celebrate Guy Fawkes Night on Saturday, 5th November 2016 with our second fireworks extravaganza. There will also be fairground rides and catering vans to ensure fun for all the family. 

Event Timings:
6:00pm Gates and fun fair open
8.00pm Firework display

Ticket prices:
Adults (Aged 16 and over) £5
15 & Under £3
Family (2 Adults, 2 Children aged 3 to 15) £14.
*Please note children aged 2 years and under are free.

This event is sponsored by Ramside Hall Hotel Golf & Spa and kindly supported by County Councillors; Amanda Hopgood, Mamie Simmons and Mark Wilkes.

Do you walk your dog in Pity Me – Help tackle fouling – PLUS Help us get stronger enforcement

If you are one of the majority who go for a walk each day with your dog and pick up after it, you can help us. There are a small number of dog owners letting everyone else down. If you spot anyone letting their dog foul and then leaving it, please let us know the name of the person or culprit, the time, location and type of dog. We are trying to find those who are spoiling it for everyone else in the area.

We have recently targeted Newton Hall and now are trying to do the same in Pity Me. Indeed if you spot anyone anywhere leaving dog waste let us know the details.

We have asked for large signs to go up as a deterrent. Ultimately, people can face a large fine.

The Council has agreed with us that stronger measures are needed. They have a consultation running until 5th December aimed at having stronger powers of enforcement. Please respond to it by visiting this link:

http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/8635/Proposal-to-introduce-new-enforcement-powers-for-irresponsible-dog-owners

Lib Dem success: Better opening hours secured for Abbey Leisure Centre – PLUS Open weekend in October and New Functional training room

We’ve been working with the Council and listening to users to make Abbey Leisure Centre even better.

Users wanted the centre to open earlier so we had discussions with the Council and discovered that there was a period in the morning for setting up which wasn’t necessary, and a possible business case for longer morning opening hours.

Morning hours have been extend from 8.30-10.30 TO 8.00-11.30. (Mon-Fri). The afternoons have been adjusted to open at 3pm instead of 2pm as this time was very quiet. The new opening hours start from 1st October – Monday coming.

The Exciting New Functional Training Room looks great.

There is an Open Weekend on Friday October 21st and Saturday 22nd with loads of free sessions on Sat 22nd October: Inflatable session, soft play session, kids street dance, table tennis, squash, badminton, street dance, metafit, zumbatone, boxercise, functional training, stretch n tone.

Over the last few years we have helped to turn Abbey into one of the best leisure centres in the County. To think that Labour councillors wanted to shut it down! there’s still more to do, however over the last few years we have provided and helped secure funding for new gym areas, a refurbished reception and corridors, kids gym equipment and much more.

Now we have morning hours which should tempt in more users, particularly in the morning. Call in and take a look around!!

(It’s worth remembering that the Labour-run council aimed to shut the Centre. If it were not for users and your local Lib Dem councillors fighting to keep the centre open, it might not be there now.)

New bus shelters in Newton Hall – progressing well

A new bus shelter which was requested by residents during our survey earlier this year, is close to completion, thanks to our speedy action.

The shelter on Rothbury Road will help make it easier for local residents, particularly the elderly after we managed to get some extra steps installed as well!IMG_6131

Another shelter requested for Finchale Road, Newton Hall outside the school is currently under consultation. Numerous residents asked for one at this location and we are hopeful that it can be provided.

Over many years we have managed to get a huge number of new and replacement shelters, including scrapping many of the old brick ones which used to cause anti-social behaviour. Indeed I can hardly remember the last time we had a report of anti-social behaviour or noise in one of our bus shelters – other than some broken panels on Fram Front St.

 

Teaching assistants being blackmailed into taking massive pay cut by Labour politicians

You couldn’t make it up. Yesterday Labour run Durham Council insulted Teaching `assistants by offering them two years protected salary in return for slashing their pay by up to a quarter.

I hope every Labour voter in County Durham finds out about how appallingly Labour is treating its lowest paid education staff. Why should anyone be expected to take such a huge pay cut? An utter shambles of a disgrace from a Labour run council which is acting more and more like a far-right Tory one.

Durham’s Labour councillors scrap youth club funding and slash youth budget – Lib Dem councillors vow to continue to help young people

Yesterday I challenged Simon Henig to delay any further cutting of youth service budgets.

Cabinet were deciding on scrapping open access services – youth clubs in effect.

At the same Cabinet meeting the department which is in charge of Youth Services, reported that it had made additional savings of more than £850,000 – unexpected early savings.

It also has £14m in a cash limit reserve not allocated to anything.

I asked that some of these unexpected savings be used to extend open access youth provision to give voluntary groups more time to change the way they work and search for alternative funding streams.

Cabinet members refused. Shame on Labour for ending youth club funding when they have the money to keep supporting them!

In addition to the £14m cash limit reserve in Adult and Children’s dept (now being broken in two), the Council has 50 other reserves of over £150m.

In addition it has a general reserve of £30 million.

Any suggestion from Labour politicians that we need to scrap youth clubs and open access provision right now is utter nonsense.

One Labour cabinet member said that she did not see why other areas should have any youth clubs since her area did not have them and in the past others (councillors etc) had secured facilities in their areas and that was unfair.

A damning indictment on her failure to ensure facilities in her area. This sounded very much like: If I don’t have them then stuff your area you can’t have them – beggar thy neighbour or what!

Whilst Labour politicians couldn’t care less about young people in our area, as your Lib Dem councillors will do all we can to ensure that our area has good facilities.

Over the last few years we have secured funding to upgrade play facilities in Framwellgate Moor, Newton Hall and Brasside, including a new play area at Caterhouse Road and brand new equipment in Brasside.

We also provided funding for Abbey Leisure Centre to have youth gym facilities and have assisted local community centres with funding which has helped local youth groups to have sessions in better quality buildings.

We have helped all our local schools with funding or assistance to improve facilities or provide excursions, local events or projects and this year we are supporting the only major fireworks display in the area at Framwellgate School – You can get tickets from St Cuthbert’s hospice which is managing the event and raising funding for the hospice.

We continue to look for other projects which can help young people in our area, so please let us know if there is something you think we can help with.

Labour-run Council computer farce – the muppet show continues

“Utter Farce” as Durham Council’s new all singing and dancing computer system stops councillors and employees reporting problems.

Durham County Council has taken a new system online to improve reporting of issues such as potholes, missed bin collections, litter and flytipping.

Unfortunately, the new system will not allow anyone with a Council email address to register. This means that the 126 County Councillors on Durham’s unitary authority can’t use it. Or for that matter the 1000’s of council employees!! We have also been told that we can’t use personal email addresses either! So we can’t use the system and are back to emailing in issues we need to report.

Except the new system doesn’t respond to you including the message you sent, so if we send more than one request for action we haven’t a clue which reference refers to which issue.

As I frequently send in up to a dozen issues at a time ranging from litter to flytipping to pothole repairs, I and all other councillors are now left trying to figure out which response refers to which request because of the Labour-run Council failing to make sure it had a brand new system which worked.

Only in County Durham!

I have contacted the Director of Neighbourhood Services to point this out. Apparently the council is going to try and find a solution but it could be some time in September or October. We are also to be “consulted” on how the new system works for us – a bit late isnt it when its already live?

Framwellgate Moor Front St Takeaways – Rubbish issues and Food Safety at our local takeaways, pubs and cafes

We have become increasingly angry at the rubbish being left by certain outlets outside their properties. Overflowing bins, tubs of fat and food waste are completely unacceptable, and we are adopting a zero tolerance approach to this issue which is ruining the look of the area.

Over recent months we have reported issues to the Council many times, however problems persist and we are concerned about the strength of the response and the results of enforcement.

We need your help. Every time you see overflowing takeaway bins or rubbish or containers left lying around at the front side or rear of any of the business properties on Front Street, or for that matter at any of the other shopping areas, please take photos with your phone and text or email them to us as.

Together we will make sure that these businesses and the Council take this issue seriously.

In addition we thought it worth providing details of the inspections done by the Council of the premises for food safety reasons – these are recorded on the Food Standards Agency website and are updated as and when an outlet has a new report which can be anything from 6 months to two years.

You can find the list here for Framwellgate Moor: http://ratings.food.gov.uk/authority-search/en-GB/%5E/framwellgate%20moor/desc_rating/0/durham/%5E/0/1/10

Here for Pity Me/Arnison: http://ratings.food.gov.uk/authority-search/en-GB/%5E/pity%20me/desc_rating/0/durham/%5E/0/1/10

and here for Newton Hall: http://ratings.food.gov.uk/authority-search/en-GB/%5E/newton%20hall/desc_rating/0/durham/%5E/0/1/10

If you can’t find the business you are looking for note there are three or four pages for each. You can also enter in the name of the premises, postcode or area in the search box on the FSA website.