At today’s full council meeting at County Hall I proposed a motion that the Council sign up to the 10:10 climate campaign which would see the council making a 10% cut in carbon emissions in 2010. You can sign up here: www.1010uk.org

Labour and Conservative councillors with a couple of exceptions refused to sign up to this. This once again illustrates their failure to accept that this issue is important. The cost of this proposal would have been nothing over the medium term as the savings in energy and other costs would dwarf the investment required. Given that the council will have to deal with this issue at some point in the future, it is clear that they would rather wait until it becomes prohibitively expensive to deal with.

The meeting was also marred by personal attacks on councillors by Labour members who clearly recognised that their decision was flawed and felt the only way to defend this was to use the politics of the playground.

With the council projected to be spending for example £7million pounds to pay fines for landfill, and County Hall alone costing over £300,000 to heat and power each year, the additional costs to residents will continue to rise whilst the leadership at County Hall flounders around, unsure how to manage the council.

Another sad day in County Durham. How we hope to get the 2013 City of Culture with such Dickensian attitudes is beyond comprehension.

Phase two of the garden waste collection service will be rolled out early in the Spring of 2010. I will be working with officers to ensure that as many areas in our villages have the serviceas possible. Easrlier this year I managed to secure over 700 additional bins as part of the Phase 1 roll out. Please let me know if you want the service on your street.

There will be a Climate Change Panel Event sponsored by Christian Aid on Wednesday 18 November at Cranmer Hall, South Bailey between 7.30 pm and 9 pm.

The key areas of discussion will depend upon the perceived urgency that will surround the Copenhagen summit, as well as the more fundamental principles that will influence the actions of participants in the whole event.  We also plan to provide ideas for action, as well as the chance to sign up for The Wave (SCC March) in London on 5 December.

Christian Aid is part of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and, locally, part of the MakePovertyHistory-NorthEast.

The closure of Bishop Auckland Accident and Emergency Unit may lead to serious problems across County Durham. I have set up a petition on the Downing Street website urging residents across the County to demand an investigation by Gordon Brown and reinstatement of the service. Please sign up here: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BishopAuckland/

There are now over 500 signatures.

Recent complaints about the spray from the Car Wash on Finchale Road look set to be addressed after the owners agreed to put up perpex screens during working hours.

Residents waiting for buses on both sides of the road have been struggling due to the spray, especially on windy days. I have also been in disucssion with councillors from Newton Hall and officers about improving or replacing the exisitng bus shelter.

As part of a scheme to make buses more accessible the council is proposing changes to the bus gate in Framwellgate Moor. I will try to post the proposals on this site for eveyone to view.

The crux of the change is that the bus gate will be changed to allow access in both directions. This will change some of the routes of local bus services and require additional work on the ground including a new bus shelter and the removal of existing shelters.

Some months ago I requested from the county council that a survey be carried out to determine possible crossing points near to the mini roundabout at the junction of High Carr Road and Finchale Road. The proposed changes appear to make this even more necessary and I have raised this issue with officers.

I have also pointed out that there is likely to be an increase in unauthorised vehicles using the gate as a cut through and it may be necessary to have a permanent camera installed to ensure this does not happen.

Finally I will be looking into the potential bus route changes to determine if this will cause any inconvenience for anyone.

I can confirm that the replacement of the four bus shelters which disappeared a few weeks ago should becompleted much more quickly than first expected thanks to the rapid response of council officers to my requests. This should be done ina couple of weeks rather than the couple of months first expected.

The recent PACT meeting I attended at Witton Gilbert agreed that anti-social behaviour and speeding were the key priorities forthe coing month in the village. Particular problems around Norburn park were I identified as well as the continuing issue of speeding on Sacriston Lane.

Your Lib Dem councillors want to see 20mph zones on our housing estates and outside schools. Although diluted, our motion to full council does not pave the way for this to happen where it can be shown that it is necessary. I will now be pushing for this outside our schools and will then be moving on to looking at housing estates.

There has been an advertisement for a crossing patrol officer for many years now, which has so far not been filled. If anyone would be interested in this job, which would be between and hour and an hour and a half each day paid at a rate of £6.30 an hour please contact me.