Hurrah, it looks like Durham Council has listened for once. Their plan to charge residents to collect their bins has been dropped for the at least twelve months, so millions of pounds are kept in the local economy for another year. We had pressed hard behind the scene and in public against this proposal and it appears a huge number of residents also raised concerns. Thankfully this time at least Labour have been sufficiently lambasted to stop slapping this charge on to hardworking Durham residents. Now we just need them to listen to us on the council tax freeze too. The government is offering the council money for a 1% increase and we have identified ways to find additional funds (see below story).

Last week I said that the Council after months of my asking had finally agreed to put out letters to 11000 private renting tenants about the Warm Homes Discount. I have now updated this after discovering that the letters being sent out contain wrong information, and for many are simply too late to help this year:

After months of my pressure on Durham County Council, which culminated last week in my writing to every single councillor to ask for their support, 11000 residents were to be sent details of how to save £135 on their energy bills. Thank you to all the Lib Dem, Independent, Conservative and even Labour councillors who backed me up at the time. Shame on the Labour run Cabinet for taking so long, that it now turns out to be too late for many residents.

The Lib Dems in government got agreement with the energy companies after the general election to ensure that low income families received discounts on their energy bills. Since then I have promoted this in newsletters and on this blog, but the Labour run council had done practically nothing to promote it. Each year residents must register with their energy company.

I went on Inside Out at the start of January (but recorded in December) on the BBC to complain at the lack of Labour action. After writing to all councillors including Labour ones, I thought I had finally got somewhere,

I am still pushing the council to do the same for all those in social housing because the council has all the details of who is most likely to be eligible. At the moment the council is simply asking social landlords like Durham City Homes to do this. At my request Durham City Homes has sent out details to several thousand elderly residents, but none of the organisations running social housing have all the information needed to properly target this.

I had hoped that the Labour run council would recognise this so that the estimated 20,000+ households in social housing who are eligible would also get a letter explaining this.

In the meantime, if your total household income is less than £16000, check at the governments website to see if you are eligible: https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/overview then call your energy company as they may still accept your application – some like Scottish Power have now stopped accepting applications, but others are still accepting.

It is crazy to think that £4m is not being claimed across County Durham alone, and saddening that because this is a government organised scheme, there has been little attempt by Labour councils to promote it. It does suggest that the Labour leadership doesn’t want the Coalition to be seen as helping the poorest in society as it doesn’t help them politically. Any normal council  whether socialist, conservative or liberal minded  should have jumped at the chance to promote this. After all, £4m in the pockets of our poorest residents is a huge amount.

From the Northern Echo (link below), we have looked at the way the council is being run and determined that there is no need for five directorates. Other councils manage with three, and by reorganising the very top, a substantial amount of money can be saved without any impact on running frontline services.

In addition we will be able to  invest money into roads and footpaths and protect a number of other services too.

Before putting forward an alternative budget however, we have taken our proposals to the Labour Cabinet to give them the opportunity before releasing their budget to incorporate our proposals.

The Adult and Children’s Directorates were reorganised into one department a few years ago and since then have managed to save millions of pounds not only through the reorganisation but also through being able to organise more quickly in the face of cuts to budgets.

Northern Echo link:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/council/durhamcountycouncil/10979427.Lib_Dems_call_for_Durham_council_tax_freeze/

You can comment on the Northern Echo by registering for their site to let us know what you feel about the proposals or email me.

From the Council:

Durham is an outstandingly attractive rural county setting high standards in its schools. We are looking for enthusiastic and talented primary and secondary teachers and offer many teaching and support staff opportunities.

http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=6561

Opposition councillors have been meeting with senior officers and for some issues with cabinet members to raise concerns about the coming budget and to look at possible savings.

At a meeting of Corp Issues and Scrutiny Board today it was pointed out that of the savings so far carried out by the council over the last few years 64% did not affect frontline services. On the one hand saving £72.8m without cutting any services is great, but on the other hand it does raise serious questions about just how much the council has been wasting over many years.

I believe that there are still savings to be made at DCC which don’t involve cutting frontline services and we will be outlining our suggestions to Cabinet in advance of budget meetings to see if they will accommodate any of our proposals in the budget.

Council press release below. I just wish they would now agree to write to all those on low incomes who they know can get the Warm Homes Discount of £135. More info on that here: https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/overview

Advice on saving energy and cutting fuel bills will be available to County Durham residents next week.

Durham County Council is working with the Greater Durham Citizens Advice Bureau as part of the national Big Energy Saving Week (Jan 27 to Jan 31).

Householders can call in to a number of venues to get advice on a range of energy-related issues, from how to ensure they are getting the best deal from their gas or electricity supplier to how to switch suppliers or tariffs.

Information on ways to reduce energy consumption – for example by having loft or cavity wall insulation, replacing old fashioned light bulbs with energy efficient ones, replacing old boilers and not leaving appliances on standby – as well as how to take advantage of schemes such as Warm Up North, will also be available.

People can find out more by going along to one of the following sessions, all of which will take place between 10am and 2pm:

Monday 27 January – Crook Customer Access Point, Crook Civic Centre.

• Tuesday 28 January – Spennymoor Customer Access Point, Green Lane, Spennymoor.
• Wednesday 29 January – Seaham Customer Access Point, St John’s Square, Seaham.
• Thursday 30 January – Stanley Customer Access Point, Front Street, Stanley.
• Friday 31 January – DurhamCity Indoor Market.

For further information about Big Energy Saving Week and details on how they can get the best deal from their energy supplier people can call the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0845 404 0506 or visit www.bigenergysavingweek.co.uk

The council’s Cabinet debated (or rather rubber stamped) a report today on the Financial Plan for the coming year. I wanted to ask a questions on the report. The labour leader refused to allow me to but did speak for ages attacking the government and at one point one of the Comrades said that Durham has been poor for 100 years. Interestingly Labour has been running Durham for a 100 years!

Normally they begrudgingly let us ask a question now and then even if the answer is never to the question we ask. But clearly I have hit a raw nerve this time. Labour are hiding millions from the budget in future years to make the savings look even worse than they are.

Other councils include an amount in future years for increases in business rates, including for inflation, and increases in the number of properties paying council tax. Labour in Durham is hiding millions of pounds from the budget by simply putting zeros in the document in these areas and others.

This means that this year coming they will cut further and deeper than necessary. Yes the cuts are significant and yes there are questions to be asked about why the North East is seeing perhaps higher cuts than it should be proportionately, but this deception by Simon Henig and his colleagues is disgraceful.

Due to Durham County Council failing to take any positive action to promote the Warm Homes Discount I contacted the press.

The BBC is showing a program tonight about this. Only 10-15% of those households eligible are currently receiving it in County Durham. Hopefully the program will help to promote it. Watch it tonight and contact your energy company if you think you may be eligible. Also, please let anyone else you know who you think may be able to get this.

Let me know if you need any assistance.