This interview is worth listening to, particularly the last 30 seconds. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24606614

No price rises in wholesale gas in the last two years – straight from one of the industry companies, so why are prices rising. come on government sort this out now. Full publication of the profits of the holding companies attributed to their retail arms immediately.

Visit www.energyhelpline.co.uk or www.uswitch.com to find out if you are on the cheapest deal.

If your total household income is less than £16100 you may be able to get a discount of £135 off your energy bill, call your supplier.

I wonder how much of the latest price rises is down to Ed Milliband announcing that they’d freeze energy prices in a global market place – he clearly hasn’t got a clue about economics or perhaps he got the idea off Ed Balls.

I have written to the Deputy Leader of the Council (Labour) to ask if he will look into cutting mileage allowances for Councillors. At present councillors can claim 48.9p a mile , which is more than the government allows tax free and significantly more than most people can claim if they can claim at all. And councillors can claim just for going into county hall to “READ” – what is all that about? – we have smart phones, laptops, tablets etc now – surely a £100,000 bill for councillor mileage is a bit of a luxury this county cannot afford, so hopefully we will see some movement on this.

I really don’t see why residents should pay the £20 Garden Tax when some councillors are claiming thousands in mileage claims.

Working with Mamie and Amanda we are expanding on the success of our grit sack policy last year.

In areas where the Labour council refuse to provide salt bins and there is a clear need we will get dumpy sacks placed. We have already put out 6000 leaflets (at our expense) mentioning this amongst other things, to get an idea where the most needy areas are and many people have been in touch, but if you haven’t been in touch let us know if you think a particular area could benefit in Pity Me,. Framwellgate Moor, Newton Hall and Brasside.

Over the last few months I have been working on trying to get the County Council to agree to implementing a non-eviction policy for those residents who end up in arrears on the council housing rent through no reason other than the under-occupancy charge or as some call it the Bedroom tax.

I wrote a report and asked officers to look into it, correct it and make recommendations. I then asked the Labour Cabinet member for his support in this matter.

Whilst there was clear sympathy with my proposal I was unable to get support on this, and so will be challenging the cabinet member at the next full council meeting. We could have put forward a motion and called for a vote but as Labour always votes down what we put forward I am seeing if continued pressure will result in some consensus.

Hopefully from this there will be some Labour councillors who will break rank and start to realise there are some things we can do to stop people from being evicted through no fault of their own. More than 10 councils across the country have already brought in non-eviction policies and I really hope that Labour councillors will recognise that this is something we can do locally to help struggling families.

I will post the response in due course.

A few months ago  your Lib Dem councillors planned to put a motion to the full council to agree to investigate televising (by internet) council meetings.

Labour surprisingly asked us to withdraw the motion and commence discussion. These discussions are starting and we hope that soon there will be cross-party agreement on publicizing certain meetings like full council, planning and cabinet.

This will be a fundamental shift in the democratic manner in which the council is run and if discussions are successful it will allow residents across our County to see how the council is run and help to make it a bit more democratic.

If you are on a low income you may be able to get £135 off your electricity costs this winter. If you know anyone on a low income let them know about this as many people simply haven’t a clue this scheme is out there. It was introduced by the Coalition government a few years  go to help cut fuel poverty.

This link provides details of eligibility and how to contact your energy company:

https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/eligibility

Please help now! Using one of your free or inclusive texts on your mobile phone please send: VOTE CZNC to 61119

Durham City Centre Youth Project has moved offices to Framwellgate Moor Community Centre and is working in the area to improve youth provision. If enough people text 61119 with VOTE CZNC then they will get a £3000 grant from Lloyds TSB.

The project is doing great things, and along with other improvements in the area, including at Abbey Leisure Centre, we have seen massive falls in anti-social behaviour and huge improvements in things to do for young people in the area with activities at Fram Community Centre and the Leisure Centre.

Tell everyone you know to text VOTE CZNC to 61119 – if they don’t get free texts they will be charged the cost of 1 text based on their providers tariff. Only one text per person, but you can also vote by going into LLoyds TSB in the TOWN CENTRE and popping a ball in the DCCYP box!!

I have spent the last week on the phone to the Northern echo or emailing the Arnison centre Management company after the outcry over the parking tickets issued for walking from one part of the site to another.

I am please to be able to confirm that the company has emailed me and the tickets have all been cancelled. the 3 hour restriction on parking on the site still applies as it has for  several years and actually helps, but no-one will get a ticket just for using different parts of the site.

The Northern Echo have it on their website and in the paper:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10705879._Shopping_spies__scheme_scrapped_following_outcry/

I have also been invited to future meetings of the management committee with shop keepers and have been told that additional parking spaces amay be able to be provided in the future to help improve capacity, as well as other ways to improve turnover of cars on the site. I will update in a few weeks on this.

Today your Lib Dem councillors tried to get an extension to the consultation on the garden waste tax. If Labour gets its way you will have to pay £20 for the service on top of one of the highest council taxes in the country.

Tell them how you feel by filling in the consultation here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6B6GZBJ

We also asked for alternatives to the plan to brought to councillors for consideration. This was also refused.

The proposal is deeply flawed:

– No mention of the likely cost of increased flytipping

– Nothing about what happens if residents refuse to pay  and use their general waste bin instead which many residents have already said they would do. Although it was said in the meeting that something would have to be done – so will they start fining us all?

– No mention of the environmental impact of 1000’s of extra car trips to household waste sites.

– No mention of the possibility of flooding and blocked drains from people dumping waste at the back of houses, in ditches etc.

– No mention of what will be done if the impact of the plans is disproportionate on the elderly which is likely.

– No mention of the extra cost to the council of trying to get untidy gardens tied up when people give up on gardening. (When the council introduced the Sofa Tax charge to take away bulky items, the result was very clearly that in many places, particularly areas where people live on low incomes, more items are being left lying in gardens, damaging the look of the area.)

– The finances do not appear plausible as so many more people will refuse to pay, reducing the income generated.

Just a few issues raised at the meeting by your Lib dem councillors.

Please tell everyone you know to fill in the online consultation.

Given that one of the senior Labour councillors has already said in a public meeting that if people  put garden waste in their general waste bin, the whole plan  is an utter farce.

Site working

You may find the council website not working right now. It should be back up and running by tomorrow afternoon according to the message (copied below). Don’t forget to complain about the garden waste tax!

Essential Maintenance

Due to essential maintenance work Durham County Council website and its partner sites are not available at the moment.

If your enquiry is urgent, please contact our customer services team on 03000 26 0000. If you wish to make a payment you can use our automated payment line on 0845 835 0120. Otherwise please bear with us until the work has been completed.

You can also contact East Durham Homes on 0800 032 0835.

We hope to have the website back up by the end of Tuesday, possibly a bit earlier in the day.

We apologise for any inconvenience this causes you.

Why can’t this work be done overnight or at the weekend?

We do carry out website maintenance as much as possible either overnight or at the weekend. However, the work taking place at the moment will take a significant length of time to implement. It is programmed overnight on Monday 23 September but will unfortunately run into the following day. We are working hard to get the websites back up as soon as possible on Tuesday.