It would appear that Labour are running scared. Lib Dem councillors attempts to get the clothing allowance scrappedmade the national press in the daily Mail and Daily Express. And now suddenly we are told that the council is “reviewing” allowances.

Considering Labour voted through the allowance scheme without so much as a comment about this we can safely say that a possible uturn is on the way.

Thank you to every resident who has supported our campaign, written to the press and council demanding this allowance be scrapped. Until I see it in writing that this has gone I will not give up.

And there is still a big list of other things this council shouldn’t be doing. So here’s to more weeks of attacks on Labour waste.

This story made the front page of the Northern Echo on Saturday and even the Daily Mail today. When are Durham County COuncil going to realise that paying out £12860 every year for clothes for the Chair and vice chair is simply unacceptable?

They refused to scrap this in the budget, and also are happy to pay senior staff 65p a mile car allowances! And this is the tip of the iceberg!

Echo:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10262731.Row_over_councillors____12k__clothing_allowance_/?ref=mc

Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287347/Council-branded-ludicrous-handing-12-000-year-CLOTHING-allowance-authoritys-chairwomen.html

Message from Council:

We had to close Wallnook Bridge on Wednesday as it had been unsafe by our Bridges Section.

The emergency closure notice has a duration of 21 days, after which it will be necessary to seal a temporary order to continue the legal closure to safeguard the public.

The temporary order has a maximum duration of 18 months and will be sealed to include a closure to pedestrians as this may be necessary at some stage.

A diversion is available via the main C62 road toward Front Street Langley Park.

I understand further investigation works may be undertaken to gauge a way forward for the bridge.

Further information may be available from the Senior Bridges Engineer Paul Newman on telephone number 03000 265272.

Adapted from Nigel’s blog (Neville’s Cross Councillor):

Bus passes for pensioners expire on 31 March 2013. Durham County Council has announced how they are to be renewed.

So long as you have not changed address and your personal details are also unchanged, the Council will simply send you one through the post. The process of mailing them out started on 18 February and should be complete by 18 March.

According to the council if you have moved since getting your pass, then you will have to ring the Council on 03000 268 667 to change your details. Continue reading →

Of all the days for Durham’s response phone numbers to be out of action:

Highways Action Line on 01913706000 is unobtainable, not even a message, you just don’t get through.

The new Streetscene response line connects and then cuts you off 03000261000

If you have an emergency request the following number is working today 01388720377 also the Social Care Direct number can redirect you. 0845 8 50 50 10 – use the other number if calling from a mobile as this one will set you back a fair bit when you see your bill.

A couple of years ago I tried to get some extra grit bins for residents. I was successful with a few and not with others.

So I started looking at the criteria and through making sure that the surveying was done in exactly the right place on particular roads, managed to be successful for more residents, but still some areas remained without grit bins.

So I managed to get the criteria changed by pressuring for a review. As a result I got another two grit bins, but still had outstanding areas.

Last year under the new criteria, I repeated some requests and was successful, but not for all locations.

A few months ago I was asked about more areas, as were my fellow councillors in Newton Hall, Amanda and Mamie, so we set about trying to get some more. And now the fun has really started. Continue reading →

So Durham County Council Labour councillors voted through the Council budget today.

This includes keeping a £12860 clothing allowance for Chair and Vice Chair

It also includes subsidising trade unions upto £130,000. Interestingly the £1.15m collected for the unions from staff is collected for free by taxpayers but our primary schools have to pay for their staff wages to be managed. Nothing fair there then.

Labour also voted to cut Citizen’s Advice Bureau funding again and refused to reduce the special allowances senior councillors get.

They also refused to cut the 65p a mile car allowance for senior officers. The saving could have helped to boost Bus routes by £300,000 a year. Continue reading →

We have today published alternative budget proposals to the Labour-run council. We hope that they will adopt these on Wednesday and help to improve our county.

IN SHORT: More money for roads and footpaths, citizens advice, bus services, extra staff in council call centre, more money to help with careers advice in schools, program to support new business startups and extra funding for local regeneration projects in villages.

PAID FOR BY: Cutting Council Publicity magazine County News. Cutting chairman and vice-chairman’s clothing allowances, cutting union subsidies, reducing mileage allowances for senior staff and councillors, bringing forward money from next years budget not currently allocated to anything, and reducing the amount Labour plan to add to the already huge £21m reserves.

And the longer version: Continue reading →

On a walkabout with the housing officer and warden in Pity Me today, I have once again seen the deterioration in the state of the road and footpaths. The potholes on the estate are an utter disgrace now, some which I reported weeks ago haven’t been filled in, but there are many areas which I have again asked for proper patching work on.

If the pavements are not resurfaced this year then there is something seriously wrong with Durham County Council. The government has provided over £10m of funding, another £1.5m has been added to the budget from the council and we will be pushing for further increase in funding this year  at next weeks budget. At the councils own admission after decades of being run by Labour they have £250m of repair backlogs.

Parts of The Avenue and Hudsepth are now dangerous and after 4 years of asking for work to the pavements I think it’s about time the council got out its shovels and diggers and got to work on these areas. Continue reading →

The application for a new fire station at Sniperley has been lodged. This link goes to the documents:

http://gis.durham.gov.uk/website/dcs/DetailMain.asp?appid=2716&AppRef=cma%2F4%2F99&Category=All&Status=All&Appeal=All&District=All&Month=All&Year=All

I had a meeting when the pre-application came in and raised issues about landscaping, the size of the building and the old site.

If anyone wants to discuss any aspect of it please feel free to get in touch.

My comment to the press is below: Continue reading →