COUNCILS SLAMMED BY OMBUDSMAN

Sent to councillors today – also been in the newspapers.

Council acts on Ombudsman’s recommendations

Durham County Council is acting swiftly in response to the findings of a report by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO). The report arose as a result an initial planning decision and complaints to environmental health officers at the former Teesdale District Council. It also relates to the subsequent handling of the case following the establishment of the unitary Durham County Council in April 2009. (See notes to editors) Continue reading →

LIBRARY LINK RESTORED -SIGN THE PETITION – SEND LABOUR A MESSAGE

Having kicked up a fuss about the disappearance of the link for the library consultation I can confirm that it has now been readded to the council homepage.

Please join in the consultation. there is no need to cut opening hours, but plenty of scope to cut waste and various other budgets to protect frontline services.

This is no longer just about libraries, it is about democracy and protecting frontline services,  so whether you use your local library or not, please join in and send a message to the council. They must protect services, root out waste, cut director numbers, cut councillor costs, cut publicity rags etc.

www.durham.gov.uk

Petitions: www.durham.gov.uk/petitions

NORTHERN ECHO HIGHLIGHTS OUR ARGUMENT OVER BUS SERVICES

At yesterdays Cabinet I raised serious concerns about the spending on bus services in County Durham. I think the Echo article is worth a read:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/council/durhamcountycouncil/9575906.Durham_council_under_fire_over_bus_contracts/

Labour is stopping its elected members including its own councillors from scrutinising important issues. Further proof of how undemocratic DCC is.

LABOUR HIDES LIBRARY CONSULTATION?

On the day that the Northern Echo reported on our campaigns to stop the slashing of Library opening hours, the Council Website removed the link to the library consultation on its front page – and replaced it would you believe with a report on how accessible the website is! You really could not make this up! They also added information on archeology and an article on country dancing. Now whilst all of these are clearly important to those interested in them, to remove any mention of the library strategy which is affecting nearly every community in the County on the day our petitions are launched strikes me as a bit too much of a coincidence……

To sign the Newton Hall library petition visit www.durham.gov.uk/petitions

To comment on the consultation visit: http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=7639

NEWTON HALL LIBRARY PETITION

Our petition to stop the opening hours being slashed at Newton Hall library has gone online. It can be signed at www.durham.gov.uk/petitions

We the undersigned petition the Council to not cut opening hours at Newton Hall Library.

Durham County Council is currently consulting on cutting the opening hours of Newton Hall Library from 43 to 20 hours. Libraries are a community asset which should be protected. Alternative means of funding have been identified by councillors to keep libraries open for longer and we believe that the Council should protect this well used facility and has the money with which to do this.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT: We provided numerous ways to fund keeping libraries open for longer including cutting teh cost of councillors, reducing te number of directors, cutting the council publicity rag county news, merging together the numerous communications teams in county hall, cutting other waste, purchasing more effectively and efficiently. All were rejected by Labour despite being confirmed as possible by officers. So these really are Durham Labour Party cuts.

TENDER FOR BUS SERVICES

Tomorrow the Labour  Cabinet at County Hall will agree to press ahead with a tendering exercise for subsidised bus services across the County.

The £3.3m contracts have never been shown to councillors. We have never had the opportunity to comment or put forward recommendations. Councillors should have been able to ask about conditions relating to quality and punctuality of bus services for these subsidised routes. It is completely unaccceptable when more than 10% of all bus services in the county are arriving late, not to have proper conditions in place to penalise the worst offending companies.

Over two years ago councillors were promised that when important contracts are being set up for council services that we would get some input. This followed on from past mistakes with procurement. Once again we don’t get a look in. Democracy is dead in County Durham until such time as Labour loses control of DCC.

On the subject of procurement – if anyone in the wider county has received their new recycling bin, please let me know if you think the quality is to the same standard as your general or garden waste bin.

Someone has told me that the new bins are poor quality, which is surprising given all the bad press about the award of the contract..

STOPPING LABOUR’S LIBRARY CUTS

I have been working with Newton Hall councillors Mamie Simmons and Amanda Hopgood on trying to stop the cuts in library opening hours at Newton Hall Library. Labour is consulting on slashing the opening hours from 43 to 20. Such a huge cut is unacceptable, especially when you consider that at the budget setting meting a few weeks ago we gave examples of where money could be saved to the tune of millions of pounds, some of which could have been used to protect frontline services like libraries.

Many people believe that these cuts have to take place because of reductions in government funding, but when you consider that we have proved that £100,000 could be saved from councillor costs, £500,000 from bringing together communications departments, £150,000 from scrapping the County News Council propaganda magazine, and that over £3m is sat there nt allocated to anything. Also, the council is paying out over £1.3m for directors – when other councils do with far fewer.

So all in all there is plenty of scope to find money to protect frontline services from Labour cuts.

We hope to have a petition up and running on the council website in a few days at www.durham.gov.uk/petitions and will be putting out petitions around the area. We have also had 3000 leaflets delivered telling people about the cuts and the petition.

ALDIN GRANGE TERRACE TRAFFIC ORDER

A traffic order to prohibit access to Aldin Grange Terrace from the C17 Main Bearpark Road is to be heard at Highways committee this Thursday following a couple of objections to the proposals. At the moment cars can enter and exit at the bottom end of the terrace, but concerns were raised that this wasn’t safe due to the sharpness of the bend.

Both myself and your other county councillor are supporting the proposal which will still allow cars to drive up and down the rest of the road. More details can be found here: http://democracy.durham.gov.uk/documents/s18302/Unc%20Aldin%20Grange.pdf

NEW SPEED LIMIT PROPOSALS FOR BEARPARK

For the last four years I have been trying to get action on speed limit changes on the C17 road from Neville’s Cross through Beapark to Ushaw Moor.

The council has finally come up with proposals for a new 40 mph zone to be installed at either end of the village to help to reduce speeds. I am concerned about the start and end points of these newly proposed zones, and have asked that an officer attends the next meeting of Bearpark Parish Council (21st March – 3rd Wednesday of the month.)

You can view the proposals here by clicking on the links below. Residents affected should now have received a letter about the proposals and I am delivering a leaflet to the whole village which mentions the proposed speed limit changes too.

Aldin Grange end – pdf C17 Toll House Road to Bear Park Area 2 A4 Plan

Ushaw Moor end – pdf C17 Toll House Road to Bear Park Area 1 A4 Plan

Please let me know if you have any comments by emailing me or alternatively email the council at northernareatechnicalsupport@durham.gov.uk

The principle behind this is that having a buffer zone which is a 40mph stretch allows reminders along the road and reduces people’s speeds more gradually instead of going straight from 60mph to 30mph. The issue is that at the AldinGrange end, they are proposing to remove the 60mph zone altogether which may reduce the positive impact, however I look forward to seeing responses and listening to officers on this. We also need to consider if the the location of the start and finish points are correct.