I have met with a council officer today to agree placing a set of recycling bins on Fram Front Street as a trial which is happening in a couple of places across the county. If successful, the council will be considering rolling them out to other areas. The extra bins we have already along with these new bins will mean that we have more than enough capacity to cope with the needs on the Front St.

Once in place, please let me know what you think and once the trial has been running for a while i will report back on its success.

Councillors received the enclosed letter today regarding possible changes to the way that Council owned housing is managed in the county. Residents are to be consulted on this.

MESSAGE:

I would like to update you on progress with the Council’s appraisal of the options available for the future financing, ownership and management of its 19,000 homes.

Since April 2011 the council has worked very closely with its three housing management organisations (Dale & Valley Homes, Durham City Homes and East Durham Homes) and with expert financial advisers Consult CIH to develop a 30 year business plan and to identify potential options for the future of council housing. The business plan will enable the authority to understand how it can repay the £216M of HRA debt allocated to the authority (in order to introduce a new self financing arrangement for council housing) and determine how much investment is required into the housing stock and services over the long term. We’ve found that:

·         We need to invest around £797 million in our homes over the next 30 years. This works out to around £40,000 for each home; and

·         We must spend around £388 million on our homes in the first 10 years of our business plan. However only £333 million is available to us (in rents, funding and other allowances). This leaves us with a shortfall of £55 million, which rises to £63 million with inflation.

The shortfall between the resources available to the council and the investment it needs to make in its homes unbalances the 30 year business plan. The council will also struggle to afford improvements in the first 10 years of its business plan because the Government will limit its ability to borrow above the £216 million of debt they’ve allocated to the authority.

Consult CIH and the council’s legal advisers Trowers and Hamlins have identified a number of potential options to develop a balanced and affordable business plan that enables the council to repay its £216 million debt and to invest in its housing stock. The options are:

·         The council retains ownership of the housing stock and stays the landlord. This would mean the authority would need to make efficiency savings and could mean that it would need to defer some works to customer’s homes. The council would not be able to borrow privately and so a basic improvement programme is all the authority could commit to over the next thirty years.

·         The council could transfer the ownership of its homes to an existing or new Registered Provider (Large Scale Voluntary Transfer) or to a newly established council owned community owned organisation (CoCo). Transfer of ownership would mean that the new owner of the housing stock could borrow above the debt cap and a more extensive range of improvements could be undertaken to customer’s homes and neighbourhoods. At the moment the Government have not issued any policy guidance on their approach to stock transfer. The council will meet with representatives of the Department for Communities and Local Government in August 2011 to discuss their views.

It is important to note that all of these options would mean that the council’s homes will staff as social housing with a landlord who must (by law) operate as not for profit.

The council is currently consulting on these options with customers, staff, Board members, Councillors and other key partners. Details of a full consultation programme (on the options for the future financing, ownership and management of the Council’s housing stock) have been published and sent to Councillors representing communities living in affected areas.

There are also a variety of opportunities for all councillors to get involved in the consultation process. A suggestion box is available in the Member’s Library and a newsletter will be issued shortly. The option appraisal team will be available in the Durham Room to answer questions from 10.00am on Monday 8 August 2011. Two focus groups will also be held on the 8 August at 10.00AM and at 2.00PM. If you would like to attend a focus group please contact. (FOR COUNCILLORS)

In the meantime the Council’s webpage is regularly updated with information relating to the stock option appraisal. You can also keep up to date on the project’s progress by logging onto a website for customers –www.itsyourhomecountydurham.org

You can also follow our progress on twitter and facebook.

If you have any questions about the stock option appraisal or you would like a copy of the consultation programme  for customers and Councillors please contact the Stock Option Appraisal Project Team on 0191 3018220 or e-mail either housingdirections@durham.gov.uk

Councillors of all parties except Labour supported a cost effective proposal I put forward to move the Tourist Information Centre into the Town Hall entrance instead of shutting it down completely.

We proved that it did not need to cost very much, and in fact could end up being self sustaining. Labour tried to blame government cuts, it simply didn’t wash with us or i expect with the 7124 people who signed the petition to try and keep open the existing centre.

Labour is systematically ripping the heart out of our great city. If incompetence were a criminal offence the Labour cabinet would have been locked up by now. We have simply got to remove them from office before they completely destroy our County.

The council is offering a £28 membership to join Abbey Leisure Centre for six weeks to get fit for the summer and see if you want to carry on afterwards. At the end of the six weeks, you can get a £30 health and fitness voucher if you decide to join at the end of the six weeks. You need to sign up before the 4th September for the six week deal. Membership entitles you to use the gym, sauna and a whole raft of other facilities and programs.

The more people join, the more we can make Abbey sustainable and continue to improve it. Just call in to the centre for more information and to join up or call 0191 301 8301

The meeting last night in St Nicholas’ Church to discuss the market place was packed with residents. Barely a seat free in fact. Almost unanimous in their concerns about the mess we have been left with. From the critical road safety issues to the appalling drainage, metal bins, loss of traffic lights, a whole raft of issues raised, but the overriding view seemed to be that the shared use of road and pavement was unacceptable, and the overall scheme had been managed disgracefully.

I raised the issue of why the vennels had not had work done on them and have put in a freedom of information requesdt to find out if this work should have been included. It is one thing for the Labour Cabinet member to say that the project finished on budget, but clearly anything can finish on budgtet if you just do half the work.

I think this debate is going to rumble on. Once again Labour have made a mess of something which could have been great.

I would add that there are other bodies as well who may have to answer questions about this and about the way in which taxpayers money has been misspent.

Councillors have been invited to attend a meeting to discuss the community buildings review on 2nd August. We have yet to see the report.

This review is looking at all community centres and communal halls controlled by the county council, as well as the wider issues surrounding provision of community services.

Some of the centres which are being looked at in the Framwellgate moor Division are:

Framwellgate Moor Community Centre, Bearpark Community Centre, Beaurepaire Communal Hall, Woodbine Road Communal Hall

Fyndoune House, Flambard Road Communal Hall

I understand that in total there are around 180 buildings which the council currently owns and are designated as communal halls or community centres. I am also aware that some of these WILL BE BULLDOZED but the council is yet to say which ones. Of the ones in the Fram Division, I understand that Flambard Road is to continue to be used by a charity. In relation to all the others, I do not currently know what is going to happen but am aware that options include bulldozing and rebuilding, renovation, leaving the same or getting rid completely.

What is a disgrace in this process is that the council had originally intended for this report to be released in November last year and yet again has fallen behind. Also we have as councillors been given little if any indication of what is to happen to specific buildings despite repeated requests. In some cases community associations have been trying to invest to improve buildings for months and cannot until this report is completed and cleared by Cabinet.

It is unquestionable that the lack of information provided to councillors and communities is shameful on the Labour Cabinet.

It is also clear however that officers have been working hard to make sure that the right information is collated and they deserve praise for this difficult process.

Hopefully we will see that provision is protected, and though in some cases there will be investment requirements we cannot allow the council to try and inflate costings to justify closure or demolition.

If information is provided at the upcoming meeting I will report back

Held a constructive meeting today with officers at County Hall over the way forward for Abbey Leisure centre. Will report back shortly.

The introduction of a new power management system at County Hall has been postponed. The system, which it has been shown can save upto 30% on energy used by computers has been tested at Hopper House and Priory House in County Durham and was due to be rolled out by the Council on July 20th.

The system was recommended to the council in early 2009 by County Councillor Mark Wilkes, Framwellgate Moor Division.
Councillor Wilkes commented “In January 2009 I emailed all members and the Chief Executive recommending that we introduce this type of system. Whilst I am happy that the Council decided belatedly to do this, we are clearly moving at a snails pace.”

“For it to take over 2 and half years to implement this proposal is shocking. The Council could have already saved tens if not hundreds of thousands pounds across the County if it had got its act together earlier.”

These type of systems can be normally introduced within a matter of weeks by large organisations and work by automatically placing computers on standby or closing them down completely after a period of inactivity.

Councillor Wilkes added “The lost savings from years of delay would have helped protect frontline services and the blame must lie at Labour’s door – once again wasting money and failing to save taxpayers money.”

“I look forward to the system being fully implemented at the earliest opportunity.”

The system has now been delayed as a large number of computer users have asked for their systems to be exempted from pat or all of the program.

Last week I commented that a few Labour councillors wanted to be able to claim travel expenses for attending Charter Trust meetings. Today we unanimously ditched the idea, including the Labour councillors who were present.  Strangely, those who had called for this were absent- perhaps on holiday, perhaps not.

Anyway another victory for common sense.

At next weeks Full Coucil meeting I will be proposing a motionb that the council continues to have a dedicated Tourist Information Centre in Durham City.

At the same meeting a petition of over 7000 names will be put to the council by a resident, completely non-political.

It is clear to me that to scrap the TIC is one of the most short sighted things the Labour Council has ever decided to do.

At last nights Area Action Partnership,  even Labour members voiced concerns over this and called on the council to retain a dedicated TIC.

The proposal I will be putting forward with Cllr Stoker next week will offer a solution which is that the TIC should be moved to the Town Hall Foyer, where until some years ago it was anyway. A staffed facility here will cost very little to the council and is absolutely affordable.

The ludicrous position we will face in a few months is that a World Heritage Site City, Capital of the County will not have a Tourist Information Centre. I honestly believe that the decision by Labour to do this was done in haste, without proper consideration, and that there is still time to pull back from this and support a proposal which will ensure that visitors, businesses and residents will still have a world class service instead of not one member of the 21 Tourism staff being face to face with the public on a daily basis.

Come on Durham County Council and Labour councillors, recognise that scrapping the TIC is a mistake and that we can still afford to offer a facility for our great City.