Wednesday 5th June
Regular Report Submitted by County Councillor John D. Clare
At Durham County Council, the Cabinet of senior councillors is empowered to make key decisions (which are then monitored by ‘Scrutiny’ committees). Thus the meeting of 5 June dealt with some huge issues.
The Empty Homes Cluster Programme is a £4.4m scheme to bring 120 uninhabited houses back into use. Helped by government funding, the Council will purchase empty properties and do them up, so they can be rented out. It is a bold initiative to address the housing crisis; the areas which will benefit in south-west Durham are Chilton, Coundon and Ferryhill.
The Cabinet also approved an exciting scheme to investigate forming a ‘Combined Authority’ to coordinate the economic policies of the ‘magnificent seven’ north-east local authorities. The focus will be to deliver Lord Adonis’s Economic Review recommendations for the area, especially with regard to transport and infrastructure.
Also approved was an interim Procedure for the Adoption of Public Open Space on new housing estates – those odd plots of land which belong to the developer, but are often poorly maintained. Among a list of target plots was land in Ranulf Court and Cobblers Hall in Newton Aycliffe.
The Cabinet agreed to ‘refresh’ its Safe Durham Partnership Plan, in order to incorporate its ‘Think Family’ strategy, which is designed to make sure that families facing multiple challenges receive multi-agency support.
The Cabinet also considered a number of very detailed reports: The Performance Management Report measures the Council’s performance over the last year against the various performance indicators. In a desperate financial situation, whilst having to deliver £93m savings, the County Council still managed to attain many of its targets … and many of those where it fell short (e.g. unemployment) are arguably due to the recession and/or the cuts.
The Update on the Medium Term Financial Plan reported that the Council has met its savings targets. Sadly, in the past year, 428 jobs had been lost – 190 by early or voluntary retirement, 125 vacant posts had not been filled, and unfortunately there were 113 compulsory redundancies. The Council had consulted widely with the public about where the cuts might fall – consultations which showed that the Council had so far managed the process well, given the tough decisions necessary.
Finally, a very full report outlined Government Legislation affecting Durham County Council and reflected on its implications for the Council; it is well worth a read if you want to know in detail about what this government is doing to the County.
You can read all the Cabinet briefing papers at: bit.ly/DCCCabinet1
