• Durham Wildcats basketball team; home game Sunday 23rd v. London Lions at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre (4pm)
• DCC Cabinet has approved the merger of Greenfield and Sunnydale schools: bit.ly/DCCGreenfield-Sunnydale
• Economy: Local unemployment down 3.4% last month (47.3% on year); but South Durham has 3005 people on JSA and 14,035 (15.5%) workless
• Economy: DCC has set up an inward investment task force: bit.ly/DCCinvest
• Livin and the Aycliffe County Councillors have co-funded a debt advice service, Monday-Wednesday-Friday at venues to be agreed; watch out for details.
• A Durham Landlord Accreditation Scheme is to be rolled out across the county: bit.ly/DCCLandlordAccreditation
• DCC is launching Operation Stop to crack down on flytipping: bit.ly/DCCFlytipping
• Aycliffe’s County Councillors have helped fund a van to collect and deliver for the County Durham Foodbank.  Demand for the foodbank seems to be flattening off (at c.3750 days-worth of food per month) – but the month after Christmas always sees a rise in the number of users.
• DCC keep 1055 miles (45%) of the county’s roads gritted in winter, more than any other County Council. It takes 250 tonnes of salt and costs £28,000 to grit all the roads, once. bit.ly/DCCSnow
• What do you think of pharmacy services in County Durham?  Please complete the quick online consultation at bit.ly/PharmacySurvey
• Have you forgotten to book your DCC £20 green waste collections next year: bit.ly/DCCbrownbin
• Aycliffe’s Pioneering Care Centre won an award in this year’s County Durham Environment Awards, in the ‘Climate Change’ category, for its sustainable practices.
• A company has applied for planning permission to build a mead-hall in Weardale as part of a five-year project to film a TV series about Beowulf.
• Keep up with local Aycliffe Council issues on Cllr John D Clare’s facebook page: bit.ly/JDClare