Minutes:
The Leader of the Council provided an update to the Council as follows:
· The Leader referred to the disappearance of Durham University student Euan Coulthard and reported that the County Council would continue to work with its partners at Durham Constabulary and with relevant riverbank landowners including the University and Cathedral to do everything it could to support public safety in the city. The Council was reviewing its Water Safety Policy which covered physical aspects such as signing, edge protection and safety equipment; together with education of at risk groups and the monitoring and management of riverside locations.
A ‘water safety review’ of the riverbanks would be carried out through the City, concentrating on the lengths of riverbank with particular high footfall, and those sections in proximity to the night time economy. This review would identify any areas where physical controls may need to be changed to meet current safety expectations of the public.
In addition to the physical aspects, the County Council would work with partners to review and refresh the community safety work that had been delivered in the past including planning a safe journey home, not walking home alone, and working with licenced premises through the best bar none scheme.
· The North East Combined Authority (NECA) had agreed, as a starting point, a list of powers and functions which it believed should be devolved to the North East away from Whitehall. Whilst recent years had seen a process of devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, governance in England remained highly centralised. The prospectus agreed yesterday by leaders of the seven local authorities within the combined authority area and which had been distributed to Council was a starting point would need to be discussed with all key regional stakeholders including business leaders, trade unions and the community and voluntary sector.
· Last week the Leader had addressed a briefing of Members of Parliament on behalf of the Association of North East Councils at Westminster. County Council officers had studied the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and the Council’s own provisional settlement and the initial projections look to be fairly accurate, indicating continued large cuts in grant funding in 2015/16 and likely to be repeated in the years ahead if the Chancellor’s plans were implemented. The County Council’s own detailed plans, which would see a fifth successive year of reduced budgets, would be presented to Cabinet and Council in February. The Leader firmly rejected the government’s claim that the 2015/16 budget reduction was only 2%, a figure which included a large amount of health spending, some of which was not even within the control of councils. Furthermore the Leader pointed to the unfairness of the settlement, with huge variations between significant cuts in areas like the North East and actual increases in areas such as Surrey.
Detailed analysis carried out by ANEC also showed those areas hit hardest were the same areas which have the greatest needs.
Councillor R Bell referred to the last bullet point of the Devolution Prospectus released by the NECA and asked whether this was a preamble to regional government and increased bureaucracy. The Leader replied that the Prospectus was a starting point which had been drafted by all seven Local Authorities and the detail was still to be completed. The last bullet point had been included to pull together health and social care systems more effectively, which was a national agenda item and therefore reflected in the Prospectus. Integration management of public assets was inevitable if austerity and cuts continued, but this did not imply a move towards regional government. The Combined Authority had been established to operate within existing resources, and this continued to be the case.
Councillor D Freeman asked whether the devolution of power may result in the need for a directly elected mayor. The Leader replied that the Prospectus made no mention of governance structures but concentrated on functions and powers. The views of Government would be sought on whether the need for an elected mayor was a pre-requisite for the devolution of powers.