Minutes:
The Leader of the Council provided an update to the Council as follows:
· The Leader thanked all staff who had worked on Friday and over the weekend to assist with situations arising from the inclement weather. The Leader also sent the thoughts of the Council to Cumbria which had suffered severe flooding following Storm Desmond.
· The Leader congratulated all those involved in the Lumiere Event held in Durham, which had attracted over 200,000 visitors. The event had received positive feedback and the Leader thanked Artichoke, staff and partner bodies. The display of the Tricolour on the Cathedral as tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks was particularly moving. A full report on the event would be made to a future Council meeting.
· The Chancellors Autumn Statement would result in local services bearing the brunt of cuts, with a headline funding cut of 56% for local authorities, on top of 40% of cuts in funding since 2010. The cuts had been criticised by both Lord Porter, the Conservative Chairman of the LGA and by Jon Trickett, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Since 2010, County Durham had made cuts of £120m, which was twice the budgets of all the former District Council’s, and this was set to double by 2020. A financial tsunami was facing council services.
Cabinet next week would be starting to consider cuts to more than 70 budget items, with more cuts to follow. The Council had operated sound financial management through its Resources team. As a result it was in a more robust position than other Councils, and it had adopted a managed approach to reduced service provision. Public consultation events would be held in Peterlee, Bishop Auckland and Durham to seek the priorities of the public, which previously had been the elderly, vulnerable young people and winter maintenance.
The Leader informed the Council that no guarantees about the future of services could be given and that come 2020 services from the Council would be unrecognisable from existing services.
The Leader wished all Members best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.