Minutes:
The Overview and Scrutiny Officer referred Members to recent press articles relating to the remit of Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The articles were:
· £628m and rising needed to fix region’s roads – Five road authorities in the North East and North Yorkshire had a combined backlog of road repairs valued at more than £628m with Durham County Council saying that its accumulation of highways issues needing to be dealt with and had reached more than £191m. The Committee would receive an overview on highway maintenance at its meeting on the 23 January 2018.
· National Lottery revives Durham’s woodlands – Durham’s woodlands had received a welcome cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the ‘Durham Woodland Revival’ project. The project would run from the start of 2019 to the end of 2023 resulting in £1m of investment in woodland and the forestry sector. This media item links to agenda item 7.
· ‘Operation Spruce Up’ comes to Wingate – A deep clean of the village is to be undertaken involving Durham County Council staff and partners. The scheme would involve: the sweeping and cleaning of footpaths; painting and cleaning of street furniture such as bollards, railings and benches; replacement of bins and removal of weeds. The Committee would receive an overview on Operation Spruce Up at its meeting on 13 November 2017.
· England’s local roads to get boost from Government cash pot – English councils are to be given access to a multimillion pound fund originally intended to be spent on motorways and major roads, with some funding diverted to be spent on roads run by local authorities.
The following questions were raised in relation to the press articles:-
Mr Bolton asked if the monies released for roads were for specific categories. The Overview and Scrutiny Officer responded that the monies were for roads in general.
Mr Kinch referred to ‘Operation Spruce Up’ and how Evenwood had returned to the condition it was prior to the work undertaken by the ‘Operation Spruce Up’ visit and asked if the operation was worth undertaking. The Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that as part of the committee’s future work programme an overview and evaluation of the ‘Operation Spruce Up’ would be considered by committee at the November meeting.
Councillor Taylor indicated that Wingate had undergone the spruce up which had been a success and a good job had been done by the team.
Councillor Jopling commented on the costs associated with ‘Operation Spruce Up’ and asked as to whether regular maintenance would be more cost effective.
The Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that the Committee would receive an update on the ‘Operation Spruce Up’ programme in November which would include detail of the evaluation of the project.
Resolved: That the presentation be noted.