Minutes:
The Leader added his congratulations to all those who helped with the entries for this years’ Northumbria in Bloom. Many local volunteers and community groups worked with the council in achieving a large number of awards including those in Durham City, Chester-le-Street and Stanley supported by many others across the County, building on the work of many town and parish councils.
The Leader further welcomed the new Head of Legal & Democratic Services, Helen Lynch to her first council meeting.
He further reported that following the sad death of Morris Nicholls, he advised of the third member of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Councillor J Allen, to join Councillor L Hovells and Councillor O Gunn.
The Leader went on to report a successful visit to NetPark by government Minister, Jake Berry who was impressed by the cutting-edge technology on display from a number of tenant organisations. In addition just this week another Minister, Lord Prior from the Department for Business and Industrial Strategy visited the site underlining the growing significance and expansion of NetPark.
In addition it was reported that Durham County Council had won the tender to provide payroll services for the new pensions body which covered a large number of councils in the border to coast pensions pool. This was a major achievement for the Resources directorate.
As a final note, the Leader congratulated everyone involved in Kynren on another successful summer. The show involves thousands of local volunteers young and old who do a fantastic job. The council will continue to look forward to working with its partners to help developments in and around Bishop Auckland in the future.