Agenda item

Leader's Report

Minutes:

The Leader informed the Council about a number of forthcoming events within the County.

 

A service to dedicate a memorial to Lieutenant Commander George Nicholson Bradford, VC, would take place at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday 21 April 2018 at Witton Park, Bishop Auckland.  Lt Commander Bradford, one of the famous fighting Bradford brothers, was awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery after being killed storming the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on St George’s Day in 1918.

 

A Commonwealth Event would be held in Durham on 25 April to coincide with the current Commonwealth Summit in London.  The County was also delighted to welcome the Spanish Ambassador who would be visiting Bishop Auckland to see the excellent Spanish cultural connections being developed in the town.

 

The coming weekend would see the return of the annual Bishop Auckland Food Festival which regularly attracted more than 30,000 visitors to its range of food stalls and events.

 

Finally, another regular event, the Tour Series Cycle Race would take place in Durham City on 22 May.

 

The County had suffered from the ‘Beast from the East’ since the last full Council meeting and Councillor Henig took the opportunity to report on the Council’s delivery of Winter Maintenance for the current period.

 

2017/18 had been one of the most challenging winters the unitary authority had ever faced, including several heavy snow events and the usage of more than 10,000 tonnes of salt in one week alone.  The cost of that week’s activity alone was estimated at £1m as the Council’s fleet of seventy gritters and local farmer contractors battled to keep the road network across County Durham clear.  It was worth noting that snow drifts in that week were up to five feet deep in places and everyone did a tremendous job that week, as throughout the year.

 

To acknowledge the commitment and hard work of all staff within the service, a Great Staff Great Stuff award was issued with a message of thanks from Cabinet Member Brian Stephens.

 

The service had been inundated with compliments from the public congratulating the team’s good work.  The same week saw two members of staff going the extra mile by saving two ewe’s stranded in several feet of drifting snow at Landon Beck, Teesdale.

 

The snow had continued into April.  In all of this poor weather the Council had used more than 61,500 tonnes of salt, almost double the figure from last year.  Consequently, the Council had overspent its budget by more than £1.6m to the end of March.  This was why reserves were needed.

 

As a consequence of the winter weather conditions the County’s road network had taken a battering.  This had been recognised by the Department for Transport who had allocated the Council an additional £1.3m through the pothole fund.  As an authority the Council had taken the decision to supplement this figure by investing an additional £700,000.  This brought the total council investment in roads this financial year to £5.7m, which when added to government funding brought the total for highways repairs in 2018/19 to more than £17m.

 

On behalf of all Members Councillor Henig placed on record thanks to Cabinet Member Brian Stephens and all hard working staff for their tremendous efforts throughout what had been a very difficult winter.