Agenda item

Leader's Report

Minutes:

Prior to presenting his report, the Leader of the Council asked the Chair of the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor John Robinson, to briefly report to Council on the meeting held on 15 November to discuss the future of Ward 6 of Bishop Auckland Hospital.

 

Councillor Robinson thanked Councillors Hovvels and Laing for their commitment to the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Following a letter from Scrutiny the Trust had halted their closure plans for Ward 6.  The meeting of the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 15 November had been well-attended and had lasted for 41/2 hours, with another meeting held on 4 December lasting 31/2 hours.  The Trust had agreed to halt their plans and had undertaken to discuss future plans for the Ward with staff who worked on it.  It would come back to the Council in January with details of these discussions.  Councillor Robinson assured the Council that the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee would invoke a call-in if needed, but stressed that to do this the correct procedure needed to be followed.  There was cross-party support at the meeting.

 

The Leader informed Members that on 20 November the Council took part in the Local Government Association’s annual #Our Day social media campaign to highlight the everyday efforts of staff to help improve residents’ quality of life.  Council tweets about its staff reached 30,000 people and highlighted everything from the 1,600 weddings which had been officiated this year to the 780,000 sausages served to pupils by catering staff.  A tweet about Gary, a gritter driver, was chosen by the LGA as their first message to highlight as part of the campaign.  A short video featuring staff explaining what their day entailed was also watched more than 5,000 times.

 

Last month, Remembrance parades and services took place across the County on Armistice Day, to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of First World War.  The Council worked with the Northern Echo to produce a commemorative edition, which was available to buy between 7 November, and 11 November.  The special edition featured many stories from the Durham County Record Office and DLI Collections.

 

There was also a visit by children from Kreis Weisel in Germany, to Park View School in Chester-le-Street.  The children discussed their different perceptions of the First World War and took part in the Remembrance concert at Durham Cathedral.

 

HOPE, a commemorative light and sound installation, was installed in Millennium Place, while the Durham Hymns captivated audiences at the Gala Theatre.  The artwork and concert were both inspired by the diaries and letters of County Durham people who experienced the war.

 

The Council also arranged for a life-size replica Spitfire to be located in Durham Market Place to provide a fitting backdrop for the annual military parade.

 

In November, HRH The Earl of Wessex presented the Council with a Ministry of Defence’s Gold Award, as part of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.  The award recognised employers who demonstrated outstanding assistance towards serving and ex-members of the Armed Forces.

 

Free after 3 car parking was again available in Council car parks in December.  The popular scheme allowed visitors to park for free after 3 p.m., attracting more people into towns for shopping and leisure activities during the festive period.  Last Saturday was Small Business Saturday, a day to support local independent businesses, and all Council car parks countywide and on-street parking in Durham City was free from 10am.

 

Planning was underway for next year’s Lumiere and a ‘one year to go’ launch event took place in November, attended by local businesses and the media, including ITV Tyne Tees and BBC Look North.  As part of the launch, the Heron installation was lit up for the first time at its permanent location on the riverside.  The Heron was the third Lumiere legacy piece and followed the Light Bench near the Passport Office and Helvetitoc in Millennium Place.

 

The place marketing programme, Celebrate Durham, continued with prominent poster and digital display campaigns featuring Lumiere highlights to promote County Durham across the country.  These were displayed at Newcastle International Airport and along the East Coast Main Line at King’s Cross, Leeds, York and Edinburgh Waverley stations.  On 29 December Durham would feature in a Times supplement.  This would focus on business, culture and places with a specific focus on the people who made it so special.  Members could also see the County Durham message wall at its new temporary location at The Louisa Centre in Stanley.

 

The Leader thanked and congratulated everyone who had helped the many events currently taking place, including in Crook which witnessed the biggest and brightest Winter Light Parade the community had ever seen attracting local, national and international visitors a week last Sunday.  There had been many uplifting seasonal events across the county to lighten up the dark nights with a lot of hard work put in by a lot of people.

 

The Leader also congratulated everyone who took part in the annual Environment Awards which next year will celebrate its 30th anniversary, the annual Best Bar None Awards, organised in partnership with Durham Constabulary, the retail awards and also all of the tourism businesses and accommodation providers who won awards at the North East England Tourism Awards where there were five Gold Award winners from Durham. Meanwhile Hardwick Park was voted as the best destination for a free family day out in the inaugural Family Favourites Awards, organised by Daysoutwiththekids.co.uk.

 

The annual local government funding settlement was expected tomorrow, assuming this wasn’t delayed by other national debates.  The Council had made clear the pressures that it and other councils were now facing, particularly in terms of rising demand in children’s and adult services.  Last month the Leader warned in the Journal newspaper that the future of children’s services across the country was becoming a real issue and there had been a huge increase in the number of special needs pupils needing support, with the council spending several millions more in this area than it had available in Government funding.  Schools were under massive financial pressure and the Council was trying to support them.  However, the Council had needed to apply to the Secretary of State for Education to transfer some funding from the Schools Block Dedicated Schools Grant to help meet the shortfall.

 

Although one-off funding was announced in the chancellor’s budget statement this would not be enough to meet the demands being faced.  Councils needed sustainable funding to meet these demands in the long-term and if the government was serious about an end to austerity real changes would be expected when the local government settlement was announced.

 

The Council also continued to lobby the government regarding potential changes to public health funding which could see Durham County Council lose £19 million funding from 2020 with counties such as Surrey and Hertfordshire set to gain.  The Leader welcomed the support received from MPs and local CCGs and asked everyone to join this campaign.

 

As the festive period approached Christmas parcel collections for County Durham Foodbank had been organised at all of the Council’s main offices and depots.  There was a fantastic response and the Leader thanked everyone for their generosity.

 

Still on the theme of staff, the shortlist of finalists for the Inspiring People Staff Awards was available on the intranet ahead of the awards event tonight.  The Council thanked everyone for their nominations and congratulated all of the winners and nominees.

 

The Leader concluded by thanking everyone for their hard work over the last year, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.