Minutes:
The Council noted a report of the Leader of the Council as follows:
· September marked the start of the new school year, a time when many young people across County Durham were commencing further and higher education courses after successfully achieving GCSE’s and A-level qualifications. The County’s exam results had been excellent with the average attainment grade at A-level increasing, compared to the national average. An increase in the proportion of students achieving a grade B or above in key subjects such as Maths, English and Science had increased to just under 14% compared to 10% the previous year. At GCSE level, the proportion of successful pupils achieving Grade 4 or above in both English and Maths was 60% which matched last years performance but was a significant improvement from 2017. The Leader congratulated all pupils for their achievements, particularly given all the recent changes to the exam systems;
· The Leader took the opportunity to welcome the 74 new apprentices who had started work with the Council the previous week and wished them every success in their new roles;
· Care providers and those wishing to pursue a career in the care sector could now access free training through the County Durham Care Academy to improve skills and resilience in the care sector. The academy offered support across a range of different areas. The academy was part of a broader programme of work aimed at supporting independent adult social care providers across the County. The Leader explained that Adult Health and Social care roles made up a large proportion of employment opportunities across the County. According to the independent charity ‘Skills for Care’, 10% of adult and social care roles were vacant in County Durham which equated to 1400 vacancies at any one time. The average age of a care worker in was 44, with 25% of the workforce aged over 55 and due to reach retirement age within the next 10 years. This was set against an increasing demand for care as the older population continued to grow. To help providers meet this need the care academy had provided a route into an adult and social care with the introduction of a course which would commence in September and was just one of a broad range of training opportunities on offer;
· The Leader expressed his delight that one of the new Azuma trains, built in County Durham and by north east workers, had stopped at Durham for the first time. The image was featured on the front page on the latest edition of the County Durham News;
· Transformations were underway to turn Bishop Auckland Town Hall into a thriving cultural hub with the investment of £1.5m to refurbish and redefine the hall with improved layout and modern facilities which would allow for a more enticing programme of activities and events. The venue would be closed until Spring 2020;
· Bishop Auckland was one of 51 local areas picked to go through to the next round of the Future High Streets Fund and would receive upto £150,000 worth of funding to work up detailed projects to regenerate and redevelop the town centre, and, if successful would eventually receive multi-million pound funding to complete the project.
· In Durham City the new Odeon Luxe cinema had opened on the Riverwalk. The first phase of Milburngate and the development of the Council’s new smaller Headquarters were underway. The new HQ would free up the current Aykley Heads site to be one of the best new business parks in the North East providing a £400m economic boost for the County and creating 6,000 jobs;
· The Council had secured £1.6m from the National Lottery Heritage fund for the redevelopment of the Seaham Townscape Heritage project, a 3-year project focussing on the heritage and regeneration of historic properties in Church Street, Seaham. The Leader congratulated everyone involved;
· The year of culture continued at the Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee, which was the focus of an artist’s creative vision as part of its 50th anniversary;
· Next month would see the return of the annual Durham Book Festival, the completion of the Auckland project multi-million pound development of Auckland Castle and the return of the tenth anniversary of the Lumiere festival, the UK’s largest light festival. The event promised to be very special and the full programme would be launched in October;
· Other events that had been held included the annual brass festival, the Flying Scotsman visit to Locomotion at Shildon, the Durham City Run festival and the final performance of Kynren at Bishop Auckland had taken place.
· The Cycling Tour of Britain which some of the worlds best cyclists competed in, had travelled through the west of the County. There had been lots of support from the roadside and the event had featured heavily on local and national news bulletins, as well as being broadcast on ITV4. Record crowds also turned out for the Wolsingham Show, one the biggest shows in the agricultural calendar;
· In relation to health issues, the Leader informed the Council that increased mental health would be supported for children and young people following a successful funding application. Teams would work in schools and colleges in areas of social disadvantage, with the County being one of 57 areas across the country chosen by NHS England. The application was made by a partnership of agencies. The new support teams would start work in 2020;
· Stoptober would launch on 19 September and would continue throughout October. The campaign was based on research that if you could stop smoking for 28 days you were five times more likely to stop smoking for good. The ambition for County Durham was a reduction of 5% smoking prevalence by 2025. The current level was at 15%. The Leader explained that the impact of smoking had been a key challenge over many years and progress had already been made with reduced levels of smoking in the county;
· County Durham businesses were able to access support to reduce their carbon footprint and save money thanks to a £1.5m funding stream, having been accepted as part of an EU project that helps small and medium sized businesses change their energy behaviour, reduce operational costs and cut carbon emissions. £160,000 was available from the fund which was available to support projects from now until July 2022. Durham had been welcomed into the scheme because of its successful business energy efficiency project which had helped 200 local businesses improve their energy performance;
· The Leader congratulated the Council’s Facilities Management and Building Cleaning Service which had won the Best Service Team of the Year in the Association for Public Service Excellence Awards 2019;
· The Leader of the Council welcomed John Pearce, the new Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services and James Etherington, the recently appointed Deputy Monitoring Officer to the Council;
· Finally, the Leader placed on record his congratulations to Michael Stevens who had completed 50 years of service with the Authority, having joined Durham City Council in 1969 as an apprentice. The Chief Executive and Head of Environment had joined Michael and his colleagues for a much deserved celebration, where Michael was presented with a certificate and shopping vouchers as a thank you for his hard work, dedication and long service.
Councillor F Tinsley thanked the Leader for his comprehensive report and noted the comments made regarding the Azuma trains. Councillor Tinsley expressed concern at an article which had appeared in the local media regarding the loss of a £500m contract for the new Nexus trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro and wished to record his anger at the decision and asked the Council to do all it could prior to the final decision being made in January.