Minutes:
The Council noted a report from the Leader of the Council as follows:
The Leader hoped all Members were well and had not been too badly affected by the recent bad weather, which had once again seen the County battered by high winds, heavy rain and snow. The Council had continued to work closely with partners in the County Durham Local Resilience Forum with efforts to deal with any damage which was ongoing. The Leader thanked everyone who had been involved in the response and also to residents who had rallied around to support one another.
In the past few weeks, the Council had confirmation from government that County Durham was to be one of nine areas selected to take forward proposals for devolved powers.
The Council had worked extremely hard with government to set out why County Durham needed a devolution deal and how this would help the Council to invest in its local communities going forward. The Council had set out a strong and compelling argument to get to this point and looked forward to further discussions with government on how a deal would work for the Council.
The last two years had been a challenge for everyone, but with more local control over economic regeneration, housing, infrastructure and resources, the Council could look to the future with confidence and optimism.
The Leader assured Members that the Council would be working extremely hard to secure the best possible devolution deal for County Durham, including working with all 6 local MP’s. The next steps would be set out once further discussions had taken place with government.
At the beginning of the month, the Council submitted further details of its bid to secure the UK City of Culture title for 2025 to government. The bid had been submitted with the Council’s principal partner Durham University on behalf of Culture Durham. If successful, it could mean millions of extra visitors to the region, the potential for thousands of new jobs and a significant boost for levelling up.
The Leader congratulated Sarah Slaven on being appointed as the permanent Managing Director of Business Durham, the Council’s business support service. Sarah previously held the post of Operations Director at Business Durham before becoming Interim Managing Director in early 2020. The Leader hoped Council would join her in wishing Sarah well.
The Council’s Stronger Families initiative was to be extended for a further three years, following news of a £2.2 million grant from the government. The scheme provided tailored support to vulnerable families, helping them to access help to address a range of issues with the support of dedicated key workers from the council and fellow members of the Early Help Partnership.
Last week, the Leader welcomed Henri Murison, Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, to County Durham. During his visit, Henri attended NETPark near Sedgefield and also visited Peterlee, where he was shown how the DurhamWorks scheme was helping young people into employment and training. DurhamWorks was supported by the European Social Fund, but this funding would come to an end in December 2023. It was vital the Council secured alternative funds to continue this important work.
The County would play host to a major conference next week, when the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence held ‘The New Frontier: North East Space Conference’. The event, at the Radisson Blu in Durham on Wednesday 2 March would give businesses the chance to learn more about the growing space industry in the region. Topics to be discussed ranged from building a UK space economy to how science and innovation could be a catalyst for economic prosperity, with attendees being from the UK and globally.
Councillor C Marshall referred to the discussions proposed on a devolution deal and asked when the Cabinet and leadership of the Council would set out to Members, partners, and communities its plans of what its ask was from government. The Leader replied that the discussions first needed to be held with government around the options available for a County deal, following which further details would be set out and Councillor Marshall would be included as Leader of the Opposition.
Councillor Gunn referred to the Space Conference taking place and asked whether there would be an opportunity for young people from County Durham to have some involvement in the conference. The Leader replied that while the County was playing host to the conference the Council was not organising the conference. The Leader added she would contact the conference organisers with Councillor Gunn’s question and provide Councillor Gunn with a written response.