Minutes:
The Chair informed Council that since the last Council meeting in May she had attended various events including welcoming a Japanese delegation to County Hall on 6 June and visiting the Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki Exhibition at the Oriental Museum in Durham, attending the 190th Durham Regatta on 10 June and attending flag raising at Stanley Town Council on 18 June and at County Hall on 19 June for Armed Forces Day.
The Chair was pleased to announce that a £1million home designed to give children and young people in care a "stepping-stone" to living more independently had been opened in County Durham. The home, which was named Maple House, sat directly alongside the existing Aycliffe Secure Centre in Newton Aycliffe.
The new staff team at Maple House would care for up to four 12 to 18-year-olds once they were ready to move out of the centre, and would provide support and guidance to help them into the community. The home had four en-suite bedrooms, spacious living and dining areas, an entertainment room and enclosed garden, as well as a staff sleep-in room, office and meeting room.
The Chair informed Council that a £1.5m upgrade of County Durham's main cycling, wheeling and walking route had been completed, with a new glow in the dark section among the improvements made.
Durham County Council had worked with Sustrans to deliver the improvements on the National Cycle Network Route 1 (NCN1), which ran through the county. The Department for Transport-funded work had taken place on parts of the NCN1 between Seaham and Pesspool Wood near Haswell.
Resurfacing work had been completed on the two sections between Dawdon and the A19, and the new Jade Business Park development and the old coke works at South Hetton. More recently, County Durham's first trial glow in the dark surfacing had been laid between the old coke works and the A182 crossing point. And south of the A182, resurfacing between the A182 and Pesspool Lane near Haswell had also been completed, alongside the replacement of the boardwalk in Pesspool Wood.
Finally, schoolchildren in County Durham had been involved in creating a floral annual display at one of Durham's most prominent roundabouts.
Pupils from Gilesgate Primary School helped the Council’s civic pride and clean and green teams plant this year's flower display at Gilesgate roundabout.
Each year the Gilesgate display followed a different theme, with this year's design created to mark the coronation year of King Charles III. The planting marked the tenth year the school had been involved in the display, which was seen by thousands of visitors and residents coming in and out of the city.