http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/newsarchive.php Recent News Stories from Darlington and Sedgefield Liberal Democrats en-GB Darlington and Sedgefield Liberal Democrats http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Darlington and Sedgefield Liberal Democrats 2010-03-10T16:21+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000168/cllr_peter_freitag_seeks_senior_officers_pay_cut.html THE top earners at Darlington Borough Council should take a ten per cent pay cut to help the authority get through the recession, says Lib Dem councillor Peter Freitag 2010-03-10T14:09+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000167/peter_everett_takes_action_on_bin_shortage.html Residents of the Deanery in Northgate Ward asked for Peter Everett's help. Darlington Borough Council says they can only have 2 bins for all 24 flats. This clearly isn't enough. 2010-03-04T22:53+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000166/peter_everett_takes_action_on_bin_shortage.html Residents of the Deanery in Northgate Ward asked for Peter Everett's help. Darlington Borough Council says they can only have 2 bins for all 24 flats. This clearly isn't enough. 2010-03-04T22:53+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000165/northgate_lib_dem_peter_everett_helps_police_take_on_the_drug_dealers.html As a result of information Peter Everett was able to give the police recently, action has been taken against drug dealers in Northgate ward. 2010-03-04T22:43+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000164/tom_hodgsons_letter_in_the_echo.html Haughton West Lib Dem Focus team member Tom Hodgson had the following letter published in today's Northern Echo: 2010-02-20T23:34+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000162/mike_barker_welcomes_cabinet_climbdown.html Last week, Mike Barker visited the Darlington Storysacks and Toy Library from which the Labour Cabinet's budget proposals would have withdrawn financial support. Mike was delighted to learn from the Echo this morning, therefore, that the Council has announced it will in fact continue to support the excellent work carried out by the charity. 2010-02-09T00:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000163/second_cabinet_climbdown_in_24_hours.html The Director of Children's Services is to recommend to Cabinet that the proposal to downgrade the Early Years Inclusion service be dropped from the budget. 2010-02-09T00:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000161/mike_barker_supports_darlington_storysack.html Yesterday, Mike Barker visited the Darlington Storysack and Toy Resources charity, based at Corporation Road School. It is faced with possible closure, and certainly a massive reduction in the service it can offer, thanks to the Labour Cabinet's proposed budget cuts. 2010-02-05T00:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000160/durham_police_biggest_losers.html Mike Barker has revealed that Durham Constabulary has lost more officers, as a percentage of its total, than any other police force in the country. Between March 2005 and September 2009 Durham Constabulary slashed its number of police officers by 193, that's a whopping 11.1% of its 2005 total (1738 down to 1545). 2010-02-03T00:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000159/lib_dems_support_early_years_inclusion_service.html The Darlington Early Years Inclusion Service has been the subject of two special Budget consultation sessions over the past couple of days. Lib Dem Councillors have been to both, to try and find out what the real issues are here. 2010-02-02T00:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000158/mike_barker_calls_for_more_20mph_zones.html This evening in Full Council, Mike Barker had a question down for Cllr Lyonette, the Cabinet's Transport portfolio holder. It read: 2010-01-29T08:32+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000157/mike_barker_expresses_concern_about_media_coverage_of_bussurfer.html On his blog, Mike Barker, our Parliamentary Candidate, writes today: 2010-01-22T11:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000156/mike_barker_accuses_labour_candidate_of_thoughtless_scaremongering.html In his blog today, Mike Barker writes on the latest twist in the debate about the provision of acute stroke services in Darlington. The Council's Health and Well-being Scrutiny Committee met this morning and heard from the local Health Trust's Chief Executive that there was no short-term threat to the provision of these services in Darlington. 2010-01-19T14:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000141/mike_barker_slams_councils_failure_to_fill_frontline_position.html Darlington Council employs a Welfare Rights Manager whose job it is to help vulnerable people in the community access benefits to which they are entitled. Figures released recently show that, against a target of £600,000 in the six months to September 30th, 2009, the Council recovered just £516,000 for residents. The elderly, single parents and others on low incomes have lost out on crucial payments. 2010-01-14T18:00+00:00 http://www.darlingtonlibdems.org.uk/news/000142/mike_opposes_proposal_to_close_stroke_unit_after_high_level_leak_to_labour_councillor.html In a statement to a Special Darlington Council Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday evening, the Chief Executive of the Council said she had been informed late last week, by the Chief Executive of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, that consideration was being given to the possible closure of the Stroke Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital. This information was shared with Labour Councillors and leaked to the Labour Party's Parliamentary candidate. She took it to the Echo, which blazoned her across its front page. The Echo chose not to approach opposition parties for their views. 2010-01-13T20:00+00:00