COUNCIL chiefs who were forced to rip up a multi-billion pound economic blueprint and start again are facing more embarrassment after they were accused of ignoring women in redrawn proposals.

Roger Cornwell, chair of the City of Durham Trust, said Durham County Council had completely overlooked the fact that far fewer women than men had jobs in the county.

The council has come up with four options for the County Durham Plan – which covers new developments and projections for homes, along with potential job creation and the requisite infrastructure required up until 2033 – and expects to publish its preferred option in December.

A previous version of the plan, intended to deliver an economic boom for the area, was withdrawn after independent planning inspector Harold Stephens criticised it as containing proposals he said were unrealistic, flawed, not justified, deliverable or environmentally acceptable.

The Trust, which has submitted a 22,000 word response to the options now on the table, said the employment rate for women in the county had “flatlined” since the last recession and this was not on the council’s radar.

Between January and December last year the employment rate for women in County Durham aged 16 to 64 was just 61.4 per cent, one of the worst rates in the country, compared to 73.6 per cent for men.

This lagged behind the North-East average of 65.5 per cent, while the figure for men was actually higher than the regional average of 73.4 per cent.

The disparity follows recent figures which showed a 17.9 per cent pay gap between the sexes in respect of full time managers’ pay in the North-East with men earning £5,500 more.

Mr Cornwell said: “The only way to solve the problem is to recognise it exists and if the council has not spotted the problem they are not going to solve it.

“The plan has got to recognise that the only way we are going to get people altogether wealthier is to look at why women are not getting these jobs and try and do something to put it right.”

In a damning verdict, the Trust said there was no evidence to back up many of the conclusions from the options stage of the plan, while a sustainable transport strategy meant to feed into it was “neither sustainable or a strategy” and too simplified.

It said: “We regret that the council appears to be rolling forward options and approaches from the previous county plan that it was forced to withdraw.”

The Trust also said:

  • Projections for about 31,000 new homes were too high and assumed a level of migration into the area unlikely following the vote for Brexit
  • Housing should be dispersed more widely around the county which meant there was no need to build houses on green belt around Durham City, while a planned new business park at Aykley Heads also did not need to expand into green belt
  • Two new planned relief roads, the Northern and Western relief road, were not justified and in respect of the latter traffic numbers were actually falling on the A167 into Durham.

Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth said the current plans were “unfair and unjust” and there was again too much focus on Durham City to the detriment of rural areas such as Weardale and Teesdale.

He said: “The whole county should benefit from the plan, not just a part of it. They are going down the same road as they did last time when it was kicked out.”

Stuart Timmiss, head of planning and assets, said: “The plan is for the whole of County Durham and includes a number of policies to ensure that rural communities can maximise opportunities in terms of development, as well as being able to take advantage of the expected economic growth it will provide for them.

“While we’re aware that there is a gender gap in County Durham in terms of jobs, the plan aims to increase the employment rate by up to six per cent across the county, which will give us the best possible chance of tackling inequality.”

Mr Timmiss said the council welcomed all responses to the consultation and the purpose was to ask everyone if the right issues and potential opportunities for the county had been identified.