The response to our leaflet on the County Durham Plan was exceptional, hundreds of people attended the consultation event at Abbey Leisure Centre on Wednesday with the council having to draft in extra staff, as well as extra copies of the plan after they ran out. i think this shows that when people are notified of an event, they will turn out. In future the council must consider providing better maps and being better orgainsed from the start.
The initial feeling I got from this event was that the vast majority of residents were either angry or upset that they had not been given sufficient notification of the plans until i arranged this event, and even now do not feel enough information has been provided.
A large number of attendees were not happy with the prospect of building homes of the green belt around Pity me, Brasside and Framwellgate Moor, with many not being happy with the idea of a Northern Bypass – although some residents I spoke to did feel it was a necessary and would like more information about how it was all going to be paid for before making a final decision.
If anyone was not able to attend, the display will carry on in the entrance to the sports centre for the next week. a number of documents can be seen at this web address: http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/ with the dates for other consultations in the county to be found here. There are no more consultation events in the Durham City area at present, although I am pushing for this as I strongly feel that there has been a real failure to communicate the proposals to the residents of County Durham thus far. Speaking to those who attended the event at Abbey, almost every single person said they had not seen any notification of the other two consutlation days in Durham City and Meadowfield.
It is very clear to me that far more information must be forthcoming. if the council are not going to do this then once again it may be down to your local councillors to get leaflets delivered.
Residents can email specific comments to ldfconsultation@durham.gov.uk , it would be useful if you could copy them in to me, so that I can build up a picture of local views.
This page contains maps, though they are difficult to understand http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/gbsp/gbelt_ass_sc_paper?pointId=1354835 the areas marked in red show possible development sites – note that not all of these woud be developed as part of the plan.
I am keen to hear views from residents – please feel free to post them on this site or email me.