A large number of trees were wiped out at the A167 entrance to Pity Me leaving a scene reminiscent of  rain forest slash and burn. Calls to the County Council – which many feel should have responded sooner were not dealt with quickly enough.
Now, after pressure from local councillors, it looks like replanting of the area will get the go ahead.
County Councillor Mark Wilkes said “I have called for an improvement in response time by the County Council for any future incidents and if all goes to plan we should see this area replanted.”
“I am also asking for many trees across our area to have Tree Preservation Orders placed on them to make it far more difficult for developers to wipe them out in future.
If there is a mature tree near you which you feel should have more protection, please get in touch.”

Your local Lib Dem councillors have guaranteed that a parish plan gets the go ahead after the new Area Action Partnership set up by the Unitary Council turned down a funding request.

The Parish Council will now have the funding to start full consultation with local residents on every issue affecting Brasside, Pity Me and Framwellgate Moor.

Councillor Rev Crooks commented “By using some of the County Councillors Neighbourhood budget we can have a lasting plan for developing our area, working to improve the lives of everyone living here.”

The Parish Council has also committed funds and work will hopefully start soon.

Councillor mark Wilkes has put a motion to the ful council of the county council calling for government to scrap the Barnett formula and replace it with a more equitable funding process.

The formula currently provides residents in Scotland with hundreds of pounds more investment than those in the North East.

Mark commented “The barnett Formula is wrong and it can’t be justified by any rational human being.”

Labour and Conservative councillors voted down the motion, despite it having the potential to bring in much needed funding to the North East.

Mark commented afterwards “It is clear that Labour with Tory conivance in County Durham are just not interested in getting the fiar share that County Durham residents deserve.

There will be a police and communities pact meeting at Framwellgate Moor Community Centre at 11am on 28th March. All residents welcome, to put across their views to police and council wardens about the priorities for the area.

Councillor Mark Wilkes is seeking support from residents for a 6 car parking bay on Findon Avuene in Witton Gilbert.

“We are aware of the serious parking problems on this road, and the risks to safety for pedestrians and car users alike. I hope that once i am sure no residents have any issue with this scheme we can press amead with it.”

If anyone has comments, email mark at mark.wilkes@durham.gov.uk

Lib Dem county councillors  Mark Wilkes and Rev Crooks have applauded passing of planning permission for 21 new council houses in Bearpark. The homes, part of government funding for the first council houses to be built for many years are to be built on land which was formerly part of the Bearpark Colliery site. They will be built by DVRC and then transferred to Durham City Homes.

Councillor Wilkes commented : 

“We have held long negotiations with council officers for many months now to ensure that as many of the proposed new homes as possible are built in Bearpark. Originally we were only going to get eight houses in the division and even that wasn’t secure. I am delighted at the outcome.  These will be high quality, efficient, two and three bedroom family homes with gardens – just what we need.”

“We have long waiting lists in Bearpark for housing and we are pushing for a local lettings policy to ensure Bearpark residents are offered these homes.”

Fellow Councillor Rev Crooks added “ Mark and I have put a lot of work in to ensure that these homes are built in Bearpark.  Bearpark residents have been crying out for homes and I am always being contacted about waiting lists.  

“We are really impressed that negotiations with the council have resulted in a new playing field being added as a condition to the planning application. We are also working on a play area for toddlers. After decades of neglect, I am proud that my village is finally being improved.“

The council house building program was kick started late last year by the government with County Durham receiving funding for 28 council houses and is the first time that true council housing will be built in the County for many decades.  The scheme will provide 13 two bed and 8 three bedroom homes which will be built to the high level 4 efficiency criteria. This will include solar panels, cutting fuel bills for residents. 

Mr Wilkes went on to say “ I have been really impressed by the hard work and dedication of all officers in the housing and planning departments at County Hall who have worked flat out to get this new housing arranged so quickly. The additional improvements to the site with extra trees and landscaping and protection for neighbouring homes all adds up to a great development.

“I only wish it hadn’t taken 13 years and a potential general election defeat for Labour to realise that this is such an important priority. The changes to regulations so that councils can build new council homes is a policy which the Lib Dems have been pushing for many years now.

“It is clear to me that successive Labour and Conservative governments have failed to recognise the importance of providing affordable council and social homes.”

Work will start immediately in two phases with the first phase of 11 homes expected to be complete by the end of the summer.

Councillor Crooks added “In the last two years we have secured the building of council and social housing in Framwellgate Moor, Witton Gilbert and Bearpark, proving that hard work really does pay off.  We will continue to work hard to bring down housing waiting lists in our area.“

A County Councillor has unearthed information suggesting the cost of putting together a contract for street lighting in Durham and Stockton could be enormous and has been covered up.

Councillor Mark Wilkes, who is also Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Bishop Auckland has discovered that the Council estimated a cost of £4.7m for wages and consultants to set up a Public Finance Initiative. This could include as many as 6080 officer work days costing £2,925,274 and 1208 consultant days at a cost of £1481 per day (£1,790,198).

Mr Wilkes commented “This could be a disaster for taxpayers in County Durham. The Lib Dems are fully behind improving our street lighting but this contract could saddle County Durham with hundreds of millions of pounds of debt and push up council tax even further.”

The proposal suggests replacing the majority of streetlights in County Durham over a five year period. Estimates in the document sent to Dept of Transport suggest that changing streetlights would save £219.4m in accidents and £37.9m in crime, yet the report going to Cabinet next week contains none of this information or the information to back it up, indeed Mr Wilkes believes that an original document intended for Cabinet appears to have been changed, removing much of this information.

“For Labour to suggest savings on this scale without backing them up is irresponsible. To not involve elected councillors is a disgrace. We might be up to our ears in debt nationally because of Labour but I refuse to accept this happening in County Durham.

“We could find the Council doesn’t have the money in future for a vast range of services including improving road safety or crime reduction because of a document hardly anyone has seen.”

Mr Wilkes who says that he has been refused permission to see the whole document was even more surprised at who else hadn’t read it:

“I was shocked to be told by the Portfolio Holder for Finance that he hadn’t even read the Expression of Interest document sent to the Dept of Transport. You would expect senior politicians to have more input in a £125m contract.”

It was recently announced that Harrow Council in London has shelved plans to commit to a similar initiative citing it as being irresponsible in the current economic environment.

Mr Wilkes further added: “If this gets passed through Cabinet I will be asking for it to be referred to Scrutiny so that some serious questions can be asked and answered at this early stage. Like for example how on Earth it can cost £4.7m just find out whether we should go ahead with this.”

“I do wonder if this Labour Cabinet has a clue what it and its council is doing in the name of the people of County Durham. Residents can be assured that the Lib Dems are doing everything we can to bring Labour to account.“

Each April councillors receive an amount of £2000 which they can use on small schemes throughout their area. A maximum of £500 can be spent on any one particular group or project. Typically amounts ranging from £50 upwards can be given.

If you have a community group or project which you would like to be considered please feel free to get in touch and I will consider your request. Please get in touch as early as possible as there are a large number of groups applying for funding.

The long awaited parking schemes for Durham Moor area are now in the final stage of consultation. The legal notices have been displayed around the area.

In most cases, the wishes of the majority of residents on each street have been fully taken into account.

If anyone has any comments please feel free to get in touch. All residents in the affected areas should receive notification by post of the proposals.

Priorities for Newton Hall. Some priorities for Newton hall also apply to Pity Me

The current priorities for your neighbourhood are:

• Patrol area around the Newton Hall Community Centre and Abbey Sports Centre checking for Anti Social Behaviour and also the surrounding area around Bolton Close, Newton Hall Estate.

These are the policing priorities that local people have agreed with your policing team. You can have some influence on future policing priorities by attending your next PACT meeting.

Upcoming meetings:

28th March 2010
Newton Hall PACT Meeting

25th April 2010
Newton Hall PACT Meeting

23rd May 2010
Newton Hall PACT Meeting

20th June 2010
Newton Hall PACT Meeting