Our Council Clean and Green team has been doing a sterling job throughout the lockdown and all credit to them.

There are a number of small areas of land which are normally cut which for a number of possible reasons may be being missed. If there is a piece of grassed area on your street which is normally cut by the council and hasn’t been cut in recent weeks please let us know.

Some small areas have been cut by residents in the past but due to self-isolation those residents haven’t been out to do this but there are other parts that the Council may have missed and we need to identify these and sort it out.

The County Council is consulting on how we can improve our streets for pedestrians and cyclists.

We have already submitted requests for example for urgent improvements on Framwellgate Moor Front Street where we have been pushing for a new crossing point for some time. and have already held meetings with officers, but we need everyone to comment too.

We are also submitting (resubmitting in many cases) proposals for all other parts of our area. Including but not exclusive to:

• Safer access to Brasside under the railway bridge
• Reducing speed limits across the area to 20mph wherever possible
• More bollards or other measures to stop parking on Framwellgate Moor Front Street
• Improving safety to cross at the Salutation, particularly towards Durham
• Footpath widening across the area and improving unofficial footpath links like gravel and grassed routes through Newton Hall
• Improvements to cycle and footpath routes around the area and particularly between Newton Hall/Framwellgate Moor and Aykley Heads
• Improving the path through the underpass from Bridgemere Drive under the A167 in Pity Me
• Improving uneven flagstone paths across the area such as the link through the middle of York Crescent and paths along Bek Road
• Making Finchale Rd safer and getting bus pull ins or a bus/cycle lane to keep traffic flowing including for cyclists
• Cutting back overgrown paths
• Improving paths at nature reserves
• Reduced other speed limits in numerous locations including near Finchale training college and Rotary Way where a safe crossing point is needed for Hagg House

We are looking across the area and will add even more suggestions, please do the same.

Please join in the consultation and mark up all the areas where you think something needs to be fixed or improved and we will be chasing all of these suggestions up along with our own.

Link to the consultation

https://streetspacecountydurham.commonplace.is

The state of the riverbanks at Finchale Abbey and the overflowing bins as been a problem for a few weeks. I am confident we are getting on top of it.

Clean and green and rangers teams have been down today, and volunteers have also been helping to clean up.

Some of the people visiting the site quite clearly have had no respect for this wonderful beauty spot and should be utterly ashamed of themselves!

Leaving huge amounts of rubbish all over the place ruins it for everyone else, and a fair amount ends up in the river too polluting it and heading off to other areas and the sea.

So a huge thank you to everyone who has helped to clean all this up after we raised the concerns.

Before and after at one site:

Arriva have temporarily changed their bus services to the Arnison Centre and today are stopping outside Lidl/KFC instead. But they haven’t put a note on the bus stop insite the site. Other services are running thru the site at the moment.

We had lengthy discussions last week and earlier this week to try and get a proper queuing system in place for the expected McD rush.

So far its hit and miss when I went at 11am the site was a bit blocked, but this cleared quickly. They are operating a stacking system at Marks and Spencer end and have a number of officers on site.

I guess only time will tell if the system works. We are keeping an eye on it over the coming days. Including the litter situation.

Fancy a burger but not an hour long queue in the car?

Coop, M&S, Sainsburys and Lidl in our area all sell burgers and buns – and I expect they are all cheaper than Mc D’s!!!!

The tennis court is reopening at King George’s Field in Framwellgate Moor from Monday 25th May. From 9am-3pm. Email framwellgatemoorparishcouncil@yahoo.co.uk to arrange a booking.

The carpark, toilet and changing facilities will remain closed. The play area will also remain closed until further notice.

Updates at framwellgatemoorparishcouncil.co.uk

The Council has confirmed that the household waste sites will reopen this coming Monday.

It is likely that there will be long queues, so it might be worth waiting a few days before going along.

The Pity Me site will be open from 9am-6pm. Biggest queues are likely from 9am-11am so perhaps try the afternoon.

Durham County Council has decided to cut the maximum financial assistance in a key scheme for homeless and vulnerable people from £1000 to £500. So far the government has provided £33 million extra to the council to help in the current crisis, so surely this help shouldn’t have been cut?

Durham County Council’s Welfare Assistance Scheme helps people in urgent need of rehousing. It assists with their moving and set up costs. The program can also help make sure someone does not end up having to move into a care home.

I discovered the change hidden in a “delegated report”. The Council should reverse the change immediately but the lead councillor for this department is refusing to do so. I emailed all other 125 county councillors asking for their support, but only Lib Dem councillors have responded positively.

I am struggling to believe that in the current crisis the Council would even contemplate such a change. It’s plain wrong.

These are the most vulnerable people of all in our society and the Council are cutting help in half. It would be an unacceptable policy in normal times. Right now it beggars belief.

Delegated decisions are made by the Council in consultation with the appropriate Labour Cabinet member at the Council, without any prior consultation with back bench councillors.

How can a policy can be passed, and up and running weeks before councillors even find out about it?

The decision was listed amongst a dozen other reports like road closures, but it was implemented weeks ago on the 1st April.”

Such an ill-timed, undemocratic and frankly wholly unreasonable policy change by this Labour-run council should not have happened at all: Never mind be hidden away like this.

Up to 800 people apply for assistance through the scheme in any twelve month period.

The lack of morality in this decision floors me.

This change should be scrapped right now. Please spread the word, perhaps getting this message out on social media will make Labour think again about cutting this help

The Council has issued some advice on how to make sure you are not a victim of scammers. This could be on the doorstep, over the phone, by email or social media – in effect any way in which someone can contact you.

Please make sure your elderly relatives are also aware of this:

https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/23249/Advice-on-guarding-against-coronavirus-scams

Earlier this week and last week we had discussions with senior officers at the council and raised concerns about a number of problems our care and nursing homes face.

The Council was following national guidance and insisting that for homes to access a new financial package they would have to guarantee to accept Covid cases. Something we did not feel was sensible and which many care homes felt would put residents at higher risk.

This policy has now been scrapped.

The government has provided significant funding to the Council towards Covid costs. The Council proposed to increase funding to care homes a few weeks ago by 10% for those residents paid for by the Council. This was in addition to the inflationary increase.

We felt that care homes should ALSO receive this uplift in funding for residents who are funding themselves as contracts were already in place and extra costs for homes was significant.

This was not council policy but I am delighted that the Council has listened to the concerns raised by care and nursing homes and ourselves and is now providing this additional funding which will make a significant difference.

Thank you for listening DCC.

We have been asking when this might happen and I pleased to be able to report that it will restart for us very soon. Most of us have a Tuesday pick up day in our area.

This will change to Saturdays for most of us, with the first pick up being 9th May for most of us. You will get a letter detailing this shortly. One little bit of good news and an excuse to do some more gardening – assuming your bin isn’t already full!