Hedgerow Planting Plans

We are currently looking at planting some hedgerows in various areas for a number of reasons. The areas we have looked at include Rotary Way in Pity Me and Finchale Road in Framwellgate Moor.

We would appreciate your comments on these proposals and any other areas you feel would benefit from hedging.

Areas being looked at

1. Rotary Way (Arnison Centre bypass), Pity Me – Two areas, one on the left as you travel from the A167 roundabout, the second on the right to fill in the gap near the Mc Donalds carpark

2. A small area near the Arnison underpass.

3. Extend the hedge running from Bek Road traffic lights up Finchale Road on the left hand side.

4. Possibly plant behind the metal fence farther up Finchale Road on the school side opposite Caterhouse entrance with a view to removing the old metal fencing.

5. We are also looking at whether hedging could be moved, improved or removed on the path behind Hudspeth, to make the area less likely to get overgrown

The reasons for the planting program include:

Helping to fill in gaps in existing hedging

Protecting areas from illegal camping and parking

Helping to cut noise and air pollution from traffic

Creating proper screening on the edge of the built up area

Reinstating areas which used to have hedges

Promoting wildlife and making the area look better

 

Framwellgate Moor Post Office – Consultation on Move

A proposal is being consulted on to move Framwellgate Moor Post Office into the Nisa at the other end of Front Street. This is from the Post Office nationally and is not from the Council. However as your local councillors we are keen to make sure that the views of residents are listened to. Also the proposals do have some knock on effects which could become council issues.

Where to comment

I have yet to be contacted by anyone with views either way on this issue and would appreciate any comments from residents. You can find out more about this proposal at www.postofficeviews.co.uk by entering the branch code 17331399.

Newton Hall Post Office

My initial thoughts are that with the Newton Hall Post Office consultation not yet finalised, it is possible that we could lose services which are currently available at both these branches and be left with a seriously diminished service for the area.

The Pedestrian Crossing

Also, there is no pedestrian crossing at the Nisa end of Front Street, unlike near the existing post office. I have been asked in the past for a crossing farther up the front street, and cost and space have been an issue. However if the post office moves, then the case becomes even more overwhelming for a solution, which is why I have contacted council officers in relation to this particular issue in advance of public comments.

Service Losses

Some of the services which would be lost by the changes include parcel force worldwide, transcash, on demand travel insurance, premium bonds and payment by cheque. However, given that the Newton Hall consultation failed to full explain the losses of service, can we be sure that what we are being told this time is correct?

Will the capacity of the proposed newly located store be sufficient or, like the proposals in Newton Hall, will we find a huge queue, and will people be forced to go elsewhere including into town, particularly if Newton Hall is downgraded as well.

I have once again contacted senior post office management to ask to discuss yet another change for which we have only a few weeks to offer our concerns or support.

The consultation runs until 6th November, and the current proposed month of change is January/Feb 2015, so not too far off.

CRACKING DOWN ON IRRESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERS

Your local councillors have started a campaign to crack down on dog fouling . We have started the campaign in the Pity Me area with wardens out patrolling, but it is local residents who can help us the most.

The Carrs Nature Reserve, the path from Pity Me to New college and various estate roads will be targetted. But if there is anywhere in Brasside, Framwellgate Moor, Newton Hall or Pity Me where you spot a problem let us know.

Wardens will give £80 on the spot fines. It taken to court, this fine could rise to £1000.

If you have details of when someone is allowing their dog to foul and not cleaning it up, please contact the council on 03000 261 000. The more details you can provide, the more chance we have to stop this.The name of the offender, their address, when they walk the dog, the type of dog and any other relevant information will greatly increase our chances of stamping out the fouling so residents aren’t standing in it.

Dog waste is dangerous. It can cause blindness and other serious illnesses. Please help us to crack down on it.

Household Waste Recycling opening hours

NEW winter opening times for County Durham’s household waste recycling centres will come into effect next week.

Revised opening hours for sites operated by Durham County Council will begin on October 1st and stay in force until the end of March.

The Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Potterhouse Lane in Pity Me will be open seven days a week from 9am until 3.30pm.

The centre will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Protecting the environment in our area – Your views

Over the last few years as your local Lib Dem councillors we have done a great deal to help protect the environment and help promote a sustainable future. This has included:

  • Funding for solar panels on the Parish pavilion.
  • Planting of trees and plants in various areas, and most recently a wildflower meadow between Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall.
  • Fighting to improve bus services and promoting sustainable transport.
  • Securing funding for energy efficiency improvements to community buildings including Framwellgate Moor Community Centre, Durham Indoor Bowling Club.
  • Fighting to make sure the Council becomes more environmentally friendly and saves money through installing millions of pounds of energy saving measures across the County which are now saving hundreds of thousands of pounds each year in energy bills and cutting CO2.
  • Stood up for residents in trying to protect our Greenbelt from Labour’s building plans.
  • Funding to improve The Carrs nature reserve in Pity Me.
  • Secured £300,000 of flood prevention works and helped with other flood issues in the area.
  • Pushed to make sure that planning applications for housing and community buildings include the highest sustainable standards.
  • Provided details through our leaflets to residents about ways to cut your water usage and energy bills, and to promote energy efficiency schemes.
  • Challenged plans to charge for garden waste collections and promoted home composting.
  • Actively assisted in arranging and joining in litter picking to help tidy the area and reduce the impact of rubbish on wildlife.
  • Pushed to secure cycle and footpath improvements across the County to promote sustainable travel.

These are just the ones I can think of of the top of my head. We are always keen to hear about other proposals from residents about ways we can do our bit to protect and improve the environment, including measures which save money.

Please let us know about any ideas you think could help our area.

Dryburn Road Works Start

The repair works to Dryburn Road which we pushed for have started. The whole stretch is to be resurfaced, and there will be some traffic problems for the next few weeks whilst the work is done, but after it’s finished the patchwork quilt of filled in potholes will be gone. Funding for this has come from the Coalition government. We have been pushing the council to repair this road for quite some time. Great result.

BEECH ROAD RESTRICTED PARKING COMES IN

Restricted parking in front of the Beech Road shops has now been implemented. We wanted to make sure that visitors to the shops had somewhere to park. Mamie, Amanda and I have used local funding to make these changes. By having three hour parking, it reduces the risk of people parking here and going off to Durham or the Hospital all day. Hopefully it will now mean the businesses here will be boosted and customers have somewhere to park.

We are monitoring it for the next six months to see the overall effect.

COUNCIL SICKNESS ABSENCE AND LACK OF APPRAISALS SHOCKING

As well as the reserves issue, we again thrashed out concerns about sickness absence levels today.

Sickness absence is running at nearly 12 days a year per employee (that’s on average). Over the last twelve months the council has lost over 93,000 employee work days to sickness.

What is just as striking is that more than thirty percent of staff did not have an appraisal in the last twelve months. How on earth can an organisation run properly when nearly a third of its staff haven’t even had an annual meeting with their boss to discuss their past twelve months performance.

Labour-run Durham County Council is failing its staff. Your Lib Dem councillors have been going on about sickness absence and staff appraisals for years and years. (more…)

Challenging the Council on Reserves

At Corporate Issues committee today I challenged officers on reserves. (The Council have 50 pots of money). Some allocated to nothing, others apparently allocated for future needs). We were told that the Council is/wants to use £75m of reserves between 2011-2017.

So for example if reserves were £100m you would expect to have £25m left wouldn’t you?

That is what officers and the Labour Party want the public to think. The reality is though that they are saying they will use £75m but not telling us how much they are putting into reserves. They add money in and then take it back out but:

If you add £100m to reserves but only take out £75m then you have more left than before. You can’t then say in a public meeting that you have used a lot of reserves because quite clearly you have actually added to reserves. (more…)

County Plan update

Full Council 17th September 2014

Today, a report goes to full council to approve the addition of 86 comments into the County Plan submission which were “overlooked” previously. As most people know, most public comments have been ignored throughout this process, but the report makes for interesting reading as it is clear that if you are a developer, your comments are taken very seriously. So the Developers Charter that is the County Plan marches on.

Interesting reading for those who have been following the County Plan. The report says at one point that any requests for greenbelt land to be erased are being passed to the examiner. We can only hope that those views against destroying the countryside are also equally considered.

http://democracy.durham.gov.uk/documents/s44008/County%20Durham%20Plan%20Feedback%20Supplement.pdf