Article 4 – Student and HMO housing – Lib Dem success for our area

The council has completed its consultation on introducing new rules in the City on student/HMO housing. The aim of this is to protect areas from having too many houses of multiple occupation, to avoid the negative consequences. When we found out about this last year, we immediately asked for our area to be included as it had been ignored. An initial consultation was arranged by your Lib Dem councillors.

The council has now accepted that  the area should be considered for inclusion, and a final round of consultation will start soon, along with a couple of drop in events in our area which we have requested.

Our previous post on this can be found here:

http://markwilkes.mycouncillor.org.uk/2015/09/29/article-4-direction-framwellgate-moor-area/

Please do join in the consultation and help us ensure that our area retains a mixed community without any further increase in the problems which HMOs can cause in the wrong places. as soon as it is active we will post a link here and give details of the event dates.

 

Regular reporting of littering

It might not get noticed but barely a week goes by without one of us reporting areas which need litter clearance. Some gets done by local residents or ourselves, but more often than not, it is the Council’s clean and green team we have to call upon. BY being proactive we are making sure the area stays as clean and tidy as possible.

This week we have asked for action on Dryburn Way, Along the A167 from Pity Me to Sniperley, and around the Arnison Centre, where I have also contacted the site owners and Sainsbury’s about the inside of the site which is looking pretty rough around the edges with rubbish.

That’s the easy bit – checking and chasing up when it isn’t done is the time consuming part. So we rely on residents to let us know where there are hot spots which need sorting. Please do let us know of any parts of our area which are littered. The quicker we get on top of it the less litter materialises.

BT Broadband box still empty after 8 months

After finally running out of patience with BT Openreach and the Council we are now trying the press route to try and get some action to bring proper broadband to the area. Parts of Rosemount in Pity Me and Finchale Abbey Village have less than 1mb broadband.

A box I managed to get BT Openreach to install for Rosemount remains empty after 8 months of being installed and BT have failed in their promise that residents would have broadband by last summer. The story is on the front of today’s Durham Times, as well as in the Northern Echo.

A very senior BT Openreach manager told me last week that the reason the broadband was not installed was because they had to use all their resources to complete the Digital Durham program for the Council and that as a result their commercial program was further delayed.

A less senior employee told the Council and press that it was because of the cost of getting an electricity supply to the site, despite it being on the main road where there must be some supply available. I strongly believe that the Council could do more and also think that the government should intervene to make sure that all areas which have poor broadband should be treated equally.

We are trying to arrange a meeting with the Council head of service and the BT regional manager to try and get this concluded.

In addition we continue to fight to get improvements for Finchael Abbey Village where broadband speeds are even slower and residents ahve been told they should get Satellite broadband – which costs an arm and a leg.

Hopefully we can get both of these issues sooner rather than later for residents, despite the fact that actually it is not an issue for which councillors are responsible.

Northern Echo Story:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14272227.Super_fast__Eight_months_after_broadband_unit_is_installed__all_Durham_residents_have_is_an_empty_box/

 

 

Street lighting column crashes to earth – Please check yours!

A rotten streetlighting column crashed to earth across two driveways in Framwellgate Moor earlier this week.

streelight down holmlands

The column on Holmlands Crescent came down in the middle of the day and it could have been a disaster if someone had been stood there at the time, or driving off their driveway or if it had fallen into the road. Thankfully no one was hurt and residents were quick to report it and the council promptly removed it.

I have been asking the council to improve the state of the footpath at this location for many years, including again in July and September last year as reported on this blog. Whilst the column failed because it was completely rusted, the pavement is in such a poor state that it may have contributed to water sitting and rotting the column, and the lack of any firm pavement to hold it up can’t have helped.

I took a look on google maps, and there is rust visible around the base of the column on pics in 2009, 2014 and 2015.

Needless to say I have put a list of questions to council officers at the highest level today including about maintenance schedules, the state of this particular path and who is supposed to have been checking columns . (Which I will report back on ).

Years ago both before and after budget cuts started Lib Dem councillors complained about cuts to street lighting painting, maintenance and testing budgets by our Labour-run council.

Can I urge all residents to take a look at the street lighting column outside their house and if there is corrosion around the base to report it and let us know so we can make sure it is checked out.

Reporting wind blown rubbish

Following requests from residents we have asked for various sites to be cleaned up including Kira Drive and Rylands Way. I am also speaking with Sainsburys about items blowing off their petrol station forecourt and repeating calls for action on Porterhouse Lane. We have also asked for Framwellgate School Durham to the action to tidy up their boundary fencing where a lot of litter has blown. If there is an area with a build up of litter please let us know so we can arrange either a community or a council litter pick

South Terrace – Utter Council Failure

Ok, so after years of trying to get the council to deal with the problems on South Terrace, i have had enough.

Student properties have been built (doubling the population on the street) with no proper planning permission yet they have been occupied for years. The container in the photo has been there donkeys years in full view of neighbouring properties, which the council despite repeated requests has failed to get shifted – there should actually be a turning point and a bin storage area was requested.

The road surface has not been fully upgraded despite it being a planning condition and it is now dangerous near the entrance to Front Street.

The result of this inappropriate over-development and failure to act by the planning department is the worst kind of deteriorating conditions for the residents living here.

If I were to check back I expect I would find 100+ times when I have had to contact officers from one department or another over problems on this street.

Issues on this street have even been raised as high as the chief exec and leader. An internal audit report was even carried out at my request over elements of the problems. Yet still the problems persist.

Every few months there are overflowing bins or fly-tipping or some other problem and still the entrance road deteriorates.

Here are some photos from today. This is what happens when Durham’s planning department does not get to grips with a situation. It causes further continued problems.

Other council departments have to pick up the pieces at cost to the taxpayer and local residents to have to live in appalling conditions. It is an unacceptable failure by Durham County Council. at the highest level.

southterrace-1 southterrace-2 southterrace-3

 

 

Community Orchard Planted – Lib Dem councillors get hands on in snow and rain

orchard-closeup

Mamie, Amanda and I have helped to plant a new orchard between Newton Hall and Framwellgate Moor. This first local community orchard has fifty fruit trees will provide a wonderful display of blossom in the spring. It will also benefit wildlife throughout the year and provide fruit for local residents to pick in the autumn.

We came up with the idea after securing a big discount on the fruit trees from the local Pity Me Nurseries on the A167. Local residents including allotment holders helped us plant the orchard on a cold, rainy Friday last week.

It was freezing out there but the digging, carrying, wheel-barrowing and hammering soon warmed us up. The new orchard looks great and I am certain it will be a great community asset long into the future.

Pic of some of the residents who helped:

orchard-closeup-groupThe Council agreed to allow the land to be used for the orchard and provided stakes and straps to keep the new trees secure. The £300 funding for the 50 tree orchard came from left over local funding. The Council also provided waste chippings to spread around the trees to protect them and remove the need for weeding.

Comment from Amanda Hopgood: “A big thank you to all those residents who helped with the planting, especially the allotment holders who also provided spades and wheelbarrows. To get all that work done in just a couple of hours was fantastic.”

We are looking at other areas where orchards and trees could also be planted and would like to see more action across County Durham to promote home grown fruit and veg as well as more tree planting to help cut flood risk.

Comment from Mamie Simmons: “We want to promote locally grown food and recommend everyone tries to grow something in their garden, patio or home. It’s good for the environment and helps to promote healthy eating too.”

We also helped provide fruit trees at some of the local schools in the area and after securing the plants from the Woodland Trust we recently planted 400 hedgerow trees with the help of local school children.

Dryburn Hill Footpath works commenced

Work to replace flagstone footpaths on part of this estate have started. I have been pushing for this for a very very long time. An improved pavement at the entrance will also be installed for safety reasons following resident requests.

It’s great that after so long asking we can see part of the estate getting improvements. We did hope that more work would be done and offered some local funding to match it but the council has scrapped its policy of working with councillors to match fund highways projects. Something we would like to see changed so that more money can be allocated to such works.

 

LABOUR BLOCK VOTE ON DLI MUSEUM AND TEACHING ASSISTANTS AND TALK ABOUT SPROUTS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

If it wasn’t the Labour Party in County Durham you couldn’t have made it up. I am thoroughly disgusted.

The two highest profile issues coming into my message message box over the past few weeks have been the imminent closure of the Durham Light Infantry Museum in Durham City and changes to the pay and working arrangements of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in County Schools.

At Full Council this morning there were motions on both these issues put down. One on the DLI by me, and another by Cllr owen Temple on teaching assistants. We were asking for further discussion and consultation on them. Also on the agenda was a motion put down by a Labour councillor attacking the proposed Tory government changes to trades union legislation (this was a standard motion created by the TUC that has been put down by Labour councillors in many councils across the country).

Unfortunately for the DLI and the TAs, the Labour motion was submitted first and so was debated first.

Here comes the problem. Some years ago, Labour forced through a provision in the council constitution (against opposition wishes) to limit debate on motions to a total of 30 minutes at council meetings. That’s 30 minutes total, not 30 minutes for each motion!

The constitution also allows for councillors to agree to extend the 30 minute period. So we did that and, with a vote recording the names of everyone and how they voted, Labour refused to extend the debating time.

So the TU debate started, and after w while we tried to move the debate to a vote. Again Labour voted this down and Labour Councillors queued up to filibuster the 30 minutes away, after which that debate was curtailed and voted on, with the TA and DLI motions timed out. There is a chance that these could be discussed at the next meeting, however timing may mess this up, certainly for Teaching Assistants perhaps for the DLI but I will resubmit.

So where do sprouts come in? As part of the timing out, Labour councillor Patrick Conway (Belmont division) told a tale of how his mother had worked in his native Lincolnshire picking brussels sprouts in darkest December. I doubt that TAs and DLI supporters would feel this was as important as their jobs or the future of the DLI museum.

This was a shameful day for Labour, so when you come to vote next time, you know what to do.

My previous post can be seen here: http://markwilkes.mycouncillor.org.uk/2015/12/01/call-to-delay-dli-closure/

For the record, here is the list of Labour councillors and one independent (ex Labour) who refused to extend time and allow debate:

Adam Eddy
Armstrong Joe
Avery Brian
Batey Alison
Bell David
Bell Eddie
Bell Jennifer
Bennett Harry
Blakey Jan
Bleasdale Geraldine
Bonner Anne
Brookes Peter
Brown Jane
Carr Colin
Carr Joanne
Chaplow Jean
Clare John
Clark June
Conway Patrick
Cordon Jim
Crathorne Pauline
Crute Rob
Davidson Keith
Davinson Mark
Dearden Katherine
Dixon Mike
Forster Sonia
Foster Neil
Geldard Ian
Glass Bob
Graham Barbara
Gray Joan
Gunn Olwyn
Hampson Carole
Hart John
Henig Katherine
Henig Simon
Hillary Jed
Hodgson Michele
Hopper Kate
Hovvels Lucy
Huntington Eunice
Iveson Sarah
Jewell Ivan
Johnson Ossie
Kellett Bill
Laing Audrey
Lawton Pat
Lee June
Lethbridge John
Liddle Heather
Lindsay John
Liversidge Alan
Lumsdon Rachel
Maitland Joyce
Marshall Carl
Marshall Linda
Measor Janice
Milburn Olga
Moir Bill
Morrison Sue
Napier Alan
Nearney Thomas
Nicholson Henry
Patterson Andrea
Pemberton Trish
Plews Maria
Potts Christine
Pounder Lynn
Shaw Kevin
Smith Heather
Smith Tracie
Stephens Brian
Stradling Paul
Surtees Angela
Taylor Leo
Tinsley Fraser
Tomlinson Eddie
Turnbull John
Turner Andy
Williams Mac
Wilson Christine