The roundabout looks far better now that it has been resurfaced. We had asked for action and I am very pleased that this work has been done.
There is still an outstanding sunken drain cover which I have pointed out to officers who are checking it out to see if it can be replaced.
A resident has also commented about keep clear markings perhaps not being in the right place and officers are also checking this out.
We have worked with a local supplier, RE consultants in Newton Hall and secured a big discount for our loc
al community centres to get solar panels installed.
Framwellgate Moor Community Centre, Newton Hall Community Centre and All Saint’s Church have had panels installed at a big discount.
The hard working volunteers at all the centres supported the project and it will help to significantly reduce running costs for the Centres for years to come.
If you need assistance from the council call 03000 261000
If you don’t get a response or want councillor help please do call us.
There is extensive flooding across the County and the River Wear has burst its banks in Durham City. Weather warnings can be found at www.metoffice.gov.uk
Check your drains to make sure they are free of leaves. If there are any blocked drains on the road outside your house and it looks like there is a chance of water getting into your property call the council number.
The work at Aykley Heads on resurfacing and repairing gullies is underway. I asked for action at th is location a number of times in the last year or so, so good to see that that work is being done. Hopefully it isn’t causing too much inconvenience and should be finished off soon.
A long time ago I asked the council to sort out a path on Newton Drive in Framwellgate Moor. It didn’t get done. This week I sent a photo pointing out it really needed some work doing.
The response was that it was not unsafe and work would’t be done but perhaps would be next year. I didn’t think that was the right answer and so questioned it again by email and then had a conversation with a head of service to double check. I got the same response.
At this point I thought I better run it past the Director of Neighbourhood Services, where common sense prevailed. I wasn’t going to post this but they have done such a good job it deserves comment. As you can see, although there are a few repairs to do now, it is looking a bit better – and honestly this is the same path. Job well done by council workers today. And thank you to the Director too.
Before and after
You may have read my post last week about our Labour-run council’s plan to cut school transport provision:
At Children’s Scrutiny today I challenged this. Pointing out:
– the same department seeking to make the cuts has just announced it has saved 10 times as much so far this year as the cuts required to school transport – £7.6m
– the same department has £9.4m in a cash limit reserve allocated to nothing.
– the council has over estimated inflation this year as 15 times its current rate.
– the council has over estimated the cost of its debt to the tune of millions of pounds.
– the council has placed £20m in a planned delivery reserve to stop cuts such as this.
– the council has £6m more in its insurance reserve than it needs
– the council has six communications departments. If they were merged it would save upto £1.5m a year
– the council has more directors than it needs and could save hundreds of thousands of pounds by just reducing by one.
– the council said it would cut mileage allowances for staff and councillros by 3p from 48p a mile to 45p a mile which would have saved £240,000 it has now stopped this.
In total the council has £80m to play with and loads of ways to find the money it needs so that it does not need to make this harsh cut.
The response from one Labour councillor was that if anyone had sensible ideas they would be listened to but when i sugested the committee could recommend any of these things, I was simply told it was a consultation and my views would be passed across. Some scrutiny that is. The committee could have collectively opposed this madness.
And one Labour county councillor actually said that we should manage these things better to make sure there wasn’t as much bad publicity. The only people creating bad publicity are the Labour-run Cabinet on Durham County Council for acting like a bunch of far-right, slash and burn Tories.
A few 
months back we called for the path at the corner of Newton Drive and Aykley Road to be fixed.
It was pretty bad. Thankfully Lib Dem pressure has paid off and it is now safe to walk on. Before and after below.
Attempts by the Council to hike some prices at Abbey Leisure Centre have been thwarted by your Lib Dem councillors.
After finding out that Table Tennis prices would rocket by almost 100%, we have secured an over 60’s concession to keep the price down.
A plan to hike soft play for infants by 66% have been scrapped completely after we challenged this with the Head of Service and Director.
And the two broken treadmills, one out of action for several months have been replaced/repaired after our intervention. Hopefully we will not see any more daft decisions on pricing or delays in repairs but please let us know if you do spot problems.
On a brighter note there is now a new tariff which also allows you to go swimming at Freeman’s Quay for just a pound a session if you sign up at Abbey!
We have had three walkabouts on Framwellgate Moor Front St in the last week or so. Today I was out very early to discuss cleaning up the front street and terraced areas with one of our council officers.
The area is covered in weeds and I believe the council contractor has not been doing the job it should with weedkilling. The area is now being resprayed.
Next week the small cleaning machines should be out to clear up all the cig butts and other bits from the parking bays and pavements and in the coming weeks the side streets will be tackled too.
I have also asked that we look at replacing those bins without Cigarette ashtrays on the top of them or retrofitting. When new bigger bins were installed a year or so ago, they didn’t include ashtrays and now we have a horrendous problem with cig butts.
We have also reported various items of flytipping and rubbish and it has either already been cleaned up or shop owners have been asked to tidy up. Some of the takeaways really do need some harsh words!
A number of properties are also in an unacceptable state and we have notified various council departments about different issues of empty properties, burnt rubbish in gardens, flytipping and general untidiness.
We have asked that in some areas, the large number of bins are replaced with larger bins. I noticed on Victoria court that we have about 12 recycling bins which looks ridiculous, whereas there are four very large general waste bins which keep things far more tidy. There are similar issues on Tindale Avenue, and on South Terrace where we have partially addressed the problem.
More is planned… watch this space, but if in a few weeks time and going forward there is any flytipping, rubbish or other problems in this area please let us know. Only by us all being proactive can we clean up there area. Many residents don’t report things and the Council isn’t as proactive as we would like it to be. So if there is still rubbish around in a few weeks take a photo of any problems and email them to us.
The Council is consulting on implementing an order to restrict the percentage of houses on any particular street which can be converted to houses of multiple occupation (HMO). This does not include Framwellgate Moor or Pity Me, but does cover most of the wider Durham City area.
In the City and surrounding areas many streets have such high levels of student occupancy that it impacts upon the sustainability of the area. HMO’s can also be non-student houses with more people living there than the property can sustain. Under Council plans, conversion to an HMO would require planning permission when the number of HMO houses on a street exceeds 10%.
We asked for Framwellgate Moor & Pity Me to be included in the boundaries proposed for the Order, but the Council has not done this. Parts of Framwellgate Moor have very high percentages of HMO properties. This can cause problems due to lack of space for bins, insufficient parking, over-development, empty properties and in some cases, rogue landlords leaving properties in a poor condition or allowing overcrowding.
For this reason we are asking that you respond to this consultation. We are putting forward a proposal for the whole area to be included in the Order. In case this is not approved we are also asking that at the very least the Terraces in Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me are included.
This would not halt all conversions to multi-occupancy homes. However it would allow the Council to restrict such changes via the planning system where it was felt the balance had gone too far.
We already have problems on some streets. Our biggest concern is that if the rest of the City is included in the restrictions, developers will seek to concentrate future HMO development in our area – with no ability to stop it. This will lead to an increase in the problems we outline above.
We ask that you support our concerns by taking part in this consultation. The Council didn’t provide a consultation event in Framwellgate Moor so we have arranged one at the Community Centre on Mon 5th October from 3pm-6pm.
Please attend the event and/or email your views to spatialpolicy@durham.gov.uk and copy one of us in. Or you can write to: Spatial Policy, Rm 4/24-35, DCC, County Hall, DH1 5UL.
More information can be found on the Council website here:
http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/article4hmo