Lib Dem Councillors intervene over Durham Accident and Emergency expansion

Following the release of plans for a new expanded Accident and Emergency Department at Durham’s University Hospital, as local councillors we have been forced to intervene.

We did not get notification of the plans, this despite the fact the hospital borders our area and it is residents in our area who will be most affected. I also discovered not a single local residents was to be notified of the proposals either. In addition, the application from Durham and Darlington NHS Trust did not include a travel plan.

The council wasn’t  consulting with a single local resident in the surrounding area, despite this having a massive impact on residents.

We felt this was wholly unacceptable misjudgement by Labour-run Durham County Council.

For many years parking problems have plagued the area due to lack of space at the hospital and excessive charges for staff and visitors.

Following our intervention, the Head of Planning at Durham County Council has confirmed that residents across a wide area will now receive letters about the application.

We raised further concerns about the fact the Travel plan for the new A and E was not submitted with the application and would not have been seen until after the end of the consultation period. The plan will now be submitted in the next two weeks so that we can comment on it within the consultation period.

We also contacted the press about our concerns – some comments made below:

Cllr Amanda Hopgood, Lib Dem group leader said that submitting the travel plan after the end of the consultation period was “completely unacceptable” and would leave residents thinking there was “a rabbit away” believing the impact on the surrounding area must be addressed. Also commenting to the press she said “We fully support having an excellent A&E facility but we must see a robust plan to deal with the horrendous lack of parking at the hospital.”

The use of the A and E has doubled and is set to rise by over 30% over the coming decade according to the hospitals’ plans for a new Accident and Emergency building.

Amanda further commented “I am not convinced that this application offers anywhere near enough parking provision.”

“We were told previously that a multi story carpark was being considered. That is not in the plans. We will be analysing the travel plan when it appears and may have to challenge it at committee.”

Again Durham Council has accepted failings in the process and confirmed that a travel plan will now be submitted within the consultation period.

Cllr Mamie Simmons commented “We felt that the public in Durham were being ignored by the Council and the Hospital Trust in respect of this application. This doesn’t bode well for the future.

“Hospital parking is causing issues up to half a mile from the site. It causes serious disruption for residents and businesses.”

I believe hospital staff have never had their parking concerns adequately addressed by the Trust. Parking charges are considered excessive for visitors and staff and the nearby park and ride is near capacity.

Many streets around the hospital have had residents only parking installed, and the concern is that this will have to be extended even further out from the hospital at additional cost to residents.

We are also commenting that there has been large increase in complaints about the over-use of ambulance sirens in the area and that this could be further exacerbated by the expansion if proper procedures are not put in place – to clarify sirens do not need to be on at all times, only where there is a safety concern. Some residents believe that sirens are being used when there are no other road users or pedestrians around and are therefore unnecessary.

You can comment on the application by writing to the Council at County Hall, quoting reference:  DM/16/01417/FPA

To view the application click here. Note that the travel plan has not yet been uploaded.

Dozens of potholes, pavement defects, blocked drains and damaged kerbs reported by your Lib Dem councillors

Over the last few months we have been out and about noting problems across the area. In addition, our surveys have been coming back in and we have been reporting the problems you have identified. Many of these have already been fixed following our intervention, more are still to be done. We also know there will be other local issues not reported yet. Please let us know about any potholes, pavement defects, streetlights not working, blocked drains or broken kerbstones or anything else you feel is affecting the look of the area.

Streets where we have recently reported problems include: Newton Drive, Gray Av, Winchester Rd, Hylton Rd, Aykley Vale, St Cuthberts Av, Front Street in Pity Me and Framwellgate Moor and Old Pit Lane to name a few.

Article 4 Consultation – urgent

The council is consulting again on the proposals we secured to add our area into the Article 4 Direction.

This will make it easier to challenge the conversion of properties into Houses of Multiple Occupation. We need residents to back this proposal to make sure that we keep the sustainable community we need.

This is not just about student accommodation, there are properties being converted to four five or six beds which are basically terraced houses. The knock on effects are significant to local residents.

Please attend the consultations. Consultation dates:

  • Wednesday, 18 May, 1pm to 5pm – Framwellgate Moor Community Centre
  • Thursday, 2 June, 3pm to 7pm – All Saints Church, Newton Hall

Student accommodation/houses in multiple occupation (HMO) – Framwellgate Moor area – Council explanation

What are we doing? We are currently consulting on a proposal which will impact on student accommodation in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall. This is an Article 4 Direction which would mean that all future changes of use from a residential property to a HMO would require planning consent in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall.

Why are we doing it? The use of an Article 4 Direction would help the council maintain mixed and balanced communities in the area.

Where does it apply? It would apply to a defined area within Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall.

The closing date for comments is Monday 6 June 2016.

More info from my previous posts below:

The council completed its first consultation on introducing new rules in the City on student/HMO housing earlier in the year. 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.

Another day of shame as Labour agrees to dismiss 2700 teaching assistants and re-employ them on worse conditions and lower pay

57 Labour councillors lined up today to approve the dismissal of 2,700 teaching assistants. They will then be offered their jobs back – minus 10% or more of their pay.
There is no surprise in that. It was pre-determined when the Labour Party refused permission to discuss the question in December, and then voted against a review of the position in January.

Lib Dem councillors including particularly Cllr Owen Temple have led this fight against our undemocratic and increasingly employee averse Labour councillors.

There are even more questions to be answered now though.

Where were the rest of the Labour councillors?

39 of the 96 Labour councillors were not in the chamber to vote. Some of us wondered whether Labour’s top brass called for a “named vote” in order to have something to beat the opposition with, or because they wanted to know exactly who they were going to have to whip into line in their own group. Time will tell.

Why did Councillor Napier duck his question?

Having stated that he had only become aware of the equality issue in teaching assistant’s pay contracts a year ago, Councillor Napier – deputy leader for nearly a decade (the most senior politician with responsibility in this area) didn’t answer the question of why he’d only known about it a year when the report said that the problems had been known since 2012.

It rather begs the question of who runs the council? And whether Cllr Napier and his colleagues are asleep on the job.

How did Labour Councillor Jane Brown, Portfolio Holder with responsibility on the council’s side, get hold of Unison’s legal advice?

The council has jealously guarded it’s own’s legal advice in order that it cannot fall into “the other side’s hands” – indeed initially we were refused permission to see it and only our group leader has had that opportunity after repeat requests. So how has “the other side’s” legal advice (She even mentioned the solicitor’s name, Thompsons) been provided to the Labour councillor in charge of HR?

Presumably this has nothing to do with the unions having free accommodation from the county council, together with part payment of union officials’ salaries! Is there really any difference between the Labour party and the unions? Who is fighting the corner of the employee?

Well done teaching assistants and their heads.

We were surprised that some teaching assistants had come to voice their concerns, and did so with the approval of their headteachers – only a small number – as the rest had to stay and look after children – proper dedication and professionalism.

Labour failure

I remain convinced that this decision will come back to bite the Council and that Labour’s decision to hang TAs out to dry has cost them any belief they have a moral backbone or work for the low paid in our county. Hopefully it will also cost them a raft of votes too.

A final thought – the Labour Party has cut TAs pay so much that a huge number of them will be required by law to have pay rises in the coming years as the living wage and minimum wage rise. TAs in County Durham are paid the lowest rate in the whole of the North East! A really sad state of affairs to think that someone working so hard to improve the education and well-being of our children is being paid a wage which barely keeps them above the poverty line – thanks to a LABOUR council.

Special Full Council Meeting 16th May – TA Contracts and Another top Management reorganisation

The Council has slotted in a special council meeting this coming month to debate two issues:

Firstly their plans to cut pay of teaching assistants by up to a quarter. We are yet to see the final proposal and will be discussing it in the next few weeks.

The second issue to be debated – and it is only 7 years overdue, is the re-re-re-restructuring of the senior management system at County Hall. For years we have pushed for a more slimlined top level. Finally it appears Labour may have listened. Had the Labour Party agreed with us all those years ago, we would now have had over a millions of pounds more to spend every year on frontline services – that is assuming the proposals we have yet to see make the changes we have previously recommended. They have repeatedly tinkered round the edges on this issue.

We will be looking closely at the plans for what we hope are fewer directors and heads of service to make sure that it is a proper, final reorganisation. I personally would like to see some of the money saved ploughed back into frontline services rather than simply added to reserves once again.

Stalled Brasside flood works back on track

The works at Brasside to improve the storm drains is continuing this week after rain delays the previous week. The work, part funded by the home office and part by our local neighbourhood budgets is set to cut flood risk on Beech Close. We have had to fight hard for residents to get this sorted for many years and I am pleased to see action quite literally on the ground thanks to our intervention.

Tindale Avenue Flytipping and rubbish finally sorted after further Lib Dem intervention

I was pretty unimpressed a couple of days ago when revisting South Terrace and Tindale Avenue to discover this:

WP_20160420_16_50_57_Pro

I had previously asked months ago for some of this to be shifted, then asked again a a month or so later, then two weeks ago on site with council officers I was given a date it would be shifted and it wasn’t. And of course it was even worse this week when I checked.

I am pleased to say that after elevating the issue and kicking up a fuss, the whole lot has now been cleared and in future I will not be so tolerant of such delays by the Council.

If anyone knows of any areas with flytipping and rubbish please let us know immediately so it doesn’t get out of hand, and if it isn’t shifted within a few days let us know again. We need to keep on top of such issues to make sure our area is kept clean and tidy.

Also if anyone knows who might be dumping rubbish anywhere let us know. The council can impose hefty fines on the culprits.

 

Finally – Action on flooded path near Vets for Pets

As your local councillors, over the last nine months or so we have repeatedly asked for action to fix the waterlogging of the main footpath from Newton Hall to Framwellgate Moor near where the cut through to Vets 4 Pets is. Repeatedly I was told it was volume of water from heavy rain, and that it needed to be monitored. We knew it was more than that – a complete lack of proper drainage. Amanda also raised the issue. Finally today on viewing how deep the water was we contacted the Head of Service at the Council. We now have confirmation that they are looking at installing a pavement drain to sort this out once and for all. Which, from what I recall is what I suggested was needed in the first place. Now we just need to keep an eye on how long it is going to take to get the work done.

streetlight removal in Northern Echo

As reported in today’s Northern Echo we are still really concerned about the A167 streetlight removal:

 

COUNCILLORS say turning out the lights alongside one of a county’s busiest roads would make the area unsafe for pedestrians.

Durham County Council plans to remove 35 street lights from a stretch of the A167 between Pity Me roundabout and Sniperley, on the northern outskirts of Durham City, over the summer.

The move comes amid a wider overhaul of street lights across County Durham, which has seen many lights removed and others dimmed overnight.

Back in 2013, the council said the changes would save £24m over the following 25 years, a total rising to £55m when inflation was taken into account.

But Mark Wilkes and Amanda Hopgood, Liberal Democrat county councillors for Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall, say removing lights at the section in question would not be safe.

They claim the stretch has a joint cycle-footpath which is no more than 1.5m wide, narrower in places, and rarely maintained and they want safety improvements introduced before the lights go out.

Cllr Wilkes said: “We simply do not believe it is safe to remove all the lighting on this stretch without widening the shared cycle and footpath and providing a central refuge to get to public footpaths.

“I’ve been asking for years for the path to be improved and the council have again and again done nothing. If there are accidents along this stretch they will have themselves to blame.”

John Reed, the council’s head of technical services, said the lights were being removed as part of an ongoing programme to reduce energy costs.

He said the “standard running costs” of the lights was more than £4,000 a year, not including “potential replacement costs going forward”.

In a statement, Mr Reed added: “Removing street lights is only considered where it is safe to do so, following a thorough risk assessment undertaken by an independent road safety auditor.”

Cllr Hopgood said: “Any suggestion that the council can’t afford to widen the path or install a refuge simply does not stack up.

The council can afford six communications departments, spent millions on the stretch from Durham to Spennymoor and have over £200m in reserves.

“They should delay removal until they have found the money for this improvement.”

Removing street lights from the A167 further south between Durham and Rushyford was controversial when it was announced last year and there have also been calls for lights to be reinstalled on the A692 between Consett and The Grove, where a 27-year-old motorist died last November.

 

1000th Post! And still getting things done for our area

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog. This is my 1000th post. A few things we have done in the last few weeks.

Over the last few days we have arranged for a litter pick at Mere Drive and Bishops Way to clear in front and behind the hedgerow on the Front Road.

Also got two concrete blocks removed from the grass near the entrance to The Avenue.

And reported a number of damaged kerbs, potholes and footpath defects in Pity Me.

We are also taking up the issue of overgrown trees in the Parish Council run Pity Me Park on The Avenue where the conifers are huge and causing problems for householders.

Up in Framwellgate Moor we are working to get the paths near the Fire Station development cleared of mud and dirt from the site, having spoken to Avant homes and council officers about the mess.

Down in Brasside, the work to repair the main floodwater drain through Beech Close is starting after our intervention finally secured funding from the Home Office along with matched funding we have provided.

And across the area we are still delivering our survey to find out what residents think is important in our area. Please click the link here to have your say:

http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9VNSSW8

At Abbey Leisure Centre we can report that all the extra investment we secured, and the hard work of staff has helped user numbers get back to the highest levels seen for years. Its a great time to join up. Call in to get shown around and to get details of the latest courses and activities.

On Newton Hall, two new bus shelters have been installed following our discussion with officers, meaning that on Bek Road three shelters are now replaced  and a new one has been installed following our intervention.

Eden Road is now on the maps after we got street signs for the road, and numerous other signs along Bek Road have been replaced or installed at our request. We continue to report broken paving and footpath defects across the estate and the wider area we represent.

400 new trees have been planted in the grassed area between Caterhouse Road and Bek Road running from Vets 4 Pets towards Aykley Heads after we were successful in getting them from the Woodland Trust. The Eddy project we helped set up at Framwellgate School arranged the planting with students from the school.

On Wednesday we will be supporting council plans to introduce restrictions on the spread of houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) in Durham City after securing the extension of the plans to our area – this will start shortly in Durham City and in our area next year thanks to our intervention.

Also on Wednesday we will be putting a motion to Full Council illustrating the benefits to County Durham of European Union membership which brings huge amounts of additional funding to the County and the wider North East.

And we are also working on much more at the moment to improve the area.