As many will have seen, the construction of the new footpath and cycleway we secured along the Framwellgate moor/Pity Me bypass is well under way. It occurred to us that if the work was extended into Pity Me, the long overdue improvement to the village could take place and be done cheaper.

We asked the council if they would pay for this and they refused, so we asked if they would contribute to the costs if we used local neighbourhood budgets towards it but they also refused.

Finally after repeated requests we got a price for the works which will save over £12,000 compared to this work being done separate to the Bypass works. So the 110m stretch of path from the roundabout to Potterhouse Terrace will now be resurfaced and rebuilt. The only bit not being done is the stepped area in front of the pub which we hope the Council will look to fund in the future.

We continue to be committed to improving the other side of the road too where the grassed area is in need of verge hardening as due to the lack of parking space, there is frequent parking. We are also working on improvements in other areas including on Framwellgate Moor Front Street.

Just when we thought we were getting somewhere with the broadband issue for the estate, along comes another blockage. We’ve had to battle to get a box installed for the equipment, then battle to get BT to agree to get the electric to it installed, and now there is a dispute over a licence to dig up and install the electricity supply to the box. This is apparently currently somewhere between the lawyers of the Arnison Centre and BT/Northern Powergrid. The Council and ourselves are pushing hard now to get this final hurdle dealt with. It sometimes feels as though someone hidden from view is deliberately seeking to stop residents getting a decent broadband supply. Whilst I’m sure that’s not the case, it is quite remarkable in this day and age that it can take literally years to get a working broadband box installed. I’m sure if this was a connection to the Prime Ministers house things would be moving much more quickly! We will continue to email, telephone and request meetings until this sorry saga has been fixed.

We have contacted the Arnison Centre management company a number of times since August over the new carpark. Whilst it is set to increase capacity and in many ways is much better for shoppers, we are concerned about the safety of the junctions opposite Frankie and Bennies as well as a few other issues.

Cars going towards M and S and coming off the main part of the road into the car park are going to fast.

The new crossing has not yet been installed to get to the restaurants and it seems that this is the cause for the speeding traffic. I have already noticed one accident here between two cars and another near miss. Once the raised crossing is in place this should reduce speeds – perhaps this should have been installed first – or even over a year ago when we first raised issues about safety on the old crossing – which subsequently someone was knocked over at.

Additionally the left turn/carriageway (in the photo) at this point is simply not wide enough. This can be seen clearly by the fact that almost every car ends up hitting the kerb. The kerbs are already cracked up after just a few weeks.

Finally the bollards protecting people who are walking through the carpark on the new pathway are not installed properly. We asked for the pathway from M and S into the car park to improve safety, however it seems as though just about every bollard has been installed using faulty materials and many are already very loose – the cement/concrete used has cracks all over the place. We mad them aware of this on the 22nd August and notified the council on 22nd September when nothing had been done about it.

If someone accidentally reverses quickly into one it could hit a pedestrian using the new path. We informed the Council’s relevant officers a week or so ago, as well as the owners of the Arnison Centre.

It is very clear to us that the new crossing should be installed immediately and the bollards repaired as a matter of urgency. I also think the turning into the carpark in the photo should be altered so that drivers can safety get round without hitting the kerb. Hopefully the Arnison Centre owners will take this matter seriously and the Council will put the necessary pressure on too.