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.
Abbey Leisure Centre price hikes thwarted and treadmills replaced
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!
Cleaning up in Framwellgate Moor
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.
Brasside flood alleviation plan moves a step closer
The ongoing work we have been doing for what seems like forever to protect Beech Close in Brasside from flooding moved a step closer last night at a public meeting for Beech Close Residents with council officers, your three councillors and representatives from the MOJ present.
After years of failings by so many agencies to address the issue we finally managed to get the Council to take this matter seriously over the last year or so, with a lot of work being done. Many years ago a meeting with the MP produced nothing and residents still vividly remember that Labour failure as was mentioned at last nights meeting.
The remaining hurdle to complete a long term solution is the lining of the main drain running through the estate, which would provide protection for up to 75 years. The cost is not so great, but more than half of the pipe is on Ministry of Justice land with the remainder under residents properties.
We have committed as Councillors to contribute towards the non-MoJ areas, to speed up the repair process from local budgets. Now a formal bid to the MoJ’s estates budget has been submitted by their regional estates officer, so we may be just a few months away from a final solution to this issue.
If this happens it will be fantastic news for those residents who have been flooded out as many as four times in the last 15 years. I am pleased to say, confidently, that without continuous Lib Dem councillor pressure this issue would never have been addressed.
The way in which residents were previously treated by the authorities was shameful. We were even told at one point we couldn’t bid for environmental agency funding when we could. Thankfully we are now closer than ever before to a final solution.
Thanks should be given to those Council officers who finally accepted Mamie, Amanda and I were not going away and got fully behind action.
Council cutting home to school transport for exam students, the disabled and those with no viable public transport
No I am not making this up. Here’s the link:
Consultation link: http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/6658/Home-to-schoolcollege-transport-consultation
The council has over £200million in reserves and says it wants to:
Remove the automatic entitlement to free home to school transport for:
- pupils in years 10 and 11 who move house while in the middle of their exam years,
- post-16 students who live in areas where there is no viable public transport system,
- post-16 students who cannot travel independently due to a medical condition or disability.
Their justification is:
They say they need to find millions of pounds of savings and:
1. Removing these automatic entitlements will help us to target financial support to those households in greatest need.
2. The proposals include the option to set up a Hardship Fund to meet transport costs in exceptional circumstances where families need financial help.
A few of my concerns here are:
1. That whilst it is possible council officers will act in a proper manner and make sure those on the lowest income get assistance, that is by no means guaranteed as they will be under pressure to meet financial targets.
2. Who decides which families are in hardship and at what level. A parent could earn more than the threshold, but have lots of other bills to pay.
3. Why seek to disrupt a child in the middle of their exam period, just seems plain wrong.
4. Parents of children in rural areas may have higher costs already such as transport. This policy could disrupt parental work patterns and put at risk those living in more rural communities.
5. As for those with medical conditions being penalised – really what planet are this Labour-run Council on!
I wonder what Jeremy Corbyn would think of a Council paying a Chief Exec nearly £200k but not able to help a disabled child get to school so their parents can get to work.
I’m not even sure David Cameron would approve of this.
The Council has repeatedly refused Lib Dem calls to cut the number of directors earning £120,000-£200,000 a year.
They have delayed plans to reduce mileage allowances for councillors and staff from 48p a mile to 45p a mile which would save a third of the money.
The council has refused to scrap its publicity magazine or its SIX publicity departments which would save double the savings from these transport proposals.
Presumably our well paid execs and Labour councillors need as many means as possible of telling as many people as possible about which cuts to the vulnerable they are planning.
Which seems more important to them than school transport for a disabled child!
I for one do not support their proposals.
Consultation link:
http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/6658/Home-to-schoolcollege-transport-consultation
Article 4 Direction – Framwellgate Moor area
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
Lib Dem councillors attend Greenbelt protest in Durham City
Cllr David Freeman, Cllr Nigel Martin and I attended the County Plan protest in the Durham Market Place today. It was well attended with some good speeches.
I have arranged a meeting with the Head of Planning this coming week to get to the bottom of how the Council plans to proceed now that it has managed to get around the Inspector’s decision to reject the County Plan.
As I see it there are a number of ways the Council could deal with this:
1. Put out an alternative County Plan in a few months for “consultation” and then ignore every view which comes back – as it has done throughout the process.
2. Arrange proper consultation sessions before producing ANY proposals and then produce an alternative plan without taking account of residents proposals – less likely but wouldn’t surprise me.
3. Arrange proper consultation on the areas of the plan which the Inspector and residents disagreed with – before producing a proposal, including the changes residents want and publish the alternative plan – how it should be done but almost certainly will not happen!
Whatever happens you can be sure it will be Lib Dem councillors standing up for our World Heritage City against a Labour-run council which so far has completely and utterly ignored the views of the vast majority of residents from Durham City and the surrounding villages.
Safer access to the Arnison Centre – after Lib Dem intervention
I have always thought the Mercia side of the Arnison Centre was one of the daftest designed car parks around. Some months back we asked the owners if they could sort out the entrance where just about everyone caught their wheel on the edge of the kerb. I am pleased to confirm that some weeks back this work was completed and it is now that little bit safer to access the Centre, even if it is still a congested carpark.
Council pollution failures
As reported in the Echo today, Durham County Council has for many years now been failing to get to grips with pollution problems in Durham City:
Ever noticed when the council has a good news story a Labour politician comments. When its a bad new story its always an officer. That way you can always blame someone else! Total lack of political leadership.
Footpath replacement work finished and underway
In recent months we have had to put pressure on to get repairs in our area. I had to chase up on the footpath leading into Abbey Road industrial estate which was down to the sub-base, falling to bits. Work has started this week to fix it. (Although the traffic lights are a bit of a problem, interfering with the horrendous parking farther down the road.)
In Newton Hall, a good job has been done to replace some awful flagstone paths following our intervention on Farnham Road:
