Abbey Steering group was asked last Thursday night to answer specific concerns the County Council had about the bid to take over the leisure centre. The deadline was Tuesday Morning. This morning chair of the group Peter Hall submitted amended information. We have been working for several weeks now to do all we can to get as near a perfect bid together as possible with a lot of work over the weekend, and must now wait to see if the Council feels that they can move forward to the next stage with the group.

There is at least one other organisation still involved in bidding to take over Abbey, though we do not know yet the outcome of their bid. The County Council cabinet report is supposed to be released on the 6th July for the following weeks cabinet. This should be the point at which we know if the Steering group bid has been successful jumping the first hurdles.  I think the council have now been provided with an excellent proposal and a great opportunity to assist in keeping open the centre and protecting the jobs of the centre staff.

The 6th July will be an interesting day as will cabinet on the 13th.

DIVERSION WILL BE IN PLACE

A693 Northlands Roundabout, Chester le Street – Perkinsville

Temporary Road Closure

The County Council intend to close to vehicular traffic, from 10.00pm on Friday 1 July 2011 a 1.9km length of A693 near Drum Industrial Estate between its junctions with A167 Northlands Roundabout, Chester le Street and C5 Ouston Lane, Perkinsville.

The closure, which is being effected by means of Notice under Section 14(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, is necessary to enable carriageway resurfacing works which will probably take until 6.00am on Monday 4 July 2011 to complete, to be carried out to that length of road.

Throughout the period of closure an alternative route will be available to vehicular traffic from the eastern side of the closure from A167 Northlands Roundabout via B6290 Park Road North to A167, then southerly to Sniperley Roundabout, Durham then north westerly along A691 via Lanchester, north along A6076 Maiden law to Annfield Plain to A693 which leads easterly through Stanley – Perkinsville to the western side of the closure and vice versa.

Emailed one of the directors at County Hall today as I have run out of patience waiting for the council to sort out all the weeds turning our villages into a mess.

Roundabouts and footpaths are a disgrace at the moment. Apears it is because the Council chose to outsource the service this year but somewhere in County Hall it got delayed- I’m told in procurement.

Interestingly other parts of the county are in a better shape!

Some weeds are nearly up to window sills – come on DCC get your act together. It’s nearly July and nothing done.

Take a look at a roundabout next time you are out and see if you can find one where the block paved area is clear of weeds. Perhaps we could have a competition to see who finds one in the Durham City area first.

The council is running a campaign to cut food waste, which I fully support as it saves residents money and cuts the council bill disposing of waste – a no brainer in my view.

Council Press release:

Residents across County Durham are being provided with tips that could save families up to £50 per month this summer by reducing their food waste.

The love food hate waste campaign advises what measures can be made to preserve food and save cash both at home and when travelling on short breaks and holidays.

Durham County Council Strategic Waste Team are supporting the national campaign and encouraging County Durham residents to make a difference and reduce their food waste.

Vicky Bell, waste strategy and policy officer from Durham County Council said:

“Summer food tips from the love food hate waste website will help all of us to turn leftover food we already have into some truly fabulous seasonal dishes. If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road whilst saving us money at the same time.”

In total, 8.3 million tonnes of food waste is thrown away every year and costing the UK   £12 billion.

Tips to save cash through reducing food waste include:

If you have cooked too much for a meal such as fish pie, chilli or lasagne, simply pop it in an airtight container and store in the freezer as a homemade ‘ready meal’ or take with you for an easy first night supper.

If you take some lettuce or salad leaves with you and they’re looking tired and wilted after the journey, put them in a bowl of water with a couple of ice-cubes and they will become nice and crisp again.

Filling sandwiches with tasty and unexpected combinations of leftovers, such as chicken, bacon and mayonnaise, lamb and mint sauce or cheese and coleslaw.

Making leftover potatoes into a tasty potato salad with sliced red or spring onions and mayonnaise – a tasty salad that also travels well.

Make quiches to help use up eggs and spare cream. Add flaked, cooked fish or fry that last rasher of bacon and some onion for classic quiche lorraine; a perfect, simple dish to take away in your cool box for the first meal of a short break or holiday, whether it be for lunch or supper.

Make lollies from leftover smoothies, apple juice or orange juice. You can buy plastic lolly making moulds to use in the freezer.

For more tips, recipes and inspiration for a cost-effective summer home or away, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

The current consultation on the latest document released on the County Durham Plan, does not include an event in the Framwellgate Moor area. I am quite staggered at this and have emailed asking why not and if this will be arranged before the July 8th  cut off point. In the meantime, there is a staffed exhibition in the Town Hall on the 23rd June from 1600 to 1900, also at Ushaw Moor, Deerness Sports Centre on the 24th June from 1300 to 1500.

It is very important that anyone interested comments on the proposals for housing at this stage. The council is not discussing where the houses will be built specifically or about the bypasses at this stage but is consultating on the overall plan of providing upto 8000 houses in the former Durham City District and surrounding villages:

Go here to look at the document and make comments:

http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/cdp_ce/cspd?pointId=1734345

Did you know you can access  council services by television, internet or mobile phone.

It is called “Looking Local” and can be viewed in any of the following ways:

• Sky viewers – go to channel 539 and press the red button.
• Virgin viewers – press the red home button, choose Interactive (option 7), select news and info then Looking Local (option 6).
• From a Wii or PC – visit www.lookinglocal.gov.uk
• From a web-enabled mobile phone – text your postcode to 61061.

I have sent a road patching request for Flambard Road/Priory road to see what happens – the particular area has probably had pothole s filled in more an 5 times and can be seen from space using Google Maps as a blurred area on the road.

Other services you can see include looking for the availability of council houses across County Durham. You will need to register with Durham Key Options before using that part of the service.

You can also check for bus and train times from a specific bus stop,  if registeed deal with gp and nhs services, and see what is going on in County Durham today, tomorrow or over the weekend. Though looking at this section I think it isn’t being fully utilised yet.

Other services include reporting:

Abbandoned vehicles, flytipping, road repairs, graffiti and housing repairs.

And a key section has details of where to get help about a whole raft of things including:

Family issues, rights, medical conditions, coping and caring, crisis, well being, work and education.

If anyone sees any gaps – for example I can’t find the Durham City Citizens Advice Details, let me know.

The Council is to carry out two changes to roads in the area to see if it improves traffic flow.

The first is to shorten the bus lane on High Carr Road as you come to the Aykley Heads Roundabout, in the hope that it will help increase the number of vehicles getting through the roundabut and turning into Aykley Heads. This strikes me as a sensible trail.

The second is to allow through traffic past the park and ride at sniperley, where at the moment if you are travelling from Witton Gilbert, you can’t drive through to go North on The A167. This seems a sensible proposition and will hopefully reduce the blockages at the main  Sniperley Roundabout somewhat.

If anyone has comments on either of these changes please feel free to email highways.orders@durham.gov.uk with your comments.

New white lines on Abbey road and Holmlands Crescent are improving inconsiderate and dangerous parking.

By reducing parking near to the entrance to Smithfield, Abbey Road which had over the last few month become worse, it is hoped that these will reduce further poor parking.
Coninuted parking on the main stretch of the road is a cause for concern but conversely it appears to be slowing down traffic along Abbey Road. I have spoken with the Council who are not inclined to do any more at present to stop parking near to Bridge End Motors and will wait to see how the situation develops.

Following the submission of a 5000 name petition from the group working to keep Sherburn Leisure Centre open, there will be a fifteen minute debate on the issue at Full Council on Wed 22nd June in the Council Chamber at County Hall. This is open to the public and I am sure that issues that matter to all the leisure centres under threat will be raised.

If there are any residents with long standing housing repairs in Brasside, Bearpark, Witton Gilbert, Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me, please contact me.

I recently dealt with one issue that had been going on for a long time and discovered other problems not reported before, but Durham City Homes has carried out all of the repairs to the property very quickly following my discussions with them.