Protecting Youth Services

Your Lib Dem councillors have been working hard to protect youth provision in our area. A few years ago we were getting hardly anything, now we have youth club and activities at Framwellgate Moor Community Centre and at Abbey Leisure Centre, where where there are now over 100 young people registered in the youth gym we secured funding for. Recent cuts to the budget of youth provision could have put  services at risk but we are keeping an eye on the situation and have already ensured that one youth session wasn’t cancelled and that considerations are given to better ways of managing the service. We have als0 provided funding from local budgets for Duke of Edinburgh schemes and continue to look for more ways to improve local services for young people.

Beech Road Parking Changes a step closer

Changes to parking at the shops on Beech Close are currently being advertised. The traffic regulation order which your local councillors have been trying to get in place for a long time now, will allow for the diagonal parking bays to have 3 hour restrictions. this will ensure that there is more parking for passing trade, which has been affected by people parking  in front of the shops and then disappearing off to the hospital or into town making it impossible for customers to park up.

If there are objections to the order it will go before the highways committee, if not, the work which we have provided funding for from local budgets will go ahead in the coming months. This is another example of how your Lib Dem councillors are seeking to make it easier for businesses to trade in our area.

New trees on Finchale Road looking great – parking bay on way

As part of our plans to build a new parking bay on Priory Road in Framwellgate Moor, I have worked with Amanda and Mamie to get a large number of trees planted across the grassed area along Finchale Road. The new trees look great, will benefit wildlife, help soak up water and even reduce pollution levels, and help reduce the impact of losing some of the grass for the parking bay. Work should start on building the new parking in the coming months and is being paid for from your councillors local neighbourhood budgets. Residents have raised concerns about problems at this location for a  number of years and your Lib Dem councillors are pleased they have been able to help improve the area.

Laurels for Litchfield

The Council was recently a bit over ambitious with their hedge cutting. The hedge which protected residents from the road noise and provided a buffer between the Newton Grange Pub and Litchfield Road saw its height cut by more than half. Residents complained to your Lib Dem councillors and following discussions between residents  and Cllr Hopgood with the support of Cllr Simmons and I, it was agreed to plant a Laurel hedge to provide a proper all year round evergreen buffer, which will also provide shelter for wildlife and improve the look of the area. The original hedgerow is also to have some additional planting to improve it.

Many hedgerows in the area were severely pruned back over the winter. This was necessary for a number of reasons including visibility and aesthetics, and whilst looking a bit rough we do expect them all to grow back looking great this Spring. The problem has been that for the last few years work was simply not being done, but thanks to your Lib Dem councillors pushing for change and securing better management of grass cutting, hedge pruning and other clean and green services in our area, we are continuing to see some excellent improvements.

Petition to Save Caterhouse Pit

All 6000 households across the Framwellgate and Newton Hall Division will be getting one of our newspapers this week or in the coming week or so. It includes a petition to protect Caterhouse Pit, which the Council believes is surplus to requirements but which your Lib Dem councillors are campaigning to protect for future generations as a Nature Reserve. If you need extra copies of the petition please email me and I will email you a copy of the petition so you can help get names on it.

Overflowing bins – Lib Dem Action

Following complaints I received about a small number of residents not putting out their overflowing bins, we have asked for some households to be contacted by Durham City Homes or by our the Council neighbourhood services team to remind them of collection dates and the need to put out bins regularly to keep our areas looking tidy and to reduce the risk of vermin.

Sometimes people don’t know collection dates if they have just recently moved to the area, or need a bit of persuasion that it really matters. Equally if people have a lot of rubbish, providing advice on recycling and reducing waste can help solve most problems.

If there is a particular property or street which concerns you please email one of us and we will seek to address the issue so that our neighbourhoods keep looking clean and tidy.

Old Wagonway Pity Me/Fram Moor temporary closures

The public footpath between Hudspeth Crescent in Pity Me, and the Electricity Substation will be closed from the 14th April for essential works to be carried out to the substation. A diverted route will run through Hudspeth Crescent and the map below shows the alternative route.

Fp6Fram2014PLAN

Any problems feel free to email me. The first closure will be for around 2 weeks starting 14th April, with two further closures in the summer around the 22nd July and 18th August.

Layby to be closed off on way to Finchale Abbey

Your Lib Dem councillors have finally managed to get an agreement to close off a layby on the way to Finchale Abbey Village, where litter and other unsociable activities have been taking place. The discussions with the Council have gone through several departments but I am happy to confirm that we have sorted it and some concrete barriers will be installed as early as next week and the area will be monitored for the next three months.

Labour Votes to destroy greenbelt

Durham County Council today passed the County Plan. Labour councillors ignored concerns from opposition councillors that the plan was deeply flawed.

The plan will see 5000 houses built on the land around Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me causing environmental destruction to the greenbelt.

The plan will now go for examination in public where it is expected many local councillors and groups will put forward views that the plan is unacceptable.

We pushed to get Labour to recognise that the plan was unacceptable but they have refused to listen. I am absolutely appalled by the Labour Party at today’s meeting.

They even altered the plan so that thousands of executive homes will not have to be carbon neutral and properly energy efficient. So the houses to be built in the coming years will not only be more expensive to run, they will be polluting too. Bizarrely Labour then voted through their sustainability strategy half an hour later which states the aim to cut carbon emissions by 80%. By allowing houses to be built which are not as energy efficient, this makes it almost impossible to achieve this goal.

So we now know that in County Durham, the Labour Party couldn’t care less about the environment and is only interested in handing power to developers. Durham Council is in the pockets of the developers who will build whatever they want wherever they want if Labour gets its way.

I recently asked for a list of all the people who had been wined and dined in the box the council pays for at the Cricket Ground in Chester-le-Street. A huge proportion of the guests were developers and associated people, but not one member of an environmental group, wildlife trust or other such organisation. The council has spent thousands of pounds cosying up to developers and now has passed a County Plan which is an open charter to built all over our greenbelt – it really disgusts me.