Sign the Petition to the Secretary of State over the Sands HQ

Residents, furious at the HQ planning application have stated a petition to the Sectrary of State requesting he calls it in.

The more signatures, the more pressure it puts on him to act. I was one of the six councillors who voted against the application at committee last week. I have never in 10 years as a councillor seen a more ill thought out planning application. I was one of only a few councillors on the committee who spoke against the proposals, and at significant length.

There were so many reasons for objection to the application, it was almost too difficult to get across all of them. Cllr Elizabeth Scott the Lib Dem Chair of the City of Durham parish Council spoke against it, as did the two local Lib Dem county councillors Cllr Freeman and Ormerod.

No members of the Labour Party spoke out against the application on behalf of their Party and the MP has failed to provide any comments against the application. So its down to residents and Lib Dem councillors to continue to push for action. You can sign the petition here. I have sent this to all 126 councillors – might there be one Labour councillor out there who sees sense on this?:

https://www.change.org/p/get-durham-county-council-sands-hq-plans-called-in-by-the-secretary-of-state?cs_tk=Ah8vtOVK0pl2MqG9hlwAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvJvWteLCJ2NJ9VTaw88XXXQ%3D&utm_campaign=7d0c18f63afa44c6b3dd39476bd19b6f&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_signer_receipt&utm_term=cs

Northern Relief Road – Challenging Cabinet

Yesterday I attended the Council’s Cabinet meeting which they decided to hold in Murton – with the County Plan on the agenda. Total number of pages for the meeting was 5718! Of which most were the County Plan.

As councillors we only got this last Wednesday, and I’m convinced there isn’t a person on the planet, including the Cabinet members who have read all the 5718 pages of paperwork over the last week.

Having searched through the paperwork I managed to get a question in over the weekend for the Portfolio Holder for Regneration.

My concern was around the route of the Northern Relief Road. This seems to be the biggest issue now about the plan. The impression we get as councillors is that the reduction in the number of houses as art of the scheme from over 6000 to 1700 is now less of a concern than previously, especially given that there will be parkland as part of the proposals – although I still need to get to the bottom of how much parkland and how the infrastructure around the whole area is supposed to cope.

Part of that coping is the Northern Relief Road from Pity Me to near Belmont. Whilst there is a vocal group who are against the proposed road, when you delve deeper it is clear that the route of the road is the biggest issue for most people, whilst a sizeable majority of people feel we should have an improvement in the infrastructure to the North of the CIty.

It is the route of the road which concerns me most. The council has failed in my view too get proper analysis of all the possible options.

I have copied my question to cabinet below:

One of the most important elements of the County Plan is the Northern Relief Road. Both prior to and during the consultation process I have raised concerns about the lack of independent analysis of all the possible alternatives to the route proposed.

This route, either with a new bridge or using the Belmont Viaduct goes through a nature reserve and an area with outstanding wildlife and stunning landscapes which is critical to the residential amenity, health and wellbeing of Durham City.

Opposition from local residents to this route is significant.

Whilst a majority of local residents and indeed myself support in principle improved infrastructure to the north of Durham City, at this stage I cannot accept that all possible routes and options have been satisfactorily analysed.

There is no consideration of a route around the back of Brasside, and in fact all the County Plan contains is a few paragraphs of officer views on each possible option.

In addition, the report states that Highways England will not allow a further A1 junction, yet on questioning officers I find that the Council has never even asked them and has simply relied on a national transport circular from 2013 which states such junctions can only be built unless if they are part of a wider strategic growth agenda – well if the County Durham Plan is not part of a wider grew than agenda I do not know what is.

For such an important proposal as the NRR there should have been a full independent report carried out of all the possible options. This is something I specifically asked officers for. The fact that there has not been a proper report means that at this moment this part of the plan is fundamentally flawed.

I would therefore urge Cabinet to commission a full and proper independent report into all possible routes and options for the Northern Relief Road to avoid this element failing at Public Inquiry and if they are not willing or able to do this, explain why, given the critical importance of this element of the plan, the Council has not and is not willing to do this and accept responsibility if this part of the plan does indeed fail.

The response to my question was pretty straightforward – that I was wrong. The Council believes this is the only viable route and any other route would not be close enough to the City to work. I strongly disagree.

There was no explanation as to why no independent report has been done, no explanation as to the discrepancy with highways England, no understanding of the impact of the route on our area.

What is good is that the council have recognised that having a bridge over the East Coast mainline is going to have a very negative impact and so they have included the option of going under the railway line at Brasside. The reduction in housing numbers as part of the plan is also welcome, however I am still not convinced that the infrastructure proposed will be put in place before housing is built, nor am I convinced that areas such as Durham Moor, Aykley Heads and North End will be able to cope even with the extra roads. Aykley Heads roundabout is already log-jammed at certain times of day.

I will, as no doubts others will, be ploughing through the 5700 pages looking at what else is still a problem. Please do let us know your views and please do attend the consultation events.

One final thing that has annoyed me is that we had to ask again for the necessary events in our area and had we not done everyone would have had to go to the Town Hall.

Thankfully all three of my requests for events have been accepted and the dates are as follows:

4th February – 3.30-6.30 Framwellgate Moor Community Centre

14th February – 4pm-7pm Abbey Leisure Centre

21st February – 4pm-7pm All Saint’s Church, Newton Hall

 

Rubbish and dog waste bins overflowing

We’ve reported and had reports of a number of  overflowing bins in the area following the festive period. If you spot any overflowing public dog waste or litter bins please let us know so we can keep the area clean. We are on our look out for local problem areas and have already asked for the area near the Arnison Centre/Abbey Leisure Centre to be litter picked.

Luncheon Club Christmas Party at All Saints

I attended the luncheon club Christmas Party in Newton Hall at All Saints yesterday  and thoroughly enjoyed it. Three Cheers to Amanda and her assistants not just for putting on this event but for preparing the meals every week at the luncheon club without fail!

If you are interested in joining all the local residents who attend the luncheon club every Monday lunchtime, get in touch with Amanda.

She certainly make a mean Christmas pudding and the roasties were excellent!

All Saint’s Christmas Fair success

Sunday’s Christmas Fair at All Saint’s in Newton Hall was a great success. Over 80 children came to see Santa Claus and all got a present. Cllr Simmons attended as Santa’s helper after assisting making preparations in the kitchen for the cafe.

I helped serve turkey stuffing sandwiches, hot beef baps, scones and soup, all prepared by Cllr Amanda Hopgood who was front of shop serving customers for 3 hours. We had a great time and raised lots of money.

It would not have been possible without all the volunteers including Jack Mason, Elaine Kent and Nicola Finlay in the kitchen who kept me right. Thanks also to Neil, Amanda’s husband for making some of the best leek and potato soup ever!

We raised £150 after costs towards the Church Hall.

It was great to see so many people come through the doors and despite the Christmas tree not arriving until Monday we still had a great Carol service and Christmas lights switch on from Santa Claus!

And big thanks to all the All Saint’s volunteers who helped not just on the day but help out throughout the whole year.

Amanda was back in the kitchen today preparing dinner for over 20 local senior citizen’s for the weekly luncheon club dinner – star performance!

Reporting issues across the area

Over the last few days whilst delivering our local leaflets we have reported dozens of local issues including:

Pavement trip hazards and road repair issues

Serious problems with some takeaways in the area with overflowing rubbish and un binned piles of rubbish, including some more serious issues regarding unsatisfactory website disposal. Such problems lead to vermin and we have a zero tolerance approach on these issues. The Council has been notified of all these issues and we are becoming concerned about the amount of time it takes to address the issues, and the repetitive nature of many of the problems with particular establishments, so issues have been elevated up to management levels.

We have asked for a lot of areas to be cleared of leaves and other detritus, both on pavements and roads including Rowan Drive, Dryburn Road, Sacriston Road, Folly Terrace and many more. The clean and green department are doing a speedy job to clear up these issues as we report them.

We have also spoken to numerous residents about specific local issues and have had several dozen residents contact us by email so far regarding issues raised in the leaflets or other local issues.

If you haven’t received our latest leaflet by the end of the week please let us know.

 

Remembrance Sunday in Framwellgate Moor – 100 Year Anniversary of the end of World War 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please attend the parade and services this weekend. Starting at St Aidan’s Parish Hall at 10.30am with a service led by Rev Fiona Collin. We will then walk to the memorial garden at Durham Moor, which has had significant work carried out this year and looks splendid.

Local resident David Wheeler ( A Royal British Legion volunteer) has been working all day to cut back paths and plant up some wonderful commemorative benches as well as some extra displays of flowers.

Thank you to Pity Me Nursery for providing the plants – the heathers and pansies I picked up today which David has planted look fantastic.

A company called Loggerheads designed and built the benches, completely voluntarily and if you go and take a look you will be amazed at how great they look. A big thank you to them.

Thank you to the County Council for providing heavy duty flagstones at short notice and free of charge to fix the benches to.

The Parish Council commissioned Marble plaques for the memorial this year using s106 public art money we secured through the County Council.

Parish Councillor Peter Dawson worked hard to get together all the names of our fallen heroes from World War 1 and their names are now there for all to see for the first time on our memorial.

The Parish Council, residents and your county councillors will continue to work together to do all we can to improve the memorial area.

Thank you to David, Loggerheads, Peter, The Royal British Legion,The Parish and County Council’s and everyone else who was involved in improving the memorial this year, but most importantly, thank you to all those who died fighting so that we may live in a peaceful and tolerant society.

Lest We Forget

MAJOR RESURFACING WORKS AT BEK ROAD/CARR HOUSE DRIVE – 64 BUS SERVICE AFFECTED

This coming weekend 20th and 21st October, the entrance in to Newton Hall from Bek Road traffic lights will be closed. This will include the closure of the section of Carr House Drive from Alnwick Road junction to Bek Road, and Bek Road up to just before Eden Road. A full resurfacing job will be done on the stretch not done last year, but this will include removing the top layer and putting on a full new surface rather than just a coating over the top.

The 64 Bus service will operate along Rothbury Road and Canterbury Road and part of Bek Road as normal, but turn down Langley Road, missing out the rest of Bek Road, going onto Carr House Drive and then down Alnwick Road, it will then turn back onto Rothbury Road, and then continue down Old Pit Lane/Finchale Road – and the reverse going the other direction.

This will mean that two stops (one in either direction) will be missed on Bek Road.

It is possible that the service will be disrupted. Please let us know if any of the 64 services this weekend or any other day for that matter do not actually go through the estate, as there are regular occurrences when the service misses out the estate completely!

We have raised concerns with the council that the closure this weekend has not been sufficiently advertised in the press, and indeed I was only notified myself of the alternative route at 10.30 on Thursday (today).

I also held a 2 hour meeting with council transport officers last week about the 64 service and they are arranging a meeting with Arriva so that we can raise concerns of residents about the frequent occasions when the 64 bus misses out the entire estate.

Well done! Council Clean and Green Team in rapid response to dangerous trees

Yesterday afternoon I contacted our Clean and Green Manager about a dangerous tree at the entrance to the Arnison Centre. There could have been a serious accident as it was leaning at 45 degrees towards the road and was only held up by a sign.

The team was out and had the whole tree down and removed and the access fully open again astonishingly quickly. All credit to them. They also made safe another tree in Newton Hall and were called out to countless other problems across the area.

Hopefully we won’t have to deal with this again but if you do spot a dangerous tree contact the Council immediately and let us know.