The tree near Pullmans Volkswagen we thought could be saved last week is rotten right through and is being taken down today by the Council’s tree surgeons. It had been hoped it could be saved last week when it was inspected, but the inside is just too rotten and there is a risk it could be blown over in heavy wind.
The council has agreed to plant a number of trees to replace it, but obviously losing an 80 year old Ash tree is a terrible shame.
The council is consulting again on the proposals we secured to add our area into the Article 4 Direction.
This will make it easier to challenge the conversion of properties into Houses of Multiple Occupation. We need residents to back this proposal to make sure that we keep the sustainable community we need.
This is not just about student accommodation, there are properties being converted to four five or six beds which are basically terraced houses. The knock on effects are significant to local residents.
Please attend the consultations. Consultation dates:
What are we doing? We are currently consulting on a proposal which will impact on student accommodation in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall. This is an Article 4 Direction which would mean that all future changes of use from a residential property to a HMO would require planning consent in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall.
Why are we doing it? The use of an Article 4 Direction would help the council maintain mixed and balanced communities in the area.
Where does it apply? It would apply to a defined area within Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me and Newton Hall.
The closing date for comments is Monday 6 June 2016.
More info from my previous posts below:
The council completed its first consultation on introducing new rules in the City on student/HMO housing earlier in the year. The aim of this is to protect areas from having too many houses of multiple occupation, to avoid the negative consequences. When we found out about this last year, we immediately asked for our area to be included as it had been ignored. An initial consultation was arranged by your Lib Dem councillors.
The council has now accepted that the area should be considered for inclusion, and a final round of consultation will start soon, along with a couple of drop in events in our area which we have requested.
Our previous post on this can be found here:
http://markwilkes.mycouncillor.org.uk/2015/09/29/article-4-direction-framwellgate-moor-area/
Please do join in the consultation and help us ensure that our area retains a mixed community without any further increase in the problems which HMOs can cause in the wrong places.
Work to redesign the car park at the Arnison Centre are fully underway now. When finished there will be 70 extra parking spaces.
What is less visible to residents is that a new car park for staff has been finished and is now in use at the back of the site with 50 spaces. We had insisted on action to improve parking and reduce staff parking within the retail area as part of the planning application to improve the site.
Staff carpark:
Of course at the moment its a bit of a nightmare with the car park closed off, but hopefully when all the changes have been finished, the site will look and work much better.
We are currently carrying out a local survey to find out what matters to residents. You can complete it online at this link:
Yesterday with Councillor Simmons we did a walkabout with Durham City Homes (DCH) and the police. This was part of DCHs estate walkabout program. We identified a number of different issues from residents including some untidy gardens, littering and comments about certain local anti-social behaviour issues which are currently being dealt with.
We also spoke to quite a few residents including about housing and fencing concerns which are being looked into.
We expect to be able to report on some further improvements in Pity Me in the coming months.
I had to send another email today to the owners and managers of the site. For months now I have been asking for them to clear up the treeline. The response was “yes”, then “we are arranging a new contract”, however with each month that passes it looks even worse. Here’s a pic near Marks and Spencer. Hopefully my latest email will spur them into action.
As reported in today’s Northern Echo we are still really concerned about the A167 streetlight removal:
COUNCILLORS say turning out the lights alongside one of a county’s busiest roads would make the area unsafe for pedestrians.
Durham County Council plans to remove 35 street lights from a stretch of the A167 between Pity Me roundabout and Sniperley, on the northern outskirts of Durham City, over the summer.
The move comes amid a wider overhaul of street lights across County Durham, which has seen many lights removed and others dimmed overnight.
Back in 2013, the council said the changes would save £24m over the following 25 years, a total rising to £55m when inflation was taken into account.
But Mark Wilkes and Amanda Hopgood, Liberal Democrat county councillors for Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall, say removing lights at the section in question would not be safe.
They claim the stretch has a joint cycle-footpath which is no more than 1.5m wide, narrower in places, and rarely maintained and they want safety improvements introduced before the lights go out.
Cllr Wilkes said: “We simply do not believe it is safe to remove all the lighting on this stretch without widening the shared cycle and footpath and providing a central refuge to get to public footpaths.
“I’ve been asking for years for the path to be improved and the council have again and again done nothing. If there are accidents along this stretch they will have themselves to blame.”
John Reed, the council’s head of technical services, said the lights were being removed as part of an ongoing programme to reduce energy costs.
He said the “standard running costs” of the lights was more than £4,000 a year, not including “potential replacement costs going forward”.
In a statement, Mr Reed added: “Removing street lights is only considered where it is safe to do so, following a thorough risk assessment undertaken by an independent road safety auditor.”
Cllr Hopgood said: “Any suggestion that the council can’t afford to widen the path or install a refuge simply does not stack up.
The council can afford six communications departments, spent millions on the stretch from Durham to Spennymoor and have over £200m in reserves.
“They should delay removal until they have found the money for this improvement.”
Removing street lights from the A167 further south between Durham and Rushyford was controversial when it was announced last year and there have also been calls for lights to be reinstalled on the A692 between Consett and The Grove, where a 27-year-old motorist died last November.
Thank you to everyone who reads this blog. This is my 1000th post. A few things we have done in the last few weeks.
Over the last few days we have arranged for a litter pick at Mere Drive and Bishops Way to clear in front and behind the hedgerow on the Front Road.
Also got two concrete blocks removed from the grass near the entrance to The Avenue.
And reported a number of damaged kerbs, potholes and footpath defects in Pity Me.
We are also taking up the issue of overgrown trees in the Parish Council run Pity Me Park on The Avenue where the conifers are huge and causing problems for householders.
Up in Framwellgate Moor we are working to get the paths near the Fire Station development cleared of mud and dirt from the site, having spoken to Avant homes and council officers about the mess.
Down in Brasside, the work to repair the main floodwater drain through Beech Close is starting after our intervention finally secured funding from the Home Office along with matched funding we have provided.
And across the area we are still delivering our survey to find out what residents think is important in our area. Please click the link here to have your say:
http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9VNSSW8
At Abbey Leisure Centre we can report that all the extra investment we secured, and the hard work of staff has helped user numbers get back to the highest levels seen for years. Its a great time to join up. Call in to get shown around and to get details of the latest courses and activities.
On Newton Hall, two new bus shelters have been installed following our discussion with officers, meaning that on Bek Road three shelters are now replaced and a new one has been installed following our intervention.
Eden Road is now on the maps after we got street signs for the road, and numerous other signs along Bek Road have been replaced or installed at our request. We continue to report broken paving and footpath defects across the estate and the wider area we represent.
400 new trees have been planted in the grassed area between Caterhouse Road and Bek Road running from Vets 4 Pets towards Aykley Heads after we were successful in getting them from the Woodland Trust. The Eddy project we helped set up at Framwellgate School arranged the planting with students from the school.
On Wednesday we will be supporting council plans to introduce restrictions on the spread of houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) in Durham City after securing the extension of the plans to our area – this will start shortly in Durham City and in our area next year thanks to our intervention.
Also on Wednesday we will be putting a motion to Full Council illustrating the benefits to County Durham of European Union membership which brings huge amounts of additional funding to the County and the wider North East.
And we are also working on much more at the moment to improve the area.
Durham Council has decided it wants to cut the pay of teaching assistants by thousands of pounds a year as well as increase work hours.
Over recent months councillors have received dozens of emails about this. I find myself wondering how it can be possible for Durham Council to be run by the Labour Party and for them to seek to slash the pay of some of the lowest paid members of the teaching profession.
We recently tried to get the plans thrown out at full council but Labour councillors first timed out the debate so they didn’t have to vote, and then when it came back a month later, changed the motion to render it unacceptable. The consultation on new terms has now concluded and we wait to see what our Labour Cabinet comes up with next. If it is anything like that recommended in the proposals, I for one will not be supporting it. It cannot be right to cut someone’s pay by thousands of pounds and increase their hours. It is simply unacceptable.
Across County Durham there are over 2700 teaching assistants. I imagine that the way this Labour-run council has been over this issue is going to have a huge impact on how TAs vote in next years local elections. When you take into account their partners, friends and relatives and all the other residents who will be looking at how TAs are being treated, this one issue alone has the potential to see Labour lose many seats in the May 2017 elections perhaps over 100 votes in every single Electoral Division.
I picked out some emails from TAs to give a feel for just how serious the impact of Labour’s proposals are. If I were a TA I would be very worried, very angry and very upset. We are currently waiting to see when this issue will come back to full council.
Just imagine if tomorrow your pension or salary was cut by 20%, your working ours increased. Then think – and most of this is because of the Labour Party! add in hikes in National Insurance/Pension contributions from the Tories, and other general price increases and these hard working people are really going to suffer…….. Utterly shameful.
Emails below from Tas.
So from today we are all paying more council tax. The near 4% rise in council tax was conveniently split into two elements.
2% for adult social care – the Tory part of the rise. The council wasn’t forced to make this increase but given the pressures on the care budget and the increases in carers wages due to the living wage, I’m supportive of this element of the rise. Care workers are obscenely underpaid for such an important job. Of course that does not mean the council should not continue to look at ways to make things more efficient in the Adult and Children’s Services department.
The second part of the council tax hike – the 100% Labour-run council responsibility is the bit I have a real issue with.
If this money, being taken out of residents pockets, and therefore out of the economy, were being spent to protect frontline services which would otherwise be lost, I could be convinced to support it. However, it is simply not being spent on that.
Rather, the following is happening:
What is very clear is that with the Labour Party in charge at Durham County Council, waste, mismanagement, manipulation of the truth, and flawed priorities are only going to continue to let down the people of County Durham.