Changes to road infrastructure in the Durham Moor/Framwellgate Moor area for buses are continuing to frustrate both me and local residents.

BUS GATE/SALUTATION:

So far I have managed to ensure that a crossing is included in the plans at St Cuthbert’s Av to cater for residents and the large number of New college students who need and will need to cross the main road.

There have also been some alterations to the bus gate which will change from one directional to two way if the proposals are passed. There is a central island and the road in each direction has been narrowed to 3.25m. However this does not address the concerns of residents and the parish Council as well as myself that there is nothing there to stop other vehicles using this as a cut through, increasing pedestrian risks. I have asked for a camera to be installed but there are issues over the maintenance/running costs of this.

The issue of there being no crossing from High Carr Road across Dryburn View/Finchale Rd has not been addressed either, despite much discussion with officers who tell me that there is no space to put in place a pedestrian island. I believe this could be accomodated and am still pushing for this to be dealt with as i see it as a serious safety issue, which has been ongoing for many years, and can only be made worse by having two directional traffic through the bus gate.

The proposed plan can be seen here: Please bear in mind this is a draft plan and subject to change: 1086410-pc-01-consultation-plan.pdf

CONSULTATION ON DRYBURN ROAD BUS LANE

The council proposals for a bus lane along Dryburn Road to reduce bus times on this busy stretch of road appear to be universally UNacceptable at the moment to the residents I have spoken to.

Clearly there will always be the possibility that despite most people in this area being against this, it could still go ahead due to what is perceived as a wider benefit to bus travellers.

With this in mind, I am raising the concerns of residents to the loss of grass verges, loss of trees on hospital land, change to the appearance of the area as well as concerns about noise. In addition, if this scheme is eventually agreed, I am insisting that the footpaths along this road are replaced, and consideration is given to re-landscaping the area so we don’t have small slivers of grass which will not be kept in decent condition.

IN LIGHT OF THE ONGOING CONCERNS I HAVE ARRANGED FOR HIGHWAYS OFFICERS TO BE ON HAND FROM 4PM TO 6PM AT FRAMWELLGATE MOOR COMMUNITY CENTRE DURING THE COUNTY DURHAM PLAN CONSULTATION ON TUE 30TH NOVEMBER. This will allow residents to discuss either of the schemes with officers should they wish.

Durham’s AAP or Area Action Partnership needs more local residents to get involved in the forum event. This forum in effect decides what the priorities for the Durham area and many of the surrounding villages will be for the next year or so.

The meeting will be held at Durham University’s Collingwood College, on South Road, Durham, on Wednesday, November 10, at 5.30pm.

Members of the public must be registered as a forum member to vote for a priority. For further details, visit www.durham.gov.uk/durhamaap

I would urge you to register by emailing dcaap@durham.gov.uk or calling 0191 3018871.

Big congratulations to everyone involved in the work we have been doing over the last 18 months on regenerating King George’s Field in Framwellgate Moor.

We now have all of the funding secured for the site. The Parish Council, Groundworks who have been bringing together the fundraising, the Church Girls and Boys brigade who have been involved in the planning of the equipment and much more, and everyone else who has been involved.

When I introduced Groundworks to the Parish Council early last year I knew that this would take time, but knew we could achieve this. Since then, the parish council committed funding, followed by my contribution from the County Councillors neighbourhood budget of £10,000, then a commitment I secured of £25,000 by way of Urban Renaissance grant, I have also helped in making sure that s106 money from building works in the area was committed to this fund, as well as pushing to get £5000 towards an outdoor gym with Cllr Croooks which we have just recently had confirmed from Durham AAP.

The final lump of cash of £49,999 from Community Spaces (Lottery) was confirmed yesterday and means that we are now in a position to start tendering and ordering the work which will include:

Outdoor Gym equipment for teenagers and adults
A new tennis court
A full multigames area for playing football, basketball and other sports
Toddlers play equipment including equipment for special needs children
Play equipment for older children
An upgraded carpark, as well as landscaping, paths bins and other works.

All in all to get so far and secure over £100,000 of funding for this major scheme in such a short time and in difficult economic times is fantastic and goes to show what can be achieved when everyone comes together.

I am almost at the point of being able to provide dates for the next consultation event in our area on the County Durham Plan.

I am currently working with officers to make sure we have a good location and should be able to announce this in the next few days.

Following on from the last walkabout in Bearpark, I walked around with the police, housing officer and the neighbourhood warden for the area Chris as well as another parish councillor today. We covered Oxley Terrace, The Avenue, Hudspeth, Hartside, Woodbine, Front St, St Oswald’s, Red Briar, The Anvil, The Forge and Folly Terrace.

This was an excellent chance to speak to residents as well as to check out local problems, including footpath and road repairs, problem areas, rubbish as well as housing issues.

Please feel free to get in touch if there is anything here or in other areas you feel we should be fixing.

The Council officers and future jobs fund team are doing a great job of clearing up the undergrowth, flytipping and other rubbish at the garage sites at the rear of Front St, Pity Me. It is really surprising just how much stuff they have cleared out. Keep up the good work guys.

I today put forward a motion to the full council to ask that they allow residents of county durham to vote on the individual savings proposals being made by the council, on the councils website.

Sadly, instead of this we have a general questionnaire on the website which simply asks which departments do people want to see budget reductions in. Labour have once again failed to recognise that it is the people of County Durham who elect them, and they are unwilling to give you more say.

In the end I had to support a watered down proposal from Labour as to not do would have resulted in next to nothing.

i would urge all residents who can, to visit the Councils website and vote on the relatively vague issues the county has listed and make comments at the end of the questionnaire.

The link is: http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=7983

Simply click on the Your money. Your say link to fill in the survey.

A report is going to cabinet next week which will propose the closure of seven shops across the County in Day Centres. These facilities offer a service to disabled and vulnerable people, providing help in sourcing equipment to help with day to day living.

The Council currently spends around £6 for each £1 it receives from the sales at these shops and is using this as part justification for the need to cut this service.

The shop at Abbey is to be the only one to stay open for the next year, with others around the county closing immediately or already closed.

In just over a year, Abbey will also close, however there will be provision in Spennymoor to view and be shown how to use equipment. If anyone you know finds that they are having problems with access in our area between now and the closing of the Abbey shop or after that, please get in touch.

The council plans to offer an extensive website facility, although I have pointed out that not everyone can access the internet. it also plans to have telephone and home visit capabilities but as with all changes, it is possible that this service will not meet the expectations of those in need. I would like to hear form anyone going forward who finds they have difficulties and i will be monitoring the changes to ensure that the alternative facilities are working and sufficient.

The report will be decided by cabinet next week on the 10th November. Residents with questions can attend that meeting. Details of the report can be found here:

http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/minutesinfo.aspx?ItemId=QGSB8PxXXwk=

I carried out a walkabout with one of the COuncils senior nrighbourhood officers in Pity Me yesterday, and the aim will be to cut back and clear out as much of the undergrowth, litte rand rubbish as posible around the garage sites to the rear of Front St/Folly Terrace. Some work was done several months ago, but the vast majority of the clear up work still needs to be done. A team from the future jobs fund group which the Council is working with is expected to start the work this coming week.

The black trod along the side of Hudspeth Crescent has been cut back in preparation for the new footpath works which should start in a couple of weeks

The garage sites at Witton Gilbert have now been cleared out, If there are any other areas where anyone knows there is rubbish or general untidiness, please let me know.

This is the monthly report from the neighbourhood wardens for Pity Me, Framwellgate Moor, Witton Gilbert, Brasside and Bearpark.

FRAMWELLGATE MOOR

• Lunch time patrols are still going taking place around the areas of the school and college to try and eradicate the littering problems. These patrols have resulted in the names of a number of school children being taking for littering and passed onto the school for them to take the relevant disciplinary action. Although names have been taken we are delighted with the way the school pupils are conducting themselves on a lunch time and this is no doubt down to the firm stance school staff are taking with pupils who litter.

NEWTON HALL

• Regular dog fouling and litter patrols are being made in the area. This month the many footpaths that maze through the estate have been targeted through high visibility patrols to let dog walkers and know we are in the area. On these patrols dog poo bags have been handed out and members of the public have been encouraged to report any unruly dog walkers.

PITTY ME

• Pro active patrol of area made but very little to report!

• We are currently in the process of setting up a scheme with MacDonald’s which will help us to identify individuals who are throwing away there food wrappers. This is being done due to a number of reports that certain areas are accumulating quite a lot of litter form this store particularly area that seem to attract ‘boy racers’.

BRASSIDE

• The nation wide Dog Poo Fairy campaign which was taking place in the Rowan Drive area has now finished. High visibility patrols of the area were made three times a day over the period of aprox 4 weeks which has resulted in a number of local dog walkers signing up to the respectable dog owners pledge. Although this particular campaign has finished Neighbourhood Wardens will still be patrolling the area.

WITTON GILBERT

• A tidy up of 3 garage sites in the Whitton area have been carried out – the Findon Avenue, Green Lea and May Lea sites. This has involved over grown grass being cut, the removal of large fly tipped items and litter picks carried out. This was done due to residents of Whitton Gilbert making their local Cllr Mark Wilkes aware of the state of these areas which resulted in a walk a bout of the estate being carried out with Neighbourhood wardens so that he could point out environmental issues that needed seeing too.

West Rainton / Leamside

• We have been made aware of a dog fouling issue in the West Street Area with we are attempting to resolve. Both the complainants and the owners of the accused dogs have been spoken to and told that patrols of the area will be carried out and FPN’s issued if any offences are issued.
• Along with Durham City Homes we have been working on resolving parking problems in the Fair View area. Patrols by Neighbourhood Wardens have resulted in car registration numbers that were parked on a grassed area being taken. A check on the vehicles has then been carried out giving us the owners details which enables DCH to let any of their tenants know they are in breach of their tenancy agreement if they are parking on grassed areas.
A letter drop has also been carried out in the concerned area advising local residents that they shouldn’t be parking on grassed areas and that the council can seek compensation from persistent offenders who may be prosecuted for the re-instalment of the grassed land.

BEARPARK
• On Monday 4th October, I visited residents of Woodside, who, over the last few years have been having anti social behaviour problems with a couple of addresses in Eastside, I was very pleased to hear that over recent weeks the area has been quiet. We will of course do our very best to ensure that the problem gets fully resolved for the benefit of the community.
• I attended parish council meeting, 20th October 1900hrs
• Visited the community centre and issued the caretaker two padlocks for gates at the rear of the centre to try and prevent youths gaining access on an evening and weekends.