The overwhelming majority of residents on Aldin Grange Terrace, Bearpark have said they want the one way system to go ahead, however it must still be cleared by the County Council Highways Committee.

Councillor Rev Crooks who as been working on the scheme commented “It was clear that we needed to improve safety on this road and this scheme will make it safer for motorists and pedestrians, and in particular local children.” We have committed the funding for this and must now wait for the Committee decision.

Your lib Dem councillors have been helping local groups in Bearpark through the local fund we get to spend in the area. We have also helped groups in Witton Gilbert, Pity Me, Framwellgate Moor and Brasside over the last twelve months.

In Bearpark we have helped so many community groups:

Funding for kits for mixed football teams at Bearpark Primary school.

Money to help Bearpark Working Men’s Club set up and promote competitions and projects in the local community bringing together young people and adults.

Help for Bearpark Shell Group to provide annual Pantomime and trips out for local youngsters.

Assistance for Transition Durham to carry out environment projects.

Help for Bearpark Cricket Club to continue working with local children and adults and to promote sports and recreational facilities.

Contribution to Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band for equipment, helping to preserve our local history.

Improving habitat for wildlife and litter picking around Bearpark through Kings Church.

Help for Bearpark over 60’s Club for outings to provide leisure activities for older residents in Bearpark.

Money for an over 10’s disco and a trip to the seaside for Bearpark youngsters.

Additional funding is also being made available for local young people to get involved in Fishing.

The government has announced that the pupil premium which the Lib Dems have been pushing for before the election and in our manifesto will come in next year and will help to provide significant additional funding for those children from deprived backgrounds, it will be based around the following principles:

• Free school meal eligibility – which could be current eligibility or a measure of whether the pupil has ever been eligible for FSM

• out-of-work tax credit – pupils in families in receipt of out-of-work tax credit

• commercial classifications such as ACORN or MOSAIC used by some local authorities.

In addition, the Government set out its proposal for the pupil premium to:

• include looked-after children who have consistently low attainment with only 15% achieving five GCSEs or equivalents compared to 70% of all children

• explore extending to cover service children who face unique challenges and need to be supported as they progress through school as armed forces families.

What this means is that in County Durham we will have additional funding to help improve standards so that every child really does have a chance to fulfill their whole potential – has to be a good thing.

I am currently working with the community centre to make sure that their fuel bills come down this year. By renegotiating a new contract we exprect to save hundreds if not thousands of pounds which can be spent on improving the centre and ensuring it is sustainable.

If anyone is interested in joining the community centre committee please get in touch.

The new parking bay has been completed on Finchale Road, off Newton Drive, after quite a long wait.

The money for the scheme came from last years Neighbourhood budget, but delays and legal issues dragged it on.

Finally we now have better parking for local residents who had nowhere to park as there isn’t a road at the front of the houses.

After possibly a decade of not being cut back, the footpath on Dryburn Road is now over a foot wider in places; the work I arranged with the Council neighbourhood team to clear all the detritus and remove grass overgrowing the path has made a massive difference.

I am working with the council to try to get other paths cleared back across the area. If there is one near you which you think needs this please let me know.

Following on from my request for residents to let us know if they are waiting for or don’t have recycling or waste bins, I was surprised to learn that one household has been waiting since Christmas for a Wheelie bin for general household waste. I did find out that the council has a slight delay in getting deliveries of replacement and new bins to people, but the communication breakdown here is clearly shocking. Fortunatley I expect this resident to get a new bin asap after intervening.

Equally I have had a number of requests for recycling bags and boxes. Please let me know if you need one or need an extra one. All households are entitled to two green bags and two green boxes for recycling if required.

The response to our leaflet on the County Durham Plan was exceptional, hundreds of people attended the consultation event at Abbey Leisure Centre on Wednesday with the council having to draft in extra staff, as well as extra copies of the plan after they ran out. i think this shows that when people are notified of an event, they will turn out. In future the council must consider providing better maps and being better orgainsed from the start.

The initial feeling I got from this event was that the vast majority of residents were either angry or upset that they had not been given sufficient notification of the plans until i arranged this event, and even now do not feel enough information has been provided.

A large number of attendees were not happy with the prospect of building homes of the green belt around Pity me, Brasside and Framwellgate Moor, with many not being happy with the idea of a Northern Bypass – although some residents I spoke to did feel it was a necessary and would like more information about how it was all going to be paid for before making a final decision.

If anyone was not able to attend, the display will carry on in the entrance to the sports centre for the next week. a number of documents can be seen at this web address: http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/ with the dates for other consultations in the county to be found here. There are no more consultation events in the Durham City area at present, although I am pushing for this as I strongly feel that there has been a real failure to communicate the proposals to the residents of County Durham thus far. Speaking to those who attended the event at Abbey, almost every single person said they had not seen any notification of the other two consutlation days in Durham City and Meadowfield.

It is very clear to me that  far more information must be forthcoming. if the council are not going to do this then once again it may be down to your local councillors to get leaflets delivered.

Residents can email specific comments to ldfconsultation@durham.gov.uk , it would be useful if you could copy them in to me, so that I can build up a picture of local views.

This page contains maps, though they are difficult to understand http://durhamcc-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/planning/gbsp/gbelt_ass_sc_paper?pointId=1354835 the areas marked in red show possible development sites – note that not all of these woud be developed as part of the plan.

I am keen to hear views from residents – please feel free to post them on this site or email me.

After a number of attempts to get the council to sort out the flooding due to blocked drains on Dryburn View, the latest inindation of rain has finally helped and the drains have been cleared. Hopefully the torrents of water running down Durham Moor Crescent every time it rains will not now continue.

After lengthy discussions, we can confirm that work to repair the road surface at Findon Av in Witton Gilbert will go ahead this summer, with a large amount of patching and reconstruction to be done.