Paint, road chippings and lack of maintenance – Drains at Bek Road traffic lights fixed today!!

For quite some time now, every time it rains, there is a big pool of water at the Bek Road/Finchale Road traffic lights.

Today, after another brief downpour the road and this time the pavement too were flooded. I called on the local highways inspector and asked for a quick response from the gulley cleansing wagon.

Our inspector did a great job clearing the top of the drain, only for me to discover that there was another drain gulley completely blocked a few meters away. The council gulley team turned up within the hour and cleared this second drain, which it turned out had a big chunk of solidified road marking paint blocking it:

paint in drain

Whilst they were doing this and the water had dispersed I noticed a stick pointing up out of the road a few meters further along. It turned out there was another drain gulley, but this one was blocked over the top and then covered in yellow road surface gravel and dirt, so as to render it invisible.

So we went from one blocked gulley to three and on to three cleared gullies – so hopefully now an end to the repeated flooding at this location.

Great job done by the local inspector today and by the gully cleansing team and manager.

Some questions I will be passing to the head of technical services however:

Why were all three gullies blocked? Where on earth did all that solidified road marking paint come from? How often should these gullies be cleared? And most importantly how often ARE they being checked and do we really have enough resources allocated?

If I hadn’t made the call, it could have been another year before anyone even noticed that there were three gullies at this point. How many more are there around the county in a similar condition? Please check the one outside your house to make sure it isn’t full of dirt. If it is let us know and we will get it reported for cleaning.

Although it may take a while, as we now only have four gulley cleaning teams for the entire county. To put it into perspective we have 3700 km (2300 miles) of roads in County Durham! How on earth can we properly maintain all the drainage gullies with just four teams. Indeed right now we only have three teams on as there is a broken wagon, so again big thanks to the teams for diverting across to clear the flood.

I think the Council should get some extra help in asap and clear a few more drains. Our staff must be run off their feet, and I know there is money in the budget to do this!!

 

 

Possible change at The Salutation Inn – Planning App submitted

The site owners of the Salutation Public house in Framwellgate Moor have submitted a planning application which would see two flats upstairs and potentially the main part of the pub converted into two retail units. More details can be found at:

http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NOPJ8HGDKVY00

Where the various documents can be seen. Whilst it is not at present confirmed that the pub itself will close, a letter from the Agents for the applicant states that the pub has not been viable for some time, and there are indications of interest in the use of the existing building  for other retail.

Cllr Hopgood has asked that a wider area of residents are consulted on the application, and if anyone has any comments please do email us so we can get a feeling for public opinion.

It would be a real shame to see another pub close, particularly one which has been around for over 150 years (I don’t know the exact age – anyone who does please let me know).

It would however also be a real shame to see a local iconic building deteriorate and if no way to keep the pub open could be found, a sensible alternative use would be essential.

We are currently looking at the application and waiting to see what local people think.

Road safety

I am also very concerned that if the pub was to be converted to shops, that the current road safety in this area is not good, and that the Council must make sure that there are improvements, especially if such new businesses were to be frequented by the elderly or younger people from the school or the college.

There has been long running issue with the bus gate and cars illegally going through it which despite repeated attempts by County Councillors and the Parish has not seen any successful action to stop the problem by the police or county council.

Equally, trying to get across the mini roundabout to  High Carr Road is also a serious issue, so any change of use at the Salutation would require serious consideration of safe access. The council is fully aware that there is a problem at this location as I have frequently challenged officers about safety in this area.

13 Durham City Homes properties available

Durham City Homes currently have 13 properties available for rent which were not let out through the waiting lists.

Visit www.durhamkeyoptions.co.uk for details

Properties are:

Brandon

Vicarage Flats                                     1 x 3 Bed Upper Floor Flat

Vicarage Flats                                     1 x 2 bed ground Floor Flat

 

Bowburn

Lawson Road                                      1 x 1 Bed Bungalow

Marlene Avenue                                1 x 1 Bed Bungalow

 

Esh Winning

Redwood                                            1 x 3 Bed House

 

Sherburn

Kinnock Close                                     1 2 Bed Bungalow

 

Kelloe

Woodland Crescent                           1 x 1 Bed Bungalow

Woodland Crescent                           1 x 2 Bed House

 

Gilesgate

Churchill Square                                 1 x 2 bed Upper Floor Flat

 

Ushaw Moor

25 Maple Park                                                1 x 3 Bed House

 

Ludworth

Barnard Avenue                                 1 x 2 Bed House

Barnard Avenue                                 1 x 3 Bed House

 

Quarrington Hill

Malcolm Avenue                                1 x 1 Bed Bungalow

 

Dozens of highways defects reported by your Lib Dem councillors

We have been reporting pavement and road defects across our area over the last few weeks and will continue to do so until we care confident that the council is doing its job properly. The state of some of the pavements I have been checking has been truly appalling and I can confirm that a huge number of repairs are to take place as a result of our action. Here’s an example of one which has just been fixed:

BEFORE:

BEKFOOTPATH2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER:

WP_20150602_13_14_27_Pro

 

Clowns to the left of us jokers to the right

So first we hear about the Tories intending to scrap the Human Rights Act, and now we find that Teresa May is trying to censor TV programs. Didn’t take long for them to revert to their old ways and surely this shows just how hard the Lib Dems had to work to stop the rightwingers in the Tory party.

And locally, we have a Labour-run council with over £150m in reserves, setting a budget based on 1.5% inflation when inflation is zero, over estimating borrowing costs by £5m a year, and cooking up ways to stop work being tendered at a competitive price.

Proof if ever we needed it of the statement “Clowns to the left of us jokers to the right”.

Hardly surprising that over 13,000 people have already joined the Lib Dems since the General Election.

Being run locally by Labour and nationally by the Tories is more and more going to illustrate why we need a strong liberal voice in our country and our county.

Windlestone Hall back in the news – Remember Labour selling the million pound stately home sale for £241,000?

A few years back it was uncovered that our Labour-run council had sold off a stately home with acres of land for just £241,000 despite some estimates putting the value at £2.4m! Well its back in the news today:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/12966486.Sale_of_historic_hall_set_to_collapse_amid_bitter_legal_dispute/?ref=mr&lp=1

Always worth a reminder of how our council wastes money.

Labour councillors in insider contract scandal

At yesterday’s full council meeting Labour councillors voted to give priority to its internal Direct Services works department, even if it could be shown that getting the work done by a local business would be half the price.

It is seldom realised but every council department buys things from other departments. These departments apply a profit – 15-20% is not uncommon – and in some but not all cases may be significantly more expensive than the cheapest of three quotes from local companies outside the Council.

A number of weeks ago at a constitutional working group meeting, our group leader Cllr Amanda Hopgood challenged plans to force all council departments use the council’s own contractor for any project Direct Services were capable of doing. Labour refused to budge on this, so today I called for a vote on it. And all Labour councillors backed their Cabinet – only for some of them in private afterwards to say that I was right!!!!!

So if a council department needs some work doing, knows it would cost £10,000 to go to an outside contractor but is now forced to use Service Direct, they will end up paying more, perhaps double and have £10,000 less to spend on other important services such as highways repairs, adult care, children’s services, youth services or any other important work.

This is not a fit and proper way to run a public service.

What makes this a double disgrace is that by removing any element of competition from the millions of pounds of contracts which will apply, the Council is seriously undermining the ability of our small businesses to grow, damaging the entrepreneurial spirit and growth potential of the County, and creating an inefficiency charter inside the Authority. This will mean less can be done, and Labour will seek to blame the government if they can’t afford to do something.

Please spread this story far and wide so everyone in County Durham knows about these underhand and wasteful practices. In the meantime, we are going to keep looking for a way to stop these practices.

Wolsingham Drive Drain – Can you spot another in a worse state?

 

UPDATE!! Reported one day, repaired the next! Job well done. As your local councillors  we should not have to keep reporting these things, but until the council gets its act together we will continue to do so, which is why we are continually going around the area reporting pavement and road defects. please let us know of any.

wolsingham drive drain2

 

 

 

 

If you find any gulley/drain in a worse state of repair around Newton Hall, Framwellgate Moor, Brasside or Pity Me, please email us a photo and we will do our best to get the council to repair it. This one has sunk down and driving over it is pretty dangerous now, so we are hoping our reporting of it will see it fixed pretty quickly.

wolsingham drive drain