Defibrillator scheme: Phase One well underway

We recently completed the first stage of our project to have defibrillators installed across the Blackhall division.

We have completed the applications for funding from the Neighbourhood Budget and these have been submitted to the Area Action Partnership (AAP) Funding Team for their assessment.

The initial stage of our project includes installing defibrillators in Blackhall Colliery and Castle Eden. We intend to consult with residents in the other villages in our ward during the next financial year (which begins next month) to see if they would like to have defibrillators in their communities and then, if they do, agree on a suitable location.

We are always keen to hear your views on local matters so if you have any ideas on where defibrillators would be useful please let us know.

Extended summer opening hours for Household Waste Recycling Centres

We have received information from Durham County Council confirming extended summer season opening hours for Household Waste Recycling Centres across the county. Further information is available by clicking on the links below:

From Wednesday, 1 April until Wednesday 30, September, household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) at Annfield Plain, Potterhouse Lane, Tudhoe, Seaham, Heighington Lane, Romanway and Middleton-in-Teesdale will be open seven days a week from 9am until 6pm.

The Hett Hills and Stainton Grove sites will be open on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays between 9am and 6pm.

Sites at Thornley, Coxhoe and Horden will be open between 10am and 4pm, Mondays to Thursdays, and 9am until 6pm on weekends and Bank Holidays.

John Shannon, strategic waste manager at Durham County Council, said: “Extended summer opening hours mean residents can access household waste recycling centre sites for longer, particularly after they finish work, and they can dispose of larger items, free of charge.”

Residents using a van, pickup, minibus or towing a trailer to dispose of their household waste must use a waste permit. Visit www.durham.gov.uk/householdpermit or call 03000 261 000 to apply for a waste permit.

People in Weardale can dispose of their household waste at a mobile site in Frosterley, just off the A689, on alternative Saturday mornings, between 9am and 12pm. The site is a non-waste permit scheme site.

Waste produced by businesses and landlords (commercial waste) is not accepted at household waste recycling centres and must be disposed of by a registered waste carrier. For further details on household waste recycling centres visit www.durham.gov.uk/hwrc or call 03000 261 000. For business waste collections visit www.durham.gov.uk/commercialwaste

No change to bin collections over the Bank Holiday period

Durham County Council has given us the following information regarding bin collection times over the Easter Bank Holiday period.

Residents in the Blackhall area should note the arrangements for Good Friday and put out their bins for collection as usual:

Bin collections in County Durham will not be affected during the Easter Bank Holiday period.

Residents can put their bins out on their normal collection day.

Households which have collections on a Friday are reminded to put their bins out when they usually would as collections will still be taking place on Good Friday (April 3).

This includes refuse, recycling and garden waste collections (for those who have signed up to the scheme).

Bins should be put out ready for collection by 7am on the allocated day.

People can find out their collection days by entering their house number and postcode into the ‘MyDurham’ search box on the Durham County Council website at www.durham.gov.uk

For more information about bin collections please visit www.durham.gov.uk/bincollections and to subscribe to the garden waste scheme visit www.durham.gov.uk/gardenwaste or call 03000 261 000.

Roadworks at Blackhall Colliery and Blackhall Rocks

We have been notified of the following roadworks currently taking place in Blackhall Colliery, and due to take place in Blackhall Rocks next week:

Road No.

Location

Description

Traffic Management

Start Date

End Date

Responsibility

A1086

Coast Road, Blackhall Rocks

Loop cutting

2 way lights (off peak)

26 March

26 March

Durham County Council

A1086

Middle Street, Blackhall Rocks

Electric main replacement

2/4 way lights

21 March

31 March

NPG

Our visit to St Joseph's primary school

One of the best parts of being local councillors is having the opportunity to get out and about to meet all the different individuals, groups and organisations working so hard to keep our villages running. 

With that in mind we were delighted to be invited by the staff of St Joseph's RC primary school in Blackhall Colliery to go along and meet their school council members earlier this week to talk about our role as local representatives.

During our visit we discussed many different aspects of village life and we compared our own priorities with those of the children and school, only to find that they were almost identical! The members of the school council placed great emphasis on environmental issues in the village and beyond but also told us about how much they value and respect the older people in our community and how they put this at the very top of their list of priorities.

We were also very impressed with the childrens' knowledge and understanding of local issues and we heard how much they value local services like the library and other community facilities. It was encouraging to learn that the pupils at St Joseph's, just like those at the other schools in our area, continue to forge strong links with our local library on Hesleden Road.

On leaving the school after our visit we felt a sense of pride in the young people of St Joseph's and in particular we noted their politeness, courtesy and willingness to help visitors and each other. Staff, pupils and members of the school council present a very strong and positive school identity and collectively they do themselves and the village proud.

Easter in the Park - Tuesday 31 March 2015

Monk Hesleden Parish Council poster promoting their Easter in the Park event to be held later this month

Positive response to Blackhall library public meeting

Last week East Durham Trust hosted a public meeting at Blackhall Community Centre in order to take a closer look at how our library in Blackhall is run at the moment and how it might be better used and operated in the years ahead if continued public funding cuts eventually put its future at risk (please see post dated 4 March 2015 for background details).

Representatives from the Trust set the context for the meeting by referring to the current service at Blackhall library and offered some ideas on how it could be protected and improved for future generations. They suggested a number of possible options to be considered in doing this and also encouraged as many residents and organisations to comment on its proposals:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/libraryconsultationquestionnaire or call 0191 569 3511

For our part we reported that there were no immediate plans to close libraries in County Durham, at least during the next financial year of 2015-2016. However, given the scale and severity of central government-imposed cuts to local council budgets, and the likelihood of further cuts in the years ahead, we have to be realistic in acknowledging that nothing is certain beyond the next financial year - potentially a period during which many councils will struggle to deliver services as we know them. This was felt to be an important factor in determining how we might want to see our library services delivered in future.

Whilst expressing our strong personal preference for all local authority services to remain in public control, we assured the public meeting that we would work with the residents of Blackhall and the surrounding villages to ensure the future of our library service in whichever format they preferred. We also welcomed the Trust's involvement in helping residents consider all future options for library provision in our area.

Naturally we are delighted that there was such a strong turnout on the evening. The number of residents and organisations coming along to show an interest is certainly seen as a positive indicator of the strength of support for our library and the clear message from those present is that services at Blackhall library should be maintained and that all options in ensuring its future should be taken into account. 

Given the strength of public support demonstrated at the meeting we would now encourage every resident, business or other organisation in and around the Blackhall area to take part in the East Durham Trust survey by using the links above.

We consider it essential that as many residents, organisations and businesses as possible take part in this consultation because evidence of public interest and involvement are vital if members of our community wish to hold on to their local services.

All feedback will be collated and analysed by the Trust over the next few weeks and a follow-up meeting to report on findings will be arranged and advertised in due course.

Cancellation of our next Blackhall ward surgery

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have reluctantly had to cancel our next Blackhall ward surgery which was due to be held at:

Blackhall Library on

Friday 20 March 2015 at 9.30 am

All other ward surgery details* remain unaltered and will go ahead as planned. Remember, if you would like to contact us at any time please go to:

rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or lynn.pounder@durham.gov.uk

* Details of all our ward surgeries can be found on the back page of the Monk Hesleden Parish Council Gazette which is due to be circulated to all homes in the parish area within the next few weeks.

Funding for public access to computers

Recently we completed the funding application to secure the money needed to install new computers in two community venues in our ward.

Public access to computers has become an increasingly important aspect of day-to-day life over the past few years and we are acutely aware that savage central government cuts to local council budgets are continuing to have a significant impact on residents' ability to carry out simple tasks like applying for work.

In an attempt to improve public access to computers in our area we have met with residents and community groups to see what we could do to help. Consequently we have agreed to apply for funding to install new computers at two key community venues, Blackhall Community Association in Blackhall Colliery (shown below) and Kasko House at Blackhall Rocks.

The funding applications will now be assessed by officers at the East Durham Area Action Partnership and we are hopeful that the new computers can be installed at these venues as soon as possible.

The Royal British Legion's Afghanistan commemoration event

We have been contacted by the Royal British Legion, via the chairman's office at County Hall, with a request to publicise a national event to commemorate the end of combat operations in Afghanistan. Specifically the Legion is seeking Afghanistan veterans to take part in the event.

Please see the event notification below and, if you know someone who may qualify to take part, get in touch with the British Legion through the link provided:

I would be grateful for your assistance in publicising opportunities to be part of the National events commemorating the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.

A national commemorative event to mark the end of combat operations in Afghanistan and to honour the contribution of all who played their part will take place in London on Friday 13 March.

It will consist of a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral attended by Her Majesty The Queen, followed by a march by members of the Armed Forces from St Paul's to London's Guildhall.

The service will pay tribute to members of the Armed Forces past and present who served on operations in Afghanistan, and all those in the UK who worked to make the country safer and more stable. It will also reflect on the 453 Service men and women who lost their lives during that campaign.

The Royal British Legion has been asked to bring together a contingent of 400 of those veterans that took part in the campaign to form their own detachment for the parade.  Afterwards, the Royal British Legion will host a lunch reception in their honour at Wellington Barracks at which their close family members will be invited to join them. Those wishing to participate should register their interest at the link below and fuller information about arrangements is available at that website and in the attached.

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/news/general/afghanistan-veterans-tribute-call-for-participation
 

I would be most grateful, notwithstanding the short notice, if this could be publicised widely in order to reach as many Afghanistan veterans as possible, both to give them the opportunity to be involved and to make them aware that they are being honoured in this way.

Exploring new opportunities for Blackhall library

East Durham Trust is to host a public meeting at Blackhall Community Centre on Thursday 12 March 2015 from 5pm until 6pm to look at ways of using Blackhall library more effectively and to ask local residents for their views:

Deep and persistent central government cuts to local authority budgets have meant that councils, particularly those in the North-East, are constantly having to review the delivery of their public services. This includes the library service across County Durham.

Although Blackhall library is currently not under threat of closure it would make sense to consider all future possibilities for running this service. One such consideration may be to take libraries, such as the one at Blackhall, out of Durham County Council control and place it in public or community control. 

The meeting next Thursday is intended to enable residents to have their say on the future of library services in their village, and to allow East Durham Trust to weigh-up the extent of public support, if any, for alternative arrangements for library services in Blackhall.

Given the likelihood of misleading rumours filtering through the community before this event takes place we would be grateful if two very important factors could be held in mind:

• Although council services remain under constant review, Blackhall library is currently not under imminent threat of closure
• The public meeting to be held next week is simply to explore the public's desire to look at different ways of running our library. If residents decide that they would like current arrangements to continue as they are for now then that is what will happen

If you are not able to attend the public meeting on Thursday, but would like to express your views, please go to:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/libraryconsultationquestionnaire or call

0191 569 3511 if you would prefer to have a questionnaire posted to your home.