Street lighting issues at Blackhall Rocks and Crimdon

Earlier this week we received reports from residents at Blackhall Rocks that the street lights were out along the stretch of the coast road at Leaholme Terrace.

We immediately reported the outage for repair and residents reported that the street lights had been fixed but by Wednesday evening they were out again.

Last night we received further reports that the street lights were out at the stretch of highway from Ocean View heading south toward Crimdon.

We again contacted the highways section this morning at county hall to ask for immediate repairs. We felt that urgency was required given the increase in traffic in this area caused by the coast road currently being used as a diversionary route while overnight resurfacing works are carried out on the A19.

We have reproduced the highways team's response in full below. We will report on progress as we receive further updates.

Hi Rob / Lynn,

I have been in touch with street lighting with regards to the reported street light issues. I have been told that there are issues throughout the Coast Road. Street Lighting are currently investigating all the faults in the area. The first section has been left on test (day burning) to see if there is a further issue here and they will be in attendance today to try and resolve the issue with the lights that are out on this stretch.

I have also been told around ¾ of the lights have been repaired and they are working on the rest.

Environmental health update on flies at High Hesleden and Blackhall

We contacted the environmental health section at county hall a few weeks ago following complaints from residents, particularly at High Hesleden, about swarms of flies in the village (see post dated Friday 9 October 2015 for further details).

We have since received an update report from an officer within the environmental health department and we have reproduced his response below in full for information:

Hello Rob and Lynn,

                                     

The area was visited by myself on Tuesday afternoon (13 October) approximately 18.00 hours, at which time it was observed that several fields had been spread with a straw based manure product. The field (east) to the rear of the bungalows had subsequently been ploughed and the field to the side (north) was in winter wheat/barley and was top spread again with a straw based manure.

No odour was noticed at the time of my visit and no flies or rodents were observed.

We are quite surprised that no problems were observed or recorded during the visit as we have had a number of complaints from other residents in surrounding villages and we have also noticed similar problems ourselves in Blackhall Rocks and Blackhall Colliery. We are also aware from previous complaints from residents that this is a regularly recurring issue in the area at this time of the year.

Consequently we have asked that the officer maintains contact with the initial complainant to ensure that the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of residents in the affected areas.

Blackhall Resource Centre hosts "Blackhall Heroes" book launch

Blackhall Resource Centre was packed to the rafters on Saturday 10 October for the event to launch the Local History Group's latest publication "Blackhall Heroes : Second World War, 1939 to 1945".

The event was officially opened by the Chairman of Durham County Council, Cllr Jan Blakey, who congratulated members of the Blackhalls Local History Group for their efforts in gathering such high quality information which would be used to help future generations to understand how local people shaped their communities and the world around them.

Left to right: Lynn, Jan Blakey (Chairman of Durham County Council) and Rob

Members of the Local History Group, both past and present, were also in attendance to welcome visitors to the event, to talk about how they put the book together and also about the plans they had for the future. Grahame Morris MP for Easington also called in to have a chat with residents and members of the History Group.

Left to right: Lynn, Grahame Morris MP and Rob

We would like to record our sincere thanks to members of the Blackhalls Local History Group for kindly inviting us to attend the book launch. It was a fantastic event befitting the publication of such an excellent local history book which will serve well both present and future generations.

We would also like to thank Jan and Grahame for coming along to the event. And last, but certainly not least, we would like to offer our gratitude the many people, both local and visiting, who came out in their numbers to make the day such a great success.

The book costs just £5 and is available from George Robinson & Son, Meikle's Pharmacy and Blackhall Resource Centre, all in Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery.

Flies in Blackhall and High Hesleden

We have received a significant number of complaints over the last day or so from residents in Blackhall Rocks and High Hesleden about odours and plagues of flies reported to be coming from the fields around their homes.

This is a recurrent issue, particularly at this time of the year, and considering previous experience may be related to slurry spreading on the fields around our villages.

We have contacted officers in the Environmental Health section at Durham County Council to ask them to investigate the source of this problem and take whichever action is possible and appropriate to limit the impact on our residents.

Please see posts on this site dated 10 & 11 September 2012 for information relating to this matter.

We're proud to support our Local History Group's latest book

Please click on the link below for an article taken from the Now East Durham online newspaper giving details of the event to be held tomorrow to launch the latest book published by the Blackhall Local History Group:

www.noweastdurham.co.uk

People who are interested in the local history of East Durham should probably head down to Blackhall Resource Centre on Saturday the 10^th of October from 10.30am where Blackhall Local History Group will be launching their new book Blackhall Heroes which details the contributions and sacrifices Blackhall made in the Second World War, with the book launch being attended by the British Legion Standards and Jan Blakey the current Chairman of Durham County Council.

The book is a collection of about 30 stories from local people about the war such as stories passed down by their families and is the final product of about six years of research and collating information by Blackhall Local History Group including treasurer Stanley Grey it is also the book that took the longest to put together out of the five they have done so far which collectively account the history of Blackhall from its early coal mining days to the Second World War. The book was funded by a £2000 donation from Blackhall councillors Rob Crute and Lynn Pounder but also from the History Group’s own pockets which shows it is a real labour of love.

The book comes after a fairly big and busy year for the History Group which saw them receive national coverage for their display on Blackhall in the First World War for the centenary of the war which involved local people and children and was shown in several local primary schools and the group also purchased a new memorial with the help of the North East branch of the Coal Industrial Social Welfare Organisation. It’s hoped that the new book may push more local people into coming forward with their stories about WWII.

So go down on Saturday if your interested as people should make an effort to learn local history as that’s a huge part in what gives an area its identity, or if you want to buy the book they cost £5 and are available in Robinson’s hardware store, Meikle Pharmacy, Blackhall Resource Centre or by contacting Stanley Gray directly through e-mail at stangray@btinternet.com where you can work it out between yourselves. Or if you are really interested you could join the group which are always looking for new members so that you can take part in whatever project the History Group are moving on to next in their effort to record the growth and development of Blackhall.

Roadworks at Glenholme Terrace, Blackhall Colliery

We have received advance notification of roadworks due to be carried out later this month at Glenholme Terrace in Blackhall Colliery.

The works will entail the temporary closure of the road to the rear of Glenholme Terrace and full details are given below:

Glenholme Terrace (rear), Blackhall Colliery

Temporary Road Closure Order

An Order is being made under the provisions of Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 the effect of which will be to close to vehicular traffic from 19 October 2015 a 104 metre length of rear Glenholme Terrace (nos 1-19), Blackhall Colliery.

The closure is necessary to enable electricity supply upgrade works to be undertaken which will probably take some 7 weeks to complete to be carried out to that length of road.

Throughout the period of closure an alternative route will be available to vehicular traffic via the front of Glenholme Terrace (A1086 Coast Road).

Blackhall Heroes of the Second World War

The Blackhalls Local History Group is holding a launch event at Blackhall Resource Centre in Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery this Saturday at 10.30am to introduce their new book Blackhall Heroes of the Second World War.

We are delighted to have been able to give financial support to the History Group in the form of a grant from the council's Neighbourhood Budget and we are very much looking forward to this weekend's event.  

Please do your best to come along to the Resource Centre on Saturday and show your support for the great work of our History Group.

We hope to see you there but if you can't make it we'll be reporting on the event on this site early next week.