The people and school children of Blackhall light their Christmas tree

There was another great turn out tonight for the annual ceremony to light the parish council Christmas tree at Chicken's Green in Blackhall Colliery.

The Christmas tree at Chicken's Green, Blackhall Colliery which was lit up this evening

The chairman of the parish council, Cllr Gaynor Crute, opened the event by introducing the children of Blackhall Colliery and St Joseph's primary schools who sang a selection of seasonal favourites.

Fr Jackson from St Joseph's RC church then offered a blessing for the tree before leading the children in a countdown to the formal lighting up of the tree.

Thanks go to the clerk, chairman and members of Monk Hesleden Parish Council, along with the pupils and staff from both Blackhall Colliery and St Joseph's primary schools for their annual involvement in this ceremony which grows each year in popularity. Thanks also go to Fr Jackson.

Tomorrow night it will be the turn of Hesleden school children and residents to switch on the Christmas tree lights in their village. Please gather on the green outside of Hesleden Methodist chapel at 4pm.

It's time to light the Christmas trees in Hesleden and Blackhall!

You know that Christmas is just around the corner when Monk Hesleden Parish Council lights up its Christmas trees in Blackhall Colliery and Hesleden.

The details for this year's lighting ceremonies are shown below. We look forward to seeing you there!

  

A lighting service for our Christmas tree at Chickens Green, Blackhall will be held on Monday 30th November 2015 at 4.00pm.
Refreshments at St Joseph’s RC Primary School before the service.
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The service for our Hesleden tree will be held on Tuesday 1st December 2015 at 4.00 pm.
Refreshments at the Hesleden Methodist Chapel after the service.
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A sneak preview of Hesleden's Christmas tree for 2015

Consultation on terms and conditions of school support staff

We have been contacted over the past few weeks by teachers, teaching assistants, parents and quite a few others concerned about the potential impact on our schools of the council's proposed changes to the terms and conditions of school support staff (sometimes referred to as Teaching Assistants).

Rob and Lynn talking with primary school children from Blackhall and Hesleden at an event earlier this year at Blackhall Welfare Hall

As school governors in four separate schools across our ward we both see first-hand the tremendous dedication and hard work of our support staff and we completely understand the frustration they feel at the council's proposals, which are currently subject to a period of consultation.

We believe that the commitment of TA's has a hugely beneficial effect in the classroom, and consequently on the educational attainment of all our children, so we appreciate the real risks involved in appearing to undervalue support staff. Consequently we are determined to ensure that their concerns are considered and fully understood as part of the consultation process.

To this end we are compiling a dossier of all correspondence we receive relating to this matter which we will then forward to the offices of the relevant director and cabinet members at county hall, along with our own representations in support.

If you have an interest in this matter, and you haven't already done so, we would encourage you to contact the council as part of the current formal consultation process and have your say on the proposals.

In the meantime we have responded personally to all correspondence we have received and we have assured those who have made the effort to contact us that they have our continued support.   

Update on street light repair delays in Blackhall Colliery

Following our post on this site yesterday morning regarding street lighting problems in Blackhall Colliery, we have received the following update from the construction manager in the neighbourhood services section of Durham County Council. 

From his comments it would appear that Northern Power Grid is responsible for repairs to this section of lights, rather than the county council. With that in mind we will continue to apply pressure to the relevant agency to have these lights repaired as soon as possible:

The street lighting is out due to Northern Power Grid supply failure, this has been reported to NPG on 17th November we have requested their attendance as soon as possible. The first report of this section of lights being out to DCC was on the 10th November. We attended on 16th November and placed an order on NPG to restore on the 17th November. They have until the 8th January 2016 to restore however they normally attend outages such as this well before this target date. We will keep pressure on NPG to restore for an urgent attendance.

John Dent

Construction Manager

Neighbourhood Services

Durham County Council

Telephone: 03000 269229

Calls for more efficient street light repairs

We have become increasingly concerned recently about the council's failure to react to requests for street light repairs in our villages. 

Consequently we have written this morning to the street lighting engineer and relevant director at county hall asking them for an explanation for the delays to repair requests and also an indication of which measures the council proposes to take to rectify this problem.

The A1086 and B1281 junction in darkness at 6.40 this morning (Thursday 19 November)
(Taken from Chicken's Green, Emmerson Court can be seen at the left of the image with St Joseph's RC church to the right)

Please see below our correspondence to the street lighting engineer and director of neighbourhood services at county hall:

Despite repeated requests for street lighting repairs over many weeks we are seeing no progress whatsoever in Blackhall Colliery. There is one recent incident which gives us particular concern:

We came past the busy A1086/B1281 junction at St Joseph's in Blackhall at 6.30 yesterday morning (18 November) and there was very nearly a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian. This was caused undoubtedly by the junction being in complete darkness and we are concerned that it is only a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously injured because of street lighting faults. The fault here has been reported yet there have been no repairs nor has there been an explanation for any delay.

There are also further examples of individual street lights in the area which are reported for repair but which remain in darkness for weeks on end. We are then left to try and explain the lack of activity on the council’s part and we are running short of excuses to the point it becomes embarrassing to have to continuously defend the council’s position. One particular example is street light No819 at the corner of Fifth Street and the rear of East Street in Blackhall Colliery. We have reported this for repair on three separate occasions over the past three weeks (in addition to previous reports from residents in the area) yet the street remains in darkness, without explanation.

We would be grateful if you could let us know the reasons behind these persistent delays in street light repairs and also advise of what the council intends to do to rectify this particularly irritating and dangerous problem.

Friends of Blackhall Library

For some time now we have been involved in the early stages of establishing the Friends of Blackhall Library group which is intended to give local people the opportunity to play a part in supporting and sustaining their library service in Blackhall.

Membership of the group is open to anyone in the Monk Hesleden parish area and details of the next meeting of the group are shown below in a reproduction of a poster being distributed by the library manager Carol Close:

Friends of Blackhall Library

We are looking for volunteers from the Monk Hesleden parish area to create a ‘Friends of Blackhall Library’ group.

We would like people from all areas of the parish to represent the individual needs of the different localities.

A meeting is being held on 

Thursday 3 December at 5.30pm in the Library.

Please come and join us!

For more details contact Carol on 03000 269505

A devolution deal for the North East. Who will it benefit?

Over recent weeks details have begun to emerge through local media outlets of a North East devolution offer from chancellor George Osborne. 

Almost every report to be found on this subject gives the impression that a devolution deal, with a directly-elected mayor being forced on the whole of the North East region, is a done deal signed off between Osborne and the leaders of the seven local authorities in the region. This is a misleading and inaccurate approach, intended perhaps to give the impression that all is done and dusted and that there is no turning back. 

Given that the imposition of a directly elected mayor on the North East region would prove extremely unpopular with the people we think that this matter is far too important to be railroaded through. For this reason we thought it would be helpful to clarify a few details here in the hope that it will better inform the people of the region about what awaits should the devolution proposals be accepted.

Firstly, the deal is not yet finalised despite claims in most media reports. The leaders of the seven North East local authorities have simply agreed with Osborne to move negotiations on to the next stage. This level includes the option of signing a devolution deal at some point in the future if a number of conditions can be satisfactorily met. 

Those conditions include agreement on a fair funding settlement for local councils through the chancellor's comprehensive spending review statement scheduled for 25 November, further consultation with the public (for county Durham residents this will mean a postal vote on the proposals) and finally the agreement of all seven constituent local authorities.

We think that the potential impact of the devolution offer will be so wide-reaching for our residents and communities that anything less than full engagement with the public, including a binding public vote, would be unacceptable and be seen as such by the people of our region. Part of that process of course must include starting a public debate on the proposals so that people will know exactly what they are being asked to vote on.

Durham County Council, along with the Area Action Partnerships, will be holding a series of consultation events in the coming months, leading up to the ballot to be held at some point in the new year.

We would encourage everyone to attend these sessions to help them to find out as much as they can about the devolution proposals and what they will really mean for our people and their communities in terms of funding and governance arrangements.

Our personal position is that Osborne's devolution proposal in its current form, and on his terms, offers nothing of any real benefit for the people of the North East but please get in touch and let us know what you think.

Remembrance Sunday at Blackhall Colliery

Remembrance Sunday commemoration services will be held throughout the county this coming Sunday 8 November when we will honour the sacrifice made by many in defence of our country during two world wars and other conflicts over the years.

We will be laying a wreath on behalf of the members of Durham County Council at the memorial in Blackhall Colliery Welfare Park and we have also arranged for a buffet to be made available at Blackhall Cricket Club immediately after the ceremony. All are welcome.

The memorial garden at Blackhall Colliery Welfare Park

Please gather at the main gates of Blackhall Welfare Park, Blackhall Colliery at 10.50am

Please note that there will also be services held at other venues throughout our ward including at Hesleden Methodist Chapel and at Castle Eden