Officers from Durham Constabulary were in attendance, accompanied by representatives from the Neighbourhood Warden service and the Private Sector Initiatives office, to listen to the concerns of residents from Blackhall, Hesleden and Castle Eden.
At the beginning of the meeting police officers gave an update on the latest reported and recorded crime and incident figures for the area which compared quite favourably to those given at the February meeting. It is felt that better reporting and recording measures, as encouraged at last month's meeting, are responsible for this improvement. Progress was also reported on issues raised since the last meeting, again with a number of positive outcomes. However, we are still at an early stage in the process and there is no room for complacency.
Next the Neighbourhood Wardens reported on progress with environmental issues since the last meeting. Here it was generally felt that significant progress had been made over the last month, particularly as a result of more effective clearances of the back yards of empty private sector properties. This had been achieved partly through the work carried out during Operation Spruce-Up earlier this month, and partly because of the increased local attention through additional street walkabouts we've held with the police and wardens.
It was also reported by the environmental team that an advice leaflet containing useful local information and contact details for each of the authorities was currently being produced. It is intended to circulate this leaflet widely throughout the village as soon as residents have had the opportunity to comment on its proposed content.
Following the update and progress reports there was an opportunity for members of the public to question officers and also raise further issues of concern which had come to light since the February meeting. Some of those issues are reported below.
Residents from Castle Eden raised concerns about the ongoing problem of speeding vehicles along the B1281, especially between Hesleden and Castle Eden. We updated the meeting on our work with the police to address this issue, which had come much more to the fore since works to remove spoil from the pit heap at Hesleden had commenced. The police have agreed to follow this matter up in greater detail and have also agreed to request an update on the traffic survey carried out by the police force's Traffic Management Officer a couple of years ago (please see posts dated Saturday 6 February 2016 & Saturday 25 November 2017 for background details to our previous involvement in this matter).
From Blackhall there were concerns raised by residents about a number of ongoing crime and disorder issues which, although some had been given increased attention and in some cases had seen a positive outcome, remained partly unresolved. Police officers offered to meet with residents individually immediately after the meeting to discuss separate issues in further detail.
Concerns were also raised again about the poor condition of some private rented sector properties in the Colliery area. This presented a problem to the authorities given the evident conflict between the responsibilities of private sector landlords to maintain their properties and ensure the good behaviour of their tenants, and the limited powers available to the council and other agencies to enforce those responsibilities.
A suggestion was made that more money should be made available to the authorities to improve housing in the village. Naturally this notion received almost unanimous support but the reality is that we live in times of dire central government-imposed austerity in which resources are systematically being taken away from our councils and communities rather than the other way around. And it goes without saying that private investors and property developers will invest their money only where there is a realistic prospect of a decent profit margin.
Although there was a call for the authorities to meet their moral obligation to provide decent housing it must be recognised that because of eight years of hard-hitting funding cuts many authorities are currently struggling to meet even their legal obligations to provide services. Moral obligations are indeed a fine principle, but until the government meets its own obligation to properly fund our public services moral obligations will remain nothing more than a glorified wish list. The current government has taken more than £200m from our local council alone as part of its unnecessary and unfair austerity regime, with the promise of many years of savage funding cuts yet to come, and this is having a devastating impact on our communities.
We believe that the government has a moral obligation to give us our money back!
Other technical housing-related matters were raised, relating mainly to the differences between an Accredited Landlords Scheme and a Selective Licensing Scheme (we have already requested a Selective Licensing Scheme for Blackhall and our notes from the last PACT meeting dated Friday 23 February 2018 give further details). Housing officers have agreed to continue discussions with us on those matters along with other suggestions that came to light last night.
From talking to residents both before and after last night's meeting there appears to be general but cautious satisfaction with progress since the last PACT meeting held in February, especially in relation to street scene and environmental improvements. However, it's felt that if the police are to get fully on top of local crime and anti-social behaviour problems it's important that residents continue to report issues as soon as they notice them. In addition, it is imperative that local councils and partner agencies are given the powers they so desperately need to hold to account the handful of irresponsible private sector landlords who continue to wilfully disregard our public safety by letting their properties to known troublemakers. If there is any moral obligation to be met, then surely it lies with this sector.
Please note that this is not intended as a comprehensive record of events at last night's meeting. Rather it is a personal account of the main issues raised, and especially those considered to be of most relevance to the greatest number of local residents.
The next PACT meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday 18 April 2018 at 7pm. As yet no venue has been confirmed so we will post full details as soon as we are notified of arrangements. Please note police advice that immediate and consistent reporting of all incidents is vital, and please continue to report all incidents to the relevant authorities as soon as they happen.
In the meantime, if you have any council related issues you would like to discuss with us please come along to one of our regular monthly ward surgeries or contact us in the usual way.
