High Hesleden to Monk Hesleden roadworks deferred

Following our recent post advising that we had received notification from the highways section at county hall that scheduled resurfacing works were due to commence on the road between High Hesleden and Monk Hesleden on 3 June 2018, we have now received confirmation that the works have been deferred (please see post dated Friday 25 May 2018 for background details): 

Please note the details in the email received below from the highways section:

Further to the email of Friday 25/05/18, the resurfacing works scheduled for Monk Hesleden from Sunday 03/06/18 has been deferred until later in the resurfacing programme.

I will let you know when a new date has been programmed.

Steven Galloway

Tel 03000 267095 

New Multi-Agency Partnership for Blackhall Colliery

At the Blackhall PACT meeting held two weeks ago we reported that we'd received complaints from local residents at our ward surgeries that monthly PACT meetings were becoming bogged down with council and housing-related issues when they were really meant to deal with crime and disorder incidents and other police-related matters. We also spoke about how we thought a local broad-based partnership would help to more effectively address a number of anti-social and environmental issues linked primarily to tenants of properties in the private rented sector (please see post dated Friday 18 May 2018 for further details).

We said at the PACT meeting that we would establish a local partnership group as soon as possible so we're delighted to report that the first meeting of the new Blackhall Multi-Agency Partnership (MAP) took place this morning at the Resource Centre in Middle Street. Alongside us both we had representation from the parish council, local PCSO's, police, environmental and neighbourhood wardens and the county council's private sector housing office. The local residents' representative wasn't able to attend on this occasion due to prior commitments, and representation from accredited private sector landlords in the village will be invited to future meetings.

This morning's initial meeting was held with the primary purpose of establishing a number of key issues and objectives: 
 

• Build a profile of the location(s) most closely associated with the problems raised at recent PACT meetings. This would include a breakdown of all properties into type of tenure (for example owner-occupied, social-rented sector and private-rented sector)
• Establish an accurate picture of the nature and extent of anti-social and environmental issues reported in that particular location
• Consider which measures are most appropriate in dealing with local issues as and when they arise. This includes our previously stated aim of establishing a Selective Licensing Scheme which will cover all private sector landlords in the village, and also short-term measures to address reported anti-social and environmental problems in the interim period
• Establish a clear reporting and recording mechanism for all incidents. This has begun already with the distribution of leaflets containing contact information for each type of incident and responsible agency
• Build a strong and effective communication network to ensure that all reported and recorded incidents are dealt with efficiently from a single point of contact

Members of the partnership have agreed to adopt a "time-limited project" approach for an initial 6-month period with the aim of meeting at least once a month and also on an ad hoc basis. We've also agreed to continue our regular walkabouts in the village to monitor the development and impact of the initiatives identified in the list above. We will report on progress and significant developments as and when they arise.

Please note that the new Blackhall MAP described above is a representative co-ordinating body and is not intended to replace either the regular Blackhall PACT meetings or our monthly ward surgeries.

Monthly PACT meetings will continue as advertised, giving residents the opportunity to speak directly to police representatives about neighbourhood crime and disorder incidents or other police-related matters.

Our monthly ward surgeries will also continue as they are, giving residents the opportunity to meet with us face to face to discuss any local, council-related matters they might have (please see post dated Friday 27 April 2018 for full details of times, dates and venues).

Reach for the Beach on the Durham Heritage Coast

CRIMDON and THE DURHAM HERITAGE COAST: The annual Reach for the Beach event started today along the Durham coast and will run until Sunday 3 June. 

Once again Lynn and I are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work alongside the East Durham Area Action Partnership to support this fantastic free event.

Please follow the link below for the Heritage Coast leaflet showing full details:

http://www.durhamheritagecoast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2018/05/HERITAGE-COAST-RFTB-FESTIVAL-LEAFLET.pdf

Temporary road closure: High Hesleden - Monk Hesleden

We have received advance notification that the road between High Hesleden and Monk Hesleden is to be closed for three days next month to enable road resurfacing works to take place:

U28.18 road to Monk Hesleden

Temporary Road Closure

The County Council intend to close to vehicular traffic from 7.00 am on Sunday 3 June 2018 a 560 metre length of Unc road 28.18 that extends eastwards and northwards from Vicars Croft, Monk Hesleden.

The closure, which is being effected by means of Notice under Section 14(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984,  is necessary to enable carriageway resurfacing works which will probably take some 3 days (7am – 7pm per day) to complete to be carried out to that length of road.

Throughout the period of closure an alternative route will not be available to vehicles.

Road works in Castle Eden later this month

We have received notification of the following road works scheduled to take place in Castle Eden during the next two weeks:

B1281	Hudworth Tower, Castle Eden	Street lighting	2 way lights (9:30am - 3:30pm)	31 May	31 May	Durham County Council
C22	Stockton Road, Castle Eden	Telecom cabling work	2 way lights (9:00am - 4:00pm)	21 May	22 May	British Telecom

Notes from the May PACT meeting

The latest Blackhall PACT meeting was held on Wednesday 16 May at Blackhall Community Centre. The meeting was hosted as usual by Durham police representatives with assistance from a local PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) and representatives from the Neighbourhood Warden service (please see posts dated Friday 23 February, Friday 20 March & Wednesday 16 May for previous PACT meeting notes and updates).

The meeting started with the police reporting the recorded crime figures for the past month. Because these statistics can be confusing and open to misrepresentation it was clarified that the figures relate to recorded or reported incidents, and not to actual crime figures. An example was given where someone had inadvertently rang the emergency number and this was recorded as a statistic although there had been no actual crime committed. This could have the undesired effect of distorting crime figures to make them look much worse than they actually are, so please be wary when someone quotes crime figures at you and they seem higher than they should be.

On a separate note, quite a few residents have approached us recently expressing their concerns that PACT meetings were becoming somewhat weighed down by housing issues when these ought to be addressed elsewhere. We were told that this was acting as a deterrent to people wanting to come to PACT meetings. It was becoming apparent that people were coming to our ward surgeries to report crime and police-related matters when they should have been directed to PACT meetings. Likewise, it has become clear over the past few months that one or two residents have been raising housing or council-related issues at PACT meetings when they would have been more effectively dealt with either at our ward surgeries or by direct contact with the council at: durham.gov.uk

So to try and restore the correct balance between PACT meetings and ward surgeries we recommended to residents that a local working group should be established to assess the impact locally of anti-social behaviour when it is linked directly to tenants and properties in the private rented sector. The group would then consider long-term and short-term options to deal with those problems and then monitor progress with any recommended measures. This proposal received overwhelming support from those residents present. We will now work with partners to establish the group as soon as practicable.

Please note that PACT meetings will continue to be held every month as usual to enable residents to come along and talk directly to the police and wardens about any crime, disorder or other police-related issues they might have. Equally, our regular monthly ward surgeries will continue as usual to enable people to meet us face to face to talk about any council related matters (please see post dated Friday 27 April for our ward surgery times and venues).

In the event of an incident police advice remains the same:

In an emergency call 999 or in a non-emergency call 101. Go to https://www.gov.uk/contact-police for additional information.

The main focus of the meeting on Wednesday was predictably the events of last weekend caused by an incident in Eighth Street, Blackhall Colliery. Three people had been arrested as a result, with two remanded in custody and the third released on bail to an address outside of the area. There had been a prolonged period of relative calm since the events in Tenth Street at the turn of the year so the incident in Eighth Street was greeted with considerable disappointment by all present and understandable anger from those residents directly involved.

There followed a discussion about the perceived failure of the criminal justice system, with residents suggesting that while the police were doing their level best against a backdrop of ongoing austerity with cuts to police numbers and local council budgets, there were additional problems created for communities further down the line when people who had been arrested were subsequently released by magistrates against the wishes of the police. This was leading to further criminal activity on our streets with an increase in fear of retaliatory attacks. Ultimately this was leading to a loss of confidence in the entire criminal justice system. 

As we indicated on Wednesday evening we have now written to the Durham Police Crime and Victims Commissioner (PCVC) Ron Hogg to ask if he would be able to make representations at a co-ordinated level on behalf of our communities. We will report back on any developments as soon as we receive a response from the PCVC's office.

The next PACT meeting is scheduled for June and the police will release details closer to the time.

Housing office update on recent Blackhall PACT meetings

Since the Blackhall PACT meeting held at the Blackhall Resource Centre in February we have maintained close contact with local police and officers from the private sector housing section at county hall to maintain a keen focus on local housing related issues (please see post dated Friday 23 February 2018 for background information).

In advance of this evening's PACT meeting we have asked for a summary of recent developments from a housing perspective. We have published the housing officer's response in full below:

 
Officers from the council attended the February PACT meeting to hear the residents’ concerns. From there an action plan was drafted to address the issues along with a summary ‘You said – We did’ document. Both documents were issued and discussed with attendees of the March PACT meeting.
Issues raised at PACT meetings and actions to date from the council’s perspective:

·       Numbers 28 & 66 Tenth Street and the issues the tenants were causing. Both properties are private rented properties and the private sector initiatives team worked with the landlords and helped them to legally end the tenancies. The landlord is to ensure future tenants are vetted in order to make an informed decision of whether to accommodate them or not.

·       Untidy yards – rubbish in yards and streets. Operation Spruce up was undertaken, which addressed these issues. In addition to this street cleansing was undertaken. The council will continue pursue ongoing and new issues through the CPW/CPN process where people do not comply.

·       Drugs and drug use – residents are fearful of going to the shops on an evening due to druggies in the street. A review was carried out relating to drug dealers and drug users and work will continue with the substance misuse teams to address the issues including enforcement where offences are identified.

·       Contact numbers / access to reporting issues – residents advised that they don’t know where to ring to report things. A leaflet has been produced and distributed.

Weekly surgeries were arranged to give residents the opportunity to meet staff from police and DCC and raise any issues they have. After holding two surgeries with nobody attending it was decided that surgeries were probably not the forum residents really required. If the residents feel this is something they would require in the future they can be resurrected at any time.

·       Residents are unhappy with private landlords housing people from outside of the area. Unfortunately the council cannot tell a landlord who they can and cannot house. We can however, encourage landlords to work with us and become accredited which gives them access to the councils tenant referencing scheme.

With regards to selective licensing the council is currently considering the future of selective licensing within the county as many data sets across the spectrum of intelligence for individual areas needs to be assessed.

Private sector housing

The current situation with the private rented sector in Blackhall is since April 2017 we have received 22 complaints for the area, of these 11 were for empty homes and 11 related to tenancy issues. All were dealt with immediately as they were received and all landlords engaged with us. As you are aware a landlord cannot just  ‘get a tenant out’ of their property, as residents have called for in some instances, there is a legal process to follow or a landlord could face prosecution. We work to advise the landlord of their legal obligations at all times. With the high profile nature of some issues caused by a couple of tenants the private sector initiatives officer worked very closely with the landlord and  policing colleagues to resolve the issues that had been caused.

The Seagull, Crimdon

Following further complaints received recently from members of the public about the poor condition of The Seagull former public house at Crimdon we have been in touch again with the planning enforcement office at county hall to ask for an update on progress with our most recent request for investigation (please see post dated Sunday 8 October 2017 for background details).



An image of The Seagull taken in October last year

The planning enforcement team at county hall has confirmed this morning that the case has now been reopened and that investigations, including additional site visits to ascertain the level of deterioration since last year, will be carried out.

We will report on any significant developments as soon we receive further reports from the planning enforcement team.

Supporting our local community centre

Regular visitors to the Blackhall Community Centre on Hesleden Road will have noticed that there has been considerable damage recently to the ceiling in the main hall. This was caused by rain gradually seeping through a hole in the roof. Although this has been a little unsightly it is commendable that centre staff have been able to maintain business as usual without any major disruption.

We met earlier this year with the centre manager to see if we would be able to help in any way to have the roof and ceiling fixed and we're delighted to have received confirmation this week that we've been able to secure over £4,500 to assist with roof repairs.

We are grateful to the East Durham AAP (Area Action Partnership) for their support in securing this funding which we hope will help our community centre to go from strength to strength without missing a stride.

Please note that this is just the latest in a long series of successful local funding projects we've been able to support over the years. In that time we have secured many thousands of pounds of investment in our communities and the many individual groups and organisations that help to keep them going. Please either contact us direct or go to the drop down list elsewhere on this site for further information on specific schemes and projects.  

Blackhall Colliery (PACT) issues update

Those residents keeping a close watch on local issues will be aware already that we have been working closely for some time with the police and housing officers from Durham County Council to seek workable solutions to a number of crime and anti-social behaviour issues linked to tenants of properties in the private rented sector over the past few months.

Back in February we called on the local authority to consider a range of options to address these matters by evaluating proven, effective methods of regulating housing in the private sector. We asked that the council specifically consider implementing a selective licensing scheme which would oblige landlords in the private sector to comply with certain criteria to bring them broadly in line with lettings criteria in the social sector. This would include the proper vetting of prospective tenants and keeping properties in an acceptable condition amongst others (please see post dated Friday 23 February 2018 for background details).

When we met last week with the relevant cabinet member at county hall we were assured that our request is being considered and that all possible implications are currently being investigated to establish how effective a selective licensing scheme would be under certain separate conditions. We will update on progress with this development in due course.

We acknowledge that a selective licensing scheme could take time to implement (due to a statutory period of consultation with stakeholders including residents, tenants and landlords) and a potential request to the secretary of state for consent to implement a scheme if it exceeds a defined number of properties in any particular location. So in the meantime we have asked housing officers to consider a range of suitable short-term measures to address any incidents of anti-social behaviour associated with tenants in the private rented sector. It should be noted of course that as these are often criminal matters the police will take the initial lead. We have expressed to officers the urgency of these matters and we will update on developments with any proposed interim measures in due course.

In relation to the most recent incident last Friday evening the police have released details of their involvement confirming that 3 persons have been charged and remanded to court. We have asked that all relevant details be passed to the private sector housing office at county hall to enable officers there to follow up. The housing office has confirmed this morning that they are now in possession of those details and that officers have begun their investigations, beginning with contact with the landlord.

Finally, as it appears there is still some confusion locally about who to contact in the event of council related queries (including those relating to housing in the private sector and associated policy queries) we would advise residents to either contact the council direct at durham.gov.uk, contact us in the usual way or come along and talk to us face to face at one of our four monthly ward surgeries (please go to the article dated Friday 27 April 2018 for full details).

We will update on progress with local issues as soon as there are any significant developments.

Road works scheduled for the Blackhalls ward

We have received advance notification of road works scheduled to take place soon in parts of our county ward.

Please see full details below:

A19	Wellfield to Sheraton	Carriageway resurfacing	Road closure southbound (8:00pm - 6:00am), diversion via B1320, A1086, A179	15 July	27 July	Autolink
B1280	Salters Lane, Wellfield	Drainage repairs	2 way lights (9:30am - noon)	18 May	18 May	Durham County Council
B1281	Hudworth Tower, Castle Eden	Street lighting	2 way lights (9:30am - 3.30pm)	31 May	31 May	Durham County Council