Highway resurfacing works in Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery

We have received confirmation that Middle Street in Blackhall Colliery is to be closed on separate Saturdays next month to allow for highway resurfacing works to be carried out:

A1086

Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery

Carriageway resurfacing

Road closure (7:00am - 7:00pm, Saturdays only)

6 October

13 October

Durham County Council

Crimdon access road closure scheduled for next month

We have received notification that road access to Crimdon Dene Holiday Park from the A1086 Coast Road is to be closed on Sunday 14 October 2018 to allow for railway bridge safety assessment works to be carried out.

Please note full details below:

Unclassified Northern Access Road to Crimdon Dene Holiday Park, Crimdon

Temporary Road Closure

The County Council intend to close to vehicular traffic, excluding access by emergency service vehicles, from 8.00am on Sunday 14 October 2018 a 62 metre length of the unclassified northern access road to Crimdon Dene Holiday Park from the junction with A1086 Coast Road to just beyond the railway bridge.

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 safety examination of railway bridge structure works and will probably take 1 day (between 8am-3pm) to complete to be carried out to that length of road.

Throughout the period of closure no diversion will be required.

Weather-related issues in the Blackhalls Ward

As you will no doubt be aware the weather conditions last night were a bit lively, with rain and strong winds lashing our villages for most of the night. This resulted in some of the villages in our area losing electricity supplies overnight. Most of the homes in the Colliery streets had power back by 5.30 am but some parts of our villages remained in the dark.

For power/electricity queries please go to: http://www.northernpowergrid.com/

Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery after heavy rainfall on a previous occasion

Today of course is also our bin collection day. As usual many households put their bins out last night, perhaps not expecting the winds to be so strong. Unfortunately some of those bins have blown over and litter and debris has been left strewn along some of our streets.

We have submitted a request for the streets to be cleared as soon as possible after the bins have been collected. For information the CRM serial number, which enables you to check progress online is: FS-Case-30863344. However, there is sure to be considerable weather-related damage across the whole county so please allow time for the clean and green team to get around to clearing our streets.

Any additional concerns about litter, missed bins and other council-related matters should be directed through the council's website at: http://www.durham.gov.uk/recycling 

Measures taken to control dust from the Hesleden pit heap operation

Following complaints from residents in Hesleden about dust blowing around the village recently, causing a considerable nuisance, we contacted the site manager and received the following statement:

At this time we can only apologise, due to the extraordinary high winds site operations were ceased today (Wednesday) but they continued with water and dust suppression agents. We have ordered some stockpile netting as another measure.

We are in continual contact with Mike Tweddle at the Council and site operations will not commence unless conditions are deemed satisfactory to do so.

Site are continually monitoring the situation and doing everything they can to try to limit any further problems during these extreme conditions.

We will keep you informed of any further updates or progress.

We will continue to monitor the situation and keep all lines of communication open.

Road-works scheduled to take place in the Blackhall area

We have been notified of the following road-works scheduled to take place in the Blackhalls Division of Durham County Council over the next few weeks:

A1086

Coast Road, Blackhall Rocks

Street lighting works

2 way lights (9:00am - 3:30pm)

25 September

25 September

Durham County Council

A1086

Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery

Carriageway resurfacing

Road closure (7:00am - 7:00pm, Saturdays only)

6 October

13 October

Durham County Council

A179 / B1280

A19 Sheraton interchange

Junction improvements

Phased traffic lights, lane restrictions and turning restrictions

24 September 2018

April 2019

Durham County Council

A179 / B1280

A19 Sheraton interchange

Sign installation

2 way lights (9:00am - 3:30pm)

17 September

17 September

Durham County Council

And those scheduled to take place in the neighbouring Horden Division which may have an impact on residents from our villages:

A1086	Coast Road, Horden	Street lighting works	2 way lights (7:00am - 2:00pm), manual control	16 September	16 September	Durham County Council
A1086	Coast Road, Horden	Street lighting works	2 way rolling lights (9:30am - 3:00pm)	25 September	27 September	Durham County Council

A1086 / B1320

Coast Road / Yoden Way, Horden

Aldi development - new electric supply

2/3 way lights as required (manual control at peak times)

22 September

30 September

Northern Powergrid

Boundary Commission's final recommendations submitted to parliament

In February 2016 the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) announced a new review of Parliamentary constituencies in England.

Last year we submitted our final comments on the BCE's review recommendations as part of their consultation process. The BCE has now submitted its final report to parliament, including a recommendation that the villages of the Blackhalls Division of DCC be removed from the Easington parliamentary constituency and placed in a new, revised Hartlepool parliamentary constituency.

Naturally we are disappointed at the BCE's recommendation to place our villages in a new Hartlepool parliamentary constituency, and our comments published in December last year outlined our reasons for that position (please see the post dated Friday 8 December 2017 for details of our objections).

If the BCE's final recommendations are subsequently endorsed by parliament it should be noted that they will relate to parliamentary boundaries only. Council ward boundaries and services will remain unchanged.

Please follow the link below for full details:

2018 Review | Boundary Commission for England 
https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/boundary-commission-for-england-publishes-final-recommendations-for-new-constituency-boundaries/

Scheduled road-works at Blackhall Colliery and the Sheraton A19 interchange

We have received notification of road-works scheduled for the Blackhalls ward during the next few weeks:

A179 / B1280	A19 Sheraton interchange	Junction improvements	Phased traffic lights, lane restrictions and turning restrictions	24 September 2018	March 2019	Durham County Council
A1086	Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery	Carriageway resurfacing	Road closure (7:00am - 7:00pm), Saturdays only	6 October	13 October	Durham County Council

Hardwick Street road-works update

We were contacted yesterday by residents in Hardwick Street querying the reason for the suspension of road-works in the area for what they had been told were "health & safety" reasons.

Following our enquiries we have received the following update from highways engineers:

As discussed this morning we geared up to start the preparation works for miles macadam at Hardwick Street yesterday morning and informed the residents of this last week.

Upon arrival to site yesterday various health and safety issues were brought to light, the main issues were keeping traffic moving safely in and out of the street whilst the works are carried out and the volume of double parked cars within the areas of the street not affected directly by the works. Please bear in mind the works detailed are far more than preparation works and actually entail reconstructing the carriageway full width in lengths of approx. 15m, 30m and 50m+ this alone means breaking out and removing over 550 tonnes of tarmac and concrete through the narrow streets.

A letter was issued yesterday to inform residents that works were temporarily suspended due to health and safety implications.
I am arranging a meeting with the designers to discuss operationally how we are expected to complete this work safely with minimal impact to road users and residents.

We will publish details of rescheduled works as soon as we receive confirmation from highways engineers.