Controversial Castle Eden crematorium plans set to go ahead this Autumn

Notification has been received from the county council's planning office that works to construct a controversial crematorium on land at Castle Eden are expected to go ahead later this year.

This follows years of campaigning against the proposal by ourselves and the residents and businesses of the village, and the subsequent approval of the plans by a national planning inspector in 2016 (please see posts dated Friday 30 December 2016 and others for background details).

The confirmation received yesterday afternoon is reproduced below in full:

"I wanted to give you an early heads up that we have been contacted recently by a firm of architects who have been appointed to submit details to discharge the planning conditions on the crematorium permission, and that they have advised us that a contractor has been appointed and that they expect work to start on site in October".

It has not gone unnoticed that the access road to the development site was made the subject of a Traffic Regulation Order a few years ago by the police with the intention of addressing public concerns about persistent anti-social behaviour at the site, much of it of a serious sexual nature. This was one of our key objections to the crematorium plans going ahead and there is no evidence to suggest that these problems will not return once the access road is reopened to the public.

We have contacted the planning office today requesting advice on how the owners and developers intend to rescind this order and, perhaps most importantly, how residents will be engaged in the process and how they will be able to express their concerns about the potential implications of the road reopening. We will update on developments and any proposed next steps in due course.

Proposed temporary footpath closure at Bluebell Close

Notification has been received of a proposal to temporarily close the public footpath behind Bluebell Close in Blackhall Colliery next month to allow for cable overlay works in two phases.

Letters providing local residents with full details of the closures, including an alternative pedestrian route, will be circulated before the works begin but in the meantime the advance notification received is reproduced below in full:

DCC have been asked to process a temporary 2 phased footpath closure for 20 days from 30 Sept 2019 at the rear of Bluebell Close, Blackhall Colliery from Hesleden Road in a southerly direction to the B1281 for electrical cable overlay works.

Pedestrian diversion routes will be signposted locally for both phases of the closure.

Repair works to damaged wall at Hillcrest Place scheduled to begin this week

Last week officers from Durham County Council and Believe Housing (formerly known as the County Durham Housing Group) confirmed that works to repair the damaged wall at the former garage site at Hillcrest Place in Hesleden were scheduled to begin later this week.

This follows a series of lengthy delays seemingly caused by uncertainty between the two organisations over which held responsibility for carrying out the works (please see post dated Friday 22 May 2019 for background details).

Confirmation of scheduled repair works, along with an explanation for the delay, was received last week in an email from the Director of Communities and Customer Services at Believe Housing which is reproduced below in full:

Rob

I was passed your query below regarding the wall at Hillcrest Place and am now in a position to respond accordingly. The damaged wall is part of the publicly maintained adopted footpath which is DCC responsibility. This matter was discussed and agreed between Believe and DCC and we were assured that prompt action would be taken, like you we are keen to see this matter resolved.

JS from our team has contacted LP from DCC highways to raise both ours and your concerns and to understand why this issue has not been resolved. LP from DCC has apologised and assured us that works will commence within 5 to 7 working days;  he also stated that he will be actioning more works than he previously planned as the wall in question will have deteriorated further due to the length of time it has taken for DCC to action.

Due to the delay, it is our intention to follow this up with DCC to make sure that commencement on site is within the next 7 days and I will provide you with an update, so that you are able to respond to the residents. If you require any further detail from DCC on scope, reasons for delay etc. LP from DCC highways is leading on these works.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further concerns.

Kind Regards

Nik

I will publish any update reports from Believe Housing as and when I receive them.

Roadworks scheduled to take place in the Blackhall Division

Notification has been received of the following road works scheduled to take place later this month in the Blackhall Division of Durham County Council:

Road No.	Location	Description	Traffic Management	Start Date	End Date	Responsibility
B1280	South of Station Town	Carriageway reinstatement	2 way lights as required	28 August	30 August	Northumbrian Water
B1281	The Old Brewery, Castle Eden	Sewer cleansing	2 way lights (9:00am - 3:30pm)	19 August	19 August	Northumbrian Water
C81	Mickle Hill Road, High Hesleden	new water supply	2 way lights (8:00am - 4:30pm)	22 August	29 August	Northumbrian Water