Durham County Council: Christmas and New Year closures

Christmas and New Year closures

Published December 20, 2019 8.30am

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Customer Access Points and most other county council buildings in County Durham will be closed over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Customer access points will close at 12.45pm on Tuesday, 24 December and reopen at 8.30am on Thursday, 2 January 2020.

In the event of an emergency, residents can still contact us on 03000 26 0000 or use the 24/7 automated payments line on 0300 456 2771.

If you are concerned about someone who is vulnerable or at risk, you should contact Social Care Direct on 03000 267 979. The service will be open across the Christmas and New Year period.

Online services will still be accessible over the festive period but requests may not be processed until council offices reopen on Thursday, 2 January.

How will other services be affected?

Register offices will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Bishop Auckland and Durham register offices will be open between these dates for appointments only. To make an appointment call 03000 26 6000.

Leisure centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. They will also close early at 4.00pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, except for Abbey Leisure Centre, which will close early at 11.30am on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, and will also be closed on Sunday, 29 December. The Riverside Sports Centre, Chester-le-Street will be closed from Monday, 23 December and will reopen on Thursday, 2 January.

Libraries will operate normal opening times on Monday, 23 December but will be closed from then on until Thursday, 2 January, when normal opening times will resume.

Pathways day centres for adults will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Hawthorn House short-break service will be closed from Monday 23 December until Friday 27 December. 

Family centres will close or have restricted opening times over the Christmas period. Users are advised to contact their local centre before Christmas to check when it will be open.

Our Welfare Assistance Service will be closed on Bank Holidays and weekends and will be open reduced hours, from 8.30am to 12 noon on Christmas Eve, and from 9.00am to 3.00pm on Friday, 27 December, Monday, 30 December and Tuesday, 31 December. They can be contacted on 03000 267 900.

Sevenhills DLI research and study centre, in Spennymoor is now closed and will reopen at 10.00am on Thursday, 2 January.

Durham County Record Office has now closed to visitors, for collections management to take place, and will reopen at 8.45am on Monday, 6 January. Email and telephone enquiries can still be answered on weekdays before Tuesday, 24 December and from Thursday, 2 January.

The Park and Ride service will not operate during any of the bank holidays, including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. It will operate as normal, from 7.00am to 7.00pm, on all other days except Sunday 29 December.

Rubbish and recycling

Visit our Festive refuse and recycling in County Durham web page for information and updates on our rubbish and recycling services during the festive period.

Service updates

Residents can also keep up-to-date with any changes to council services by following DCC on Twitter on twitter or DCC on Facebook on Facebook.

Bin collections over the Christmas period

Household waste collection arrangements for the Christmas and New Year period:

Christmas and New Year bin collections                                           

Bins will be emptied as normal up to and including Friday 20 December 2019 

Over Christmas and New Year the following changes will apply:

Normal collection day	Revised collection days                    Christmas                                     New Year
Tuesday	As normal 24 December	As normal 31 December
Wednesday	Friday 27 December	Thursday 2 Jan 2020
Thursday	Saturday 28 December	Friday 3 Jan 2020
Friday	Monday 30 December	Saturday 4 Jan 2020

Normal collections will resume from Tuesday 7 January 2020

You can also find out collection details online by entering your house number and postcode into the ‘My Durham’ section at www.durham.gov.uk

Real Christmas tree collections

If you’d like your real Christmas tree collected free of charge, either book online at www.durham.gov.uk or call 03000 260 000 between 16 December 2019 and 12 January 2020 

Alternatively, take your real Christmas tree to a household waste recycling centre (all centres are closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day)

Visit www.durham.gov.uk/hwrc for locations and opening hours

There will be no large waste (bulky) collections between 23 December 2019 and 3 January 2020

Chicanes at High Hesleden

Some time ago a number of residents in High Hesleden got in touch to raise their concerns about the safety of the three chicanes installed a few years ago in the village (for background details please see posts on this site dated Wednesday 4 February 2015 and Tuesday 22 August 2017).

Although the chicanes themselves have been installed correctly, and appear to be effective in slowing down speeding vehicles as intended, there are concerns that there are no clear roadside signs advising which approaching vehicle has priority over the other. This type of signage is provided at most other locations.

On each occasion that I’ve raised this matter with highways officers at county hall I’m told that the road markings in place are deemed sufficient to advise motorists whether or not they have priority over oncoming vehicles. Although there are Give Way markings on one side of each chicane I’ve suggested to officers that markings on road surfaces in rural villages like High Hesleden are not always visible and I’ve asked if signage specifically advising priority could be installed at each chicane. Each time I’m told that, while such signs could be installed, they must by law be illuminated and that the cost of connecting signage to the mains power supply is prohibitive.

I’ve persistently pointed out that chicanes have been installed elsewhere in the county where signage isn’t illuminated (the ones in East Street, Blackhall Colliery being a good local example) but on each occasion highways engineers insist that there is no budget available for illuminated signage. This is the latest response I’ve received from the service:

Hi Rob

We are not able to provide the signs without illumination.  It is a mandatory requirement of the signing legislation.  If we were to provide the signs without illumination they would be technically illegal and we would be placing DCC at risk and could be liable for any consequential incident.

With regard to other sites where the signs are not illuminated, if we are notified of the issue/location, I will pass the details on to Street Lighting and request that the illumination be provided.  I have already done so for the other locations.

Providing signs would cost several thousand pounds for each location.  Unfortunately we do not have a budget for this.

The obvious flaw in this response of course is that if there is no budget to provide illuminated signage at the chicanes in High Hesleden where will the money come from to install illuminated signage at other locations across the county where it has been installed incorrectly!

I have written again to the highways engineers to raise these points. As soon as I have a response I’ll consider the next steps in reaching a satisfactory resolution to this problem.

In the meantime, on a more positive note, the damaged roadside sign at the entrance the The Elms has been reported for repair. I’m advised that an order has been issued for a replacement sign and that this will be installed as soon as it is available.

I’ll update on the issues above as soon as I have additional information.

Proposed highways works and road closures in the Blackhall ward

Please note below details of road closures and road works scheduled for the Blackhall ward over the next few weeks:

Unclassified	Harold Wilson Drive, Hesleden	Puffing Billy event	Road closure (5:45pm - 7:45pm)	16 December	16 December	Community Organiser
Unclassified 28.16	Front Street, Hesleden	Footpath works	2 way lights	11 November	6 December	Durham County Council
Unclassified 29.3	Road leading to Crimdon Dene Holiday Park, Crimdon	Railway bridge maintenance	2 way signals (8:00am - 4:00pm)	2 December	6 December	Network Rail