The CAT initiative, which follows on from the team’s most recent visit to the village a few years ago, is time-limited and focuses on carrying out environmental improvements in a single defined area (please see the post dated Friday 6 March 2020 for full details).
Unfortunately the scheme has had to be postponed because of the impact of the council and government's response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, we will be asking for the CAT to return to the village at the earliest opportunity and as soon as restrictions are lifted sufficiently for the scheme to proceed safely.
On the positive side, the delay to the CAT scheme has given us additional time to consider the overall focus of the initiative. As regular readers of this blog will be aware, there are persistent and significant concerns in Blackhall Colliery about the poor condition of the back yards of some properties, especially in the numbered streets. This is an issue which has been well documented in articles elsewhere on this site, and it is a problem that has continued to develop over time with many locations left open to arson attacks with potentially catastrophic results for neighbouring properties and their residents.
A number of different approaches have been adopted over the years in trying to keep the yards of these properties clear of rubbish and debris. Most owners and local landlords respond immediately when concerns about their properties are raised with them. However many of the most problematic properties tend to be owned by landlords who live many miles away from our village, with little if any concern for the condition of their properties or the impact they have on our residents. They are happy to take the rent but not the responsibility. This is where the heart of the problem lies, and it's where we need to find a solution.
With this in mind we intend to approach officers from the CAT next week and ask them to focus predominantly on the issues outlined above when they come to Blackhall Colliery. In particular we will ask them to contact those owners and landlords that are most resistant to taking responsibility for their properties with a request that they clear their yards within an agreed and reasonable timescale. If this fails to produce a satisfactory result within that timescale the council will clear the yard and then recharge the owner or landlord for the works carried out to their property. If the owner or landlord fails to pay for the works as agreed the charge would be attached to the property which would then be recouped by the council when the property is sold.
We believe that this is a fair and reasonable proposal, one which places responsibility on the owner or landlord for the maintenance of their properties and one which should produce results within a strictly defined timescale. However we will ask the council to consider it in the hope of finding a workable solution to the problems posed by dangerous and untidy back yards in some of the streets in our village.
We will update on our proposal as soon as we have a response from the authorities.
