Unfortunately, shortly after I'd posted the piece, the Covid-19 pandemic took hold across the country, leaving the council with no option other than to postpone the CAT project for the time being, just as it had to do with many other of its services.
However, now that the government has made its decision to relax a number of restrictive social distancing and working practices, officers from the CAT project have been in touch to let us know that the team is now looking to take its first tentative steps back to work. This is the message I received from the council's senior environmental health officer who is coordinating the project:
Dear Councillor Crute,
Thank you for copying me into the messages about Blackhall
Colliery. The Community Action Team are planning to start our
postponed project in the middle of July, subject to continued improvement with
the pandemic.
I have made local enquiries to understand some of
the current issues in Blackhall Colliery. During the CAT project we are
happy to look at properties with recurrent issues and take a multi-agency
approach to addressing these.
In the meantime, I understand that the neighbourhood interventions officer is planning
to arrange a site visit with partners and will check that all the addresses
mentioned in the emails have been logged for investigation.
This week, the Wardens have been able to resume normal
duties with social distancing in place. I understand that the local PCSO met with the warden on site earlier in the week. The replacement warden is now the main one covering
Blackhall Colliery, as the previous one is working with the fly tipping team until
September. I’ve copied the wardens in for information.
Also for information, the Selective Licensing Team have
advised that they have extended their consultation until 2nd August.
The updated consultation plan will be going to CMT (Management Team) next week
for approval. They will then put next steps on the website and promote the
consultation further.
At every opportunity during the lockdown period I've worked alongside the parish clerk and our local PCSO to set the scene for the resumption of the CAT project, and local issues raised by residents have been forwarded to the team or relevant partners. These include problems associated with a number of homes in the private-rented sector in the Colliery area (especially the deplorable condition of some of the back yards in empty properties), dangers posed by irresponsible parking in Middle Street and many other general environmental matters.
I understand that during the lead-in period there is to be a local consultation exercise so there will be an opportunity for residents to relay their concerns directly to officers from the team in advance of the CAT project resuming next month.
