Update report on vermin in Fourth Street

Following yesterday’s article about the vermin problem in Fourth Street in Blackhall Colliery (please see post dated Sunday 29 May 2022 for details). 

I have received an update report this afternoon from the pest control office setting out details of a preliminary inspection of the surrounding area and measures that have been taken earlier today in advance of the landlord/property owner responding to calls from the council to deal with the infestation problem at their property: 

One of our treatment staff had some cancellations today so I was able to send them to Fourth Street to have a look at what may be causing the issues. The findings were as follows:

 

• No. ** – Bins lid gnawed by rats so needs replacing otherwise it will provide them with easy access to a food source.
• No. ** – Old mattress in rear yard that could provide harbourage for rats.
• No. ** – Hole into wall cavity inside outhouse and lots of droppings in the outhouse indicating this is probably the epicentre of the problem.
• No. ** – Hole around waste pipe coming out of the rear wall of the property, which could provide rats with access to good harbourage.
• No. ** - Lots of rubbish in yard and overflowing bins, which represent a potential food source.  Also, a hole on the rear extension around the soil stack is providing free access to the cavity, which could provide rats with access to good harbourage.

 

Given the above and the capacity issues that I have on the investigation site, could I ask the following:

 

• ****** – Are the Wardens able to deal with the waste at no. ** and no. **? Also, is there anything you can do about the bin lid issue at no. **?
• ****** – Do you know the landlords / owners of no. **, ** & **? If so, can you share their details with me so I can contact them about the work that needs doing on their properties (all need the holes blocking up and no. ** needs a treatment to kill off any rats that are inside of it)?  Unless you have secured the funding we discussed to allow you to pay for this sort of work direct (the reference here is to funding from the TDP scheme mentioned in yesterday’s article)

 

The technician didn’t have time to check all the manholes in the street to see if there was any sign of a drain fault causing the rat issues; however, if we can address the above it might solve the problem and, if not, it removes the list of probable causes and we can focus more on the drains when the proper investigation starts.

As you’ll see from the comments above the neighbourhood wardens have been asked to address the additional problem of fly-tipping in the rear yards of nearby properties and the private sector housing office has been asked to contact the owners of the properties identified with a request that they take whichever measures are necessary to make their properties secure against vermin infestation.

I’ll update on further progress as soon as I have additional information from the authorities.

Vermin in Fourth Street

Residents in Fourth Street and the streets nearby have suffered for weeks from a rat infestation at a private property in Fourth Street. This has been made worse by unacceptable delays in response to their plight. 

I first contacted the authorities to report vermin in one of the properties on 6 May having been contacted the same day by a resident concerned that the infestation would spread throughout the streets and the rest of the properties if not addressed. 

As is usual in cases where private properties are the source of a vermin infestation the landlord must be alerted to the problem and be given the opportunity to correct it, and this is exactly what I asked the authorities to do.

Following several follow-up calls to the authorities over the past three weeks - including the neighbourhood wardens, the council’s private sector housing office and the authority’s pest control team - I’ve been told persistently that the landlord has been contacted. In the absence of any positive reaction from the owner of the property the assumption must be that they are either unable or unwilling to react.

My personal opinion is at this stage the authorities should be allowed to force entry to the property and tackle the vermin problem without delay - after all the right of residents to live in their homes safely and without fear of a rat infestation must surely outweigh the landlord’s right to do nothing. 

However despite my persistent protests I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that the council has a legal process to follow in dealing with infestations in private properties, and that means operating within the legal framework. Members of the public will accept that the council cannot act above the law by trespassing on private property - but that’s cold comfort for residents in the surrounding area. 

In order to make progress officers have confirmed that they are actively putting together a package of measures to address this problem as part of the village’s status as a Targeted Delivery Plan area: see post dated Friday 8 April 2022 for background information: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/04/targeted-delivery-plan-for-blackhall.html 

I’ll update on progress as soon as I have more information from the service, but in the meantime residents in Fourth Street and the surrounding area can be assured that I’ll continue to press the authorities at every opportunity to expedite their response to this matter. 

The people of our villages deserve a much more effective response from the authorities and those absent private-sector landlords who wilfully allow their properties to fall into disrepair - often with impunity and without any concern for the settled community.

Environmental Works at Crimdon

I recently received an update from the design officer at county hall setting out plans for environmental works to be carried out in Crimdon from June this year. I've reproduced the update below for information:

As you are aware the Crimdon café, community room and public toilets are now open and I’m sure that you will agree are proving to be a great asset for the site at Crimdon.

You may already be aware that one of the mitigation measures for the build required by planning and conservation regulations was to compensate for the loss of habitat area by providing some additional habitat area. Although this was originally proposed as being incorporated over the roof of the new centre it had to be subsequently withdrawn due to necessary constraints on the overall build cost.

In order to provide ecological net gain (and therefore enable the planning application to comply with the National Planning Policy Framework) the mitigation measures for the café proposal include fencing around the areas marked in green on the attached plan in order to ensure the protection of the grassland by providing a coastal meadow habitat.  The grassland meadows are currently struggling to survive at this location due to uncontrolled car parking and is degrading to the extent that there is a decline in birds, butterflies and other wildlife and habitats on site.  Fencing will allow the plant species within the meadows to flower and seed naturally and provide a habitat for specialist dune species to colonise inland. The meadows will be monitored by the Ecology section with management actions recommended as appropriate.

As the proposed café was to be sited very close to areas designated as European Protected Sites the planning application required a Habitat Regulations Appropriate Assessment to be undertaken. (The Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast Special Protection Area covers the beach while the Durham Coast Special Area of Conservation covers the coastal cliffs, and the Durham Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest covers the sand dunes in this location).

To enable the Appropriate Assessment to conclude there would be no significant effect on the adjacent European Protected Sites, the application had to identify sufficient mitigation to reduce the impact of the increase in recreational disturbance the new café was likely to generate.

The result is that compensation for increased recreational pressure on the European protected sites is to be achieved by slightly reducing the car parking provision on the Crimdon dunes site in order to protect the dune system and habitats from the pressures arising from the increased visitor numbers associated with the development.  Currently carparking spaces total 120; and the above mitigation measures mean that the number of carparking spaces will be slightly reduced by 16, so still leaving 104 available parking spaces, as well as two further spaces at the visitor hub itself which are to be earmarked for disabled users.

The spaces which are to be removed are those at the far end of the site by the Pony World stables, nearest to the dune system which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (see attached Plan A). You may also be aware that the stables are no longer operating commercially which has lessened demand in this vicinity.  Fencing will also be erected to deter the use of desire line paths.

The benefits that the whole new build brings are significant, not only for properly accommodating the welfare of visitors but also in terms of a space for education, training and wardens so we can ensure we protect the area’s important natural habitat. The need for a trade-off through some parking restriction in order to comply with regulations should be considered as a worthwhile exercise. I believe therefore that you would agree that it is important to protect what we have at Crimdon into the future, as we are indeed obliged to do along the Heritage Coast as a whole and appreciate the importance of keeping this natural site special.

Works are planned to commence on site during the week commencing 6^th June 2022 and there will be some explanatory interpretation of these provisions provided on the site when works commence.

Council Tax Energy Rebate Scheme

I received an update earlier this week on how the council is processing payments under the Council Tax Energy Rebate scheme. I've published the update below for information:

We began to process these payments daily for direct debit payers on 20 April 2022.

The team are continuing to make the weekly ‘mop-up’ payments to those who set up a direct debit to pay their council tax to start in May or where, as a result of the verification process (where we are required to put all the proposed payments through the Governments “spotlight” system), further checks were required before a payment is released.

 

We have also made Discretionary Fund payments to eligible households in Band A to H properties in receipt of full CTR and to households in bands E to H properties in receipt of CTR where we hold direct debit details. The discretionary scheme provides households in bands E to H in receipt of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) a £150 payment (currently 404 households) and an additional ‘top up’ payment of £25 to households in bands A to H in receipt of maximum CTR (currently 40,028 households).

To date, we have made 140,008 payments in relation to the main scheme, totalling £21,001,200 and made payments worth £84,725 from the Discretionary fund

Last week the team moved onto the £150 (£175 for bands A to D on full CTR) Energy Rebate payments for non-direct debit payers with letters starting to be issued on 19 May 2022. Over the coming weeks we will be writing to all 79,000 non-direct debit payers in bands A to D inviting them to apply online for the payment; with assistance from Customer Services where needed. Given the volumes and the need to ensure the system works correctly and is not overloaded, we are issuing these in a phased way; with the most vulnerable households being contacted first, so 2,000 letters (for council tax accounts with full CTR) were sent out last week. With a further 12,000 letters sent out  this week and we will be dialling up the volumes over the coming days and weeks.

The process involves putting the individual applications through the Government’s verification tool and then manually checking those identified through this process as requiring further investigation; this is quite resource intensive which is another reason why we need to do it in phases. We have brought in additional resources in order to fully support getting the payments out as quickly as possible.

We are issuing separate letters to students who occupy self-contained individually banded properties in ‘student villages’ who qualify for a payment but do not have their own council tax reference number. The process for this requires additional information from the students to make eligibility checks; we are working with Durham University to ensure that students are made aware of the scheme and the eligibility criteria.

For more details about help with rising energy costs please refer to the website at: Council tax support with rising energy costs - Durham County Council. We are also updating our Customer Services messaging to ensure that residents are aware of the scheme and to reassure that those who await the payment will receive a letter from us in the coming weeks

New Government Planning Guidance and the Planning System

I have just received notification from the planning development manager at county hall about a government directive that could have the effect of delaying some planning applications in our area. 

At this stage it appears that the number and type of applications that could be held up is unclear. However, I have reproduced the notification below in full, along with a link to additional guidance from the government's Planning Advisory Service. 

I'll publish any additional guidance as soon as I am notified:

Last month, somewhat out of the blue,  we received notification from the Government’s advisors on the natural environment, Natural England of the need for us to immediately consider the issue of nitrate pollution in the river Tees catchment area in relation to certain types of planning applications.

This issue mainly relates to nitrogen levels from waste water and the subsequent nutrient levels within the ‘Special Protection Area’ of the River Tees, which is the waste water catchment area for your Division. I have attached a summary guide to the issue provided by Natural England and further advice can be found on line through the  Planning Advisory Service at the following link:  Nutrient Neutrality and the planning system | LocalGovernment Association.

As a result of this notification from Natural England we now have a legal duty to consider the issue as part of relevant planning applications that we receive in the catchment area. This applies to all present  full and outline planning applications for developments such a new housing and tourist accommodation proposals. From a trawl of the present planning register we feel there are around 40  applications presently affected.

We will shortly be writing out to applicants who are now caught up in this notification to advise them that we will need to pause determination of their application until the issue has been considered and addressed. In this respect we have formed an internal working group to look at the impact of the notification and how we feel this can be worked through going forward.

I hope the above is helpful to update you on the issue in general and conscious of the fact that you may well receive contact from disgruntled applicants who are now faced with an unforeseen delay in their planning applications.

Planning application at the Wellfield Depot in Castle Eden

Stacey and I have received advance notification of a planning application seeking consent to develop an existing industrial estate at the Wellfield Depot to the west of the A19 Interchange at Castle Eden/Wellfield.

Full details can be found in the link below, along with an additional link to the planning portal where you can forward your comments to the planning department.

Application No: DM/22/00783/FPA

Proposal: Proposed development of existing industrial estate to develop 10No starter units as a phase one development

Address: Wellfield Depot Castle Eden Hartlepool TS27 4TE 

Full details of the application is contained in the following link: http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/onlineapplications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=R8U3DBGD0JA00 

If you experience issues with the link above please go to https:\\publicaccess.durham.gov.uk and search for DM/22/00783/FPA

Update on traffic issues in Castle Eden

Following concerns I raised with the council about speeding vehicles and road safety issues on the B1281/A181 in Castle Eden I have now received a response from the highways authority. Background details at: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/05/traffic-issues-at-castle-eden.html

Please see below the response in full:

Good Afternoon Councillor Crute,

I will be able to provide a comparison within the speed table to see whether or not the speed of vehicles has increased or decreased. The primary figure I will be looking at once I have the raw survey data is the volume of vehicles travelling above the enforcement threshold (speed limit + 10% + 2mph). Once this data is processed, I will be able to provide the tables to my contact within Durham Constabulary who deals with our mobile enforcement within the borough to review. If the percentage of vehicles travelling over the enforcement threshold is 15% or greater then the request will be reviewed in further detail by the Police with the likelihood being that the mobile enforcement vehicle will visit the site to target offending vehicles.

Regarding your request for a consultation exercise to be conducted, this is not something we would look to do at this stage as the speed and volume data will provide enough of an understanding of traffic movements and speeds. I believe at this stage conducting any form of consultation exercise will likely raise consultees' expectations and may confuse matters further.

Whilst I can appreciate your comments regarding the requirement to make all roads within Durham County as safe as feasibly possible, we are required to direct the limited resources we have available to other areas within the borough that have a higher frequency and severity of collisions. These areas are monitored and reviewed proactively by the Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) team regularly. Concerning your questions about whether the Police are aware of the collisions, I can confirm that the data which we use is provided to us by the Police and we are not aware of any intention from themselves to implement or pursue any measures.

Kind Regards,

Update on traffic issues on the B1281 at Blackhall Colliery

Earlier this year, following concerns raised by members of the public about the new road layout on the B1281 in Blackhall Colliery, I contacted the highways section to ask for their comments. Please see post dated Sunday 20 March 2022 for background details: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/03/new-road-layout-on-b1281-in-blackhall.html

Approaching the roundabout from the Coast Road, looking from East to West

Yesterday I received a response confirming that they are aware of the difficulties experienced by drivers and that an additional Road Safety Audit will be carried out when the housing development nearby is almost completed - with any outstanding safety matters to be addressed at that point.

Approaching the roundabout from the Yohden Care Complex, looking from West to East

Please see the full response below, including contact details for the relevant officer in the highways section in the event their are any issues arising from the council's response:

Side view of the roundabout from the B1281, looking South-West towards the new estate

Sent on behalf of Mark Readman – Head of Highway Services

Rob

B1281, Blackhall Colliery

Thank you for your email dated 11^th May 2022 (initial query submitted 18 March 2022) please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to your initial email.

You will recall that the access arrangements for the residential development of is site were agreed under the outline planning permission DM/16/03450/OUT.

The main issue at that time, from a Highways point of view, was that the proposed residential development would be dangerous from a pedestrian safety point of view due to issues relating to existing vehicle speed long and pedestrian movements across the B1281, Hesleden Road.

Neither the Council’s Traffic Engineers nor Durham Constabulary would support a reduction in the speed limit, as it lacked credibility. Therefore, after discussions with senior Highway and Traffic officers based within the Council, it was considered that the solution to these problems was the creation of a physical roundabout on the B1281, Hesleden Road, with sufficient deflection both eastwards and westwards to physically reduce vehicle speeds along this route.

The roundabout fits the definition of a ‘compact’ roundabout as defined in DMRB

CD 116 (national design standard) and, as the requirement for the roundabout is based on safety rather than capacity, the single lane entries would not cause queueing problems on the network.

The roundabout was designed by a third-party engineering consultant commissioned by the developer, has been checked by our own Highway Design Team and subject to an independent Stage 2 Road Safety Audit (detailed design stage).

I do acknowledge some drivers may have experienced difficulties in negotiating the temporary traffic management arrangements and that there is always a time of embedding when people can get 'taken by surprise’ by a new road layout. However, we are satisfied that the roundabout is designed to appropriate standards and will be suitable and safe for all users once fully operational.

Furthermore, once work is considered substantially complete, a Stage 3 Road Safety Audit will be undertaken to establish and observe user behaviour. Should any issues arise regarding the construction these will be addressed at that stage.

I hope this provides some comfort at this time and would reassure you that we continue to secure improvements to highway infrastructure, such as this, to mitigate the impact of development and ensure the safe and efficient operation of the highway network.

I hope that this response is helpful and if you would like to discuss further please contact Phil Thompson, Highways Adoption Engineer on telephone number 03000 267106 or by email at Phillip.thompson@durham.gov.uk

Update on speeding vehicles in Castle Eden

Earlier this week I contacted the authorities to report further concerns expressed by residents about vehicles speeding along the A181/B1281 at Castle Eden, and also about dangerous driving practices on the A19 Wellfield interchange nearby.

I have received a response from the county council confirming that a speed survey is to be carried out later this month to update the findings from the last one ten years ago.

I've reproduced the council's response here in full:

Good Afternoon Councillor Crute,

Please accept my apologies for the delay in dealing with your request regarding road safety concerns on Stockton Road.

I can confirm that I have reviewed our speed and collision database. The latest speed survey which was carried out was conducted in 2012 and therefore whilst the data from this survey shows compliance with the speed limit, this would be seen as too old to be used to assess the credibility of the speed limit. As a result of this, I have arranged for a new survey to be carried out in the same location which will be compared with the old survey and ultimately used to assess the current driver compliance with the speed limit. We aim to have the data available from our survey contractor for analysis by the 30^th May and therefore I will be able to provide an update following this.

With regards to the collision data along Stockton Road up to the A19 slip road, there are no major concerns other than drivers who are failing to see other road users when using the mini roundabout. With this in mind, I have highlighted the junction to our Accident Investigation and Prevention team, however, at the moment the junction would not meet their requirement of 5 collisions within 5 years and as a result of this, due to their limited resources will only be able to monitor the junction rather than conducting a full in-depth analysis.

A breakdown of the collisions can be seen below for your benefit.

Collision Severity	Primary Factor	Date
Slight	Failure to give way / Bad Judgement	20th April 2018
Slight	Driver attempting to conduct a u-turn from slip road	28th March 2018
Slight	Failure to give way	6th November 2019
Slight	Driver cutting across roundabout	26th November 2021

Once again please accept my apologies for the delay in handling this matter and I will make sure you are provided with any appropriate updates as soon as the survey data has been provided from the contractor.

A speed survey is to be welcomed in updating traffic and speed data from the previous survey held ten years ago, however it will not serve any useful purpose in isolation. I've received a high number of reports from residents in Castle Eden about speeding vehicles and dangerous driving practices and I think it is vital that their concerns and opinions are taken into consideration if the authorities are to get a full picture of the problems along this stretch of road.

I have responded to the council to ask for residents' views to be taken into account.

I have also asked the council to confirm that the police and other agencies are fully aware of traffic problems at this location and that they are prepared to do whatever they can to address them.

I've published my response below and I will update on developments as soon as I have additional information from the authorities.

Good morning,

Thanks for the information provided and for confirming that a speed survey is to be carried out at this location. It will be interesting to see how the data compares to the most recent survey held ten years ago.

Regardless of the outcome of the survey I would also be interested in gauging the views of all residents and businesses along the B1281/A181 between the Castle Eden war memorial and the A19 Wellfield interchange. I have been contacted many times over the past few years from local residents and visitors alike reporting several incidents of speeding and dangerous driving practices at two separate locations. If the authorities are to get a complete picture of the problems in this area I think it would be helpful to contact in writing all residents and business in this part of Castle Eden to ask their views and opinions. It is quite a small section of the community and should not be restrictive in terms of time or cost. I would be grateful for your confirmation that this will be done to support and inform the findings from the speed survey.

With regard to the dangerous driving practices at the mini-roundabouts at the A19 Wellfield interchange could you confirm please that the police are aware of these reported incidents and that they too are prepared to take some form of action to prevent accidents in future. I don’t accept the metric of ‘5 accidents in 5 years’ because it takes only one accident to cause a catastrophe. In addition I don’t accept that cost should be a factor - the authorities must do whatever they can to take preventative action at both locations. The residents and businesses, along with the many visitors to our area, deserve nothing less than an absolute commitment to eliminating the risk of further accidents along this stretch of road.

Traffic issues at Castle Eden

Regular readers of these pages will be aware that for some time I’ve been reporting traffic-related issues at Castle Eden to the council and its partners.

This follows concerns expressed frequently by residents, motorists and business owners alike about an increased risk of accidents caused by vehicles speeding along the A181 between the war memorial and the A19, and also by dangerous driving practices at the ‘on and off’ slip-roads at the A19 Wellfield interchange nearby.

Unfortunately, despite my constant and repeated approaches to the authorities, no visible progress has been made during that time. To make matters worse, this is not a problem in isolation. I have made repeated representations to the council over the past few months about risks associated with a revised road layout adjacent to a housing development on the B1281 in Blackhall Colliery, yet to date I’ve received no meaningful response from the service.

Following additional complaints over the weekend about traffic on the A181 at Castle Eden I’ve contacted the traffic assets and highways sections at county hall to request an update on proposals to address these issues. 

Residents are understandably exasperated at the lack of a meaningful response from the authorities - and are they understandably concerned that at some point in the near future there will be a serious incident if their concerns about speeding vehicles and dangerous driving practices at these locations are not addressed.

I will update on progress as soon as I have a response from the authorities on either the Castle Eden or Blackhall Colliery issue.

The County Durham History Centre - the new home for the DLI collection

Durham County Council has issued a press release revealing the name of a new history centre scheduled to open next year in Durham.

The new History Centre, which was procured and constructed at Mount Oswald by the previous Labour administration, has also been confirmed as the new home for the DLI collection - reuniting the DLI objects, archives and written records under one roof for the first time in 24 years. 

Please see the DCC press release below for details:

The name for a new history centre for County Durham has been revealed.

The centre, which is currently under construction and due to open to the public in 2023, is to be called The Story at Mount Oswald.

The project brings the Grade II listed Mount Oswald Manor House back into use, while the addition of a high-quality, visually appealing extension. This will complement the existing building and provide a secure future for more than five miles of county archives, charting almost 900 years of history.

It will also be home to historic registration records, the historic environment record, local studies collections and the DLI collection, reuniting the DLI objects and written record for the first time since 1998.

A key new cultural venue supporting the county’s bid to be named UK City of Culture 2025, The Story will transform the way the history of County Durham is told, helping people to discover the past, celebrate the present and create the future of Durham.

There will be free entry to permanent and temporary exhibitions at the site which will tell the fascinating history of the county, brought to life through the often-unheard voices and lesser told narrative of the working people and communities who have been pivotal in shaping the county.

Temporary closure of the Peterlee UTC X-Ray facility

I received notification yesterday from the NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that the X-Ray facility at the Peterlee Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) is temporarily out of use. Please see the briefing note below which includes details of alternative arrangements provided at Hartlepool Hospital: 

County Durham and Darlington FT currently provide the Peterlee Urgent Treatment Service and subcontract with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (who own the building) to provide the facilities.

The X-ray facility at Peterlee Urgent Treatment Centre has been temporarily closed due to essential maintenance issues as of 22^nd April 2022 and therefore, this has left no option, but for patients who require an X-ray post assessment, to travel to the University Hospital of Hartlepool (UHH). The X-ray facility will be unavailable until approx. 30^th May 2022, and North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (NT&HFT) have stressed this could be subject to change due to building work/supplier issues. 

County Durham CCG and CDDFT have explored the possibility of having a mobile x-ray facility in the area however, this was not a viable option due to the absence of a suitable lead lined area.

It was the understanding of the CCG that an arrangement had been made for NT&HFT to reimburse travel expenses for those patients required to travel to UHH for an x-ray, however, it has come to the attention of the CCG that in some cases this has not occurred which has resulted in a poor patient experience in at least one case that the CCG is aware of. 

Peterlee UTC colleagues have reported that 25 patients have required an x-ray since 22^nd April 2022 to date (c2 per day), but many have chosen to access other services rather than travel to UHH.

County Durham CCG have agreed to fund the costs of any travel from Peterlee UTC to UHH irrespective of any eligibility as part of the patient pathway 

The CCG team have informed the staff at Peterlee Urgent Treatment Centre that patients who require an x-ray are able to utilise the County Durham CCG funded taxi framework. Staff at the centre will directly book the transport and patients will not need to pay the cost upfront and be reimbursed. UHH have been notified to pay travel expenses to patients within this pathway irrespective of eligibility.

Peterlee UTC colleagues has advised that should any further patients be unable to claim travel expenses, they will highlight this to the CCG.