The past week has been another busy one, dominated in the main by responses to a rat infestation in a private property in Fourth Street and associated environmental issues in Blackhall Colliery.
Initial attempts to address to the vermin infestation began over three weeks ago when I first contacted the council’s private sector housing office, neighbourhood wardens and pest control team on Friday 6 May following reports from concerned residents about rats coming from an empty property in Fourth Street.
Unfortunately there was a delay to the council’s initial collective response meaning I had to spend days on end talking to the separate sections until it was finally confirmed that the owner of the property in Fourth Street had been contacted and reminded of their responsibility to maintain the property to an acceptable standard.
Things picked up pace considerably over last weekend when I insisted that pest control officers respond to the plight of residents, even though the infested property was in private ownership and thereby the responsibility of the owner (the article published on Thursday 2 June has more details on the legal process involved in holding private sector landlords to account for their properties - please see below).
Thankfully pest control officers called out on site first thing on Monday morning to inspect the area for traces of vermin infestation in the street and potentially in other properties nearby. Please see details in the articles dated Sunday 29 May: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/05/vermin-in-fourth-street.html and Monday 30 May: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/05/update-report-on-vermin-in-fourth-street.html
By mid-week it was confirmed that pest control officers had been successful in persuading the landlord/owner of the infested property to take remedial action to eliminate the infestation problem. See details in the article dated Wednesday 1 June: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/progress-with-vermin-issue-in-fourth.html
It’s hoped that the property owner delivers on his assurance that works will be carried out without further delay. Long-suffering neighbours deserve nothing less.
The process of dealing with infestations in privately owned and rented properties caused some considerable confusion and misunderstanding locally and on social media about who and where responsibility fell with these types of problems. I published an article on Thursday 2 June setting out the legal process followed when private properties fall into disrepair or when owners/landlords fail to take remedial action when requested by the authorities: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/vermin-infestations-and-private-sector.html
In addition to the guidelines set out above it is expected that the council’s Selective Licensing Scheme (SLS) - given consent by the Secretary of State last year to proceed following four years of campaigning - will help to hold absent private sector landlords and property owners to account for the condition of their properties and the behaviour of their tenants. Full details of the SLS and additional links can be found here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-selective-licensing-scheme-for-county.html
Following my regular street walkabouts held during the week I raised a number of separate but related issues about bins abandoned in the back streets in several parts of the village - often with food waste left out on the pavement too. Along with the pest control team earlier in the week I also reported accumulations of rubbish and furniture in the rear yards of private properties. Full details can be found in the articles published on Friday 3 June: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/street-walkabout-environmental-issues.html and https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/abandoned-bins-and-other-environmental.html
Following an additional informal walk around the streets on Saturday morning I asked the clean and green team to give more attention to the back lanes either side of Middle Street, and I’ve contacted the community safety team to suggest that the more formal monthly walkabouts are reinstated as soon as possible: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/06/tackling-untidy-streets-and-untidy-back.html
I’ll monitor progress with the issues mentioned above and continue to maintain pressure on the authorities to take whichever measures are necessary to keep our village clean and tidy. This will include a number of initiatives to be included in the Targeted Delivery Plan (TDP) scheduled to begin soon - and there’ll be more of that in a future round-up report.
Until then if you have anything you would like me to know about please get in touch at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk and I’ll do whatever I can to help. If you prefer you can contact the council direct at: https://www.durham.gov.uk/