Stacey and I were joined yesterday morning by representatives from a number of agencies including the selective licensing team, police, community safety team, fire and rescue service, housing officers, street wardens and others as we restarted our regular street walkabouts.
The purpose of the street visits is to identify any concerns in the community about litter, fly-tipping and private sector housing issues, and also to monitor progress on previous reports identified during our regular informal walkabouts.
We have focused for the time being on the 'numbered' streets in Blackhall Colliery, partly because this is where the vast majority of housing and environmental issues are reported, and also because they reflect the geographical area identified in the Targeted Delivery Plan project.
However, the focused location of the walkabouts is by no means set in stone and the areas we visit in future sessions will reflect the nature and extent of the issues raised by residents, businesses and other members of the community.
Incidentally, I held my latest informal street walkabout on Monday morning, so yesterday’s event presented a good opportunity to check on progress. I'm pleased to report that all the issues reported in Monday evening’s article have now been dealt with - with the exception of the back yards filled with rubbish at two separate streets. These particular issues have been raised with the street wardens who will liaise with the property owner/landlord until the issue is resolved and all the rubbish has been cleared from the yards. You can see the details of some of Monday’s reports here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/08/fly-tipping-untidy-back-yards-and-other.html
We picked up a few similar issues on our rounds yesterday morning - some of them raised by residents who came out of their homes or caught us in the street for a chat. Those issues are being dealt with and I'll update on progress as soon as I have more information from the relevant authorities.
From the response we had yesterday the return of our street walkabouts has been well received by residents and other members of the community so we’ll arrange for them to once again become a regular event. We’ll promote details of any future walkabouts on social media and other platforms where possible.
In the meantime if you have any issues to report in your area you can either contact the council direct at: https://doitonline.durham.gov.uk/ or if you prefer you can let me or Stacey know and we'll deal with them on your behalf: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or stacey.deinali@durham.gov.uk
