Tuesday 7 November 2023

Highways, housing and footpath repair queries

I was contacted over the weekend by residents raising a number of separate issues going on in the village, mainly those relating to highways and footpath repairs but also others around housing conditions and damage caused to fencing on bonfire night.

I’ve raised all reported issues with the relevant sections at the council and I’ll update on progress when I have more information. In the meantime here’s a list of some of the reported incidents:

The road behind Glenholme Terrace is reported to be in a poor state of repair. From previous similar queries I think this stretch of road might be unadopted - meaning it’s in private ownership and is repaired and maintained by the owner rather than the local authority. However, I’ve asked the council to confirm the status of the road and carry out repairs if appropriate. 

**Update, response received on Wednesday 8 November: Thank you for you recent report about Road or footpath at or near to garage to rear of glenholme terrace, blackhall colliery, hartlepool, ts27 4hu, reference number FS-Case-560004518.

We have carried out an investigation and identified that we are unable to take further action regarding your report as it does not fall under our management or ownership.


I received reports on Monday morning about a number of incidents arising from the bonfire on East Street the night before. First amongst residents’ concerns was damage caused to the fencing at the bottom of First Street and Aspatria Avenue. Some reports suggest that the fencing was removed and thrown onto the bonfire, others say it was removed in order to gain access onto the field by an abandoned vehicle. Either way I’ve asked for the fencing to be replaced as soon as possible. 

**Update, response received Wednesday 8 November: replacement/repairs estimated to be carried out before the end of next month.


I’ve been contacted again by a resident in High Hesleden asking for repairs to the badly damaged public footpath on Mickle Hill Road from its junction with The Elms towards the Black Path. Regular readers of these pages will be well aware of the difficulties encountered over the years when trying to get the council to carry out repairs at this location. Nonetheless I’ve asked the highways department to carry out an inspection of the footpath and schedule repairs wherever necessary. Hopefully they’ll inspect and repair the right footpath this time.


I was contacted by a resident concerned about damage to an abandoned private property in Tenth Street. I’ve raised the resident’s concern with the neighbourhood wardens and also the council’s empty properties section and I’ve asked them to trace the landlord/owner with a request that repairs are carried out as soon as possible to make the property safe against trespass and further damage.

**Update, response received Wednesday 8 November: I’m advised that neighbourhood wardens are contacting the landlord/owner to request their property is brought back to an acceptable standard.


Following reports earlier this week that the public footpath leading from Evergreen Park to the bus shelter on the A1086 at Crimdon had been flooded during extreme rainfall over the past few weeks I asked the clean and green team to clear the debris away to enable residents to get access.

**Update, response received Thursday 9 November: I’ve been told that the clean and green team will clear the footpath of debris and excess water by the end of the week.