Update on delayed fence and barrier repairs

I’ve contacted the council again this week to express my concern about persistent delays to my requests to have fences and barriers replaced at two separate locations in Blackhall Colliery. 

Three years ago I reported a barrier on Middle Street for replacement after it was damaged beyond repair in a traffic collision. More recently, In November last year, I reported a fence at the bottom of First Street for replacement after it had been torn down and thrown onto a bonfire on the evening of 5 November. 

Since then I have requested updates on several occasions, only to be told that materials for the replacement works had been unavoidably delayed in the supply line. While acknowledging that there is likely to be some delay in sourcing materials I find it unacceptable that two fairly straightforward replacement schemes, in prominent places in the village, have been left in a state of disrepair for over three years in the case of the damaged barrier on Middle Street.

I’ve now received confirmation that works are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks as soon as the materials are received. Given repeated delays to works in the past I’ll monitor progress and urge the council where necessary to speed up the process and carry out repairs or replacement works at these two prominent and unsightly locations.   

Parking to remain free along Crimdon seafront

Last month I published an article on these pages about a meeting I’d held with a cabinet member in county hall a few weeks before to express my concerns about the council’s proposals to introduce parking charges along the sea front at Crimdon. Please see post dated Wednesday 27 March 2024 for full background details.

As you’ll see from that article I suggested at the meeting that the council should reconsider its plans to charge visitors to park at Crimdon, partly because it would drive visitors away from the area but also because it was unfair to force people who come to the beach and dene for exercise to pay to park.

In response the council agreed to suspend charges for the time being to allow consideration of a fairer scheme that would align with a traffic regulation order designed to prevent dangerous and inconsiderate parking along the front. Regular readers of these pages will be aware of reports from last summer of vehicles parking outside a private dwelling just off the front, and also in areas that risked obstructing access for emergency response vehicles.

I’ve received a revised proposal tonight from the council which in effect indicates free parking in bays along the front at Crimdon, with just a handful of bays to the north of the site subject to parking charges. The council believes that these revisions will ‘manage occupancy’ and free up spaces to enable parking at peak times where necessary (see image below).

I’ve reproduced above a map of the northern section of the front at Crimdon setting out the new proposals for parking. The area hatched in blue at the top left of the image shows a small overspill section where vehicles will be charged to park, leaving the rest of the bays along the front free.

The image below shows the southern side of the site where parking outside the parking bays will be prohibited. Specifically this applies to parking outside the private dwelling nearby too. In both images the yellow lines shown in the map are designated no parking zones designed to prevent parking along the open grassed verges and prevent any further incidents of careless parking along the front which in the past has obstructed access to emergency vehicles.

If you have any comments on these proposals please contact trafficconsultations@durham.gov.uk before 17 May 2024.

Mayoral candidate Kim pledges support for our Hesleden Pit Heap campaign

It was great to meet up earlier this week with Alison Paterson from Blackhall Community Centre and Kim McGuinness, Labour's candidate for the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NE-MCA) elections next Thursday, 2 May.

Kim came to Blackhall at Alison's invitation to talk about how Kim, if elected mayor, would make sure that villages like ours in Blackhall Colliery, and others across East Durham, are not left lagging behind the rest of the region.

Kim gave assurances that she feels that the people and communities of East Durham are an integral part of the North East and its villages can play a key part in the regional economy by supporting jobs and developing local facilities like our community centres and other essential local organisations.

After the meeting I talked with Kim about a few local issues, including delays in the ongoing planning appeal process which has enabled the developing company to continue extraction works on the former pit heap site in Hesleden despite the council's planning committee refusing permission for works to continue. 

I told Kim that residents were at the end of their tethers after years of dirt, noise and dust coming from the site, something that shouldn’t be allowed to continue given the concerns we’ve raised about the unacceptable impact of the development on the community. 

This travesty is underscored by the fact the county council’s planning committee refused permission last year for the company to continue working on site. Unfortunately the planning appeal system has enabled the company to continue extraction works regardless and this is having a detrimental impact on the community, just as I warned it would when I spoke at the planning committee meeting last September.

In response Kim told me that she backs our campaign against ongoing site works ‘every step of the way’. She fully understands the impact that continued works on site are having on our community and she has agreed to meet again with me to see how she can use her position as mayor to put pressure on the authorities to resolve this issue in favour of the community in Hesleden.

Company plans to tackle excess water overflow onto the B1281

Following several prolonged periods of heavy rainfall recently I received a query about excess water overflow onto the B1281 and the Gleeson housing estate currently under development nearby, something which has been a concern for some time.

I raised the matter again with the council's highways team asking for an update on the company's plans to address this issue and also their plans to respond to local concerns about reported safety issues on the roundabout at the entrance to the estate. Background details can be found in the link here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2024/04/prolonged-heavy-rainfall-causes-several.html

Having received confirmation that the developer is responsible for dealing with those issues I've now been given an update from the company's engineer setting out their plans. I've published below their response below in full: 

In regard to the offsite S278/RSA comments, we are looking to appoint a contractor for the works in the next week or so. We have had a bit of trouble sorting one out as who we had originally lined up, walked away from it. At the moment, I don’t have an anticipated start date for the civils work but I think the street lighting works should be starting imminently.

Regarding the gully, which is high on site, I will ask for this to be dropped when we have a contractor on site to avoid ponding at the show homes.

We spoke about completing some trial holes to bottom out the issue with the water run off from the farmers field, this will also be picked up when we have a contractor start date.

Unfortunately, I don’t want to commit us to any time scales at present because we don’t have a lead time from the contractor we are looking to appoint as yet.

I've asked the highways office to monitor progress with these schemes and I'll update on any significant developments if and when they arise. In the meantime if you have any additional concerns about these issues please get in touch with me at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

Latest developments on the Hesleden pit heap enforcement process

Earlier this week I published an article expressing our concerns, and those of the community we represent, about the planning appeal process currently underway regarding ongoing extraction works at the former pit heap site in Hesleden.

I wrote in that piece about my serious misgivings about the way communications between the council and ourselves as local elected members have been handled during the planning process. The people who elect us as their representatives have every right to be kept informed of what is going on in their communities; that has always been our priority but it's become increasingly difficult to fulfil that aim when we are excluded from timely and critical information that affects our communities. Please see full details here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2024/04/hesleden-pit-heap-planning-enforcement.html

In my earlier article I mentioned that we had arranged a meeting between officers from the planning office at county hall and ourselves as community representatives. We met yesterday and we think it's important that the details of that meeting are reported for public information.

Our first point was to express our serious concerns about the way information in the public interest is communicated to ourselves as the local elected members. It would appear from developments last week that decisions are being made without us being informed in a timely manner. That puts us on the back foot when we relay information to our communities - and we've told them in no uncertain terms that it's not acceptable. Consequently we've received an assurance from planning officers that communications on this issue in particular will be strengthened to ensure that any significant developments are reported back to us and our communities in a timely manner.

In addition we've made it clear that throughout the planning appeal process we fully expect the council to reinforce the decision of the council's elected planning committee to refuse the company's planning application to continue work on the former pit heap site in Hesleden. Planning committee members agreed with the concerns we put to them at the committee meeting last September that ongoing extraction works on the pit heap site were having a harmful impact on public health and the general amenity of the community in Hesleden. Consequently the committee resolved that all extraction works on site must cease, and that restoration works to bring the site to an acceptable standard should begin without delay. A report from last September's planning committee meeting can be found here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2023/09/hesleden-community-stands-together-as.html

When we put this question to planning officers at the meeting to they told us in response that they were entirely behind the decision made by the planning committee last September. In other words, the council has assured us that they are unequivocally supportive of our position as local members that the end game of this whole process is to get the company to cease operations on site as soon as possible and return it to a decent condition for the benefit of the community.

Unfortunately we have no choice other than to accept that the planning process includes the legal right of applicants to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against decisions made by planning committees, but we're concerned that delays in the process (which unfortunately allow the appellant to continue working until the government's planning inspector comes to a decision) are enabling the company to continue extraction works at the expense of local residents and businesses, regardless of the council's decision to reject the company's planning application. We also have to acknowledge that planning appeals fall entirely within the remit of the government's planning inspector, and as such the pace of the process itself is beyond the control of the council. 

Whether we like it or not the appeals process, and everything that comes with it, is in the hands of the Planning Inspectorate and it'll stay that way until the appeals process is completed. In my opinion there is a serious fault in any system which enables the developer to continue working on site even though their planning application was refused by the council, and even though they know that continued extraction works present a real risk to public health and the general amenity of the community.

We asked officers for an update on the status of the planning appeal registered with the Planning Inspectorate. In response we were told that one of the planning enforcement notices has been withdrawn so that the company can produce a revised restoration plan which will be fully enforced as part of a replacement enforcement notice due to be issued against the company soon. 

In addition we have been told that there is a currently an appeal from the company awaiting validation from the planning inspector. Again, when we put the question to officers, we received an assurance that the council's sole intention is to oppose any appeal by the company in line with the planning committee's decision last year to refuse consent for works to continue.

From the outset, alongside our communities, we've had to put our faith in the planning process, and we fought hard for many years against the company's proposals to develop the site. From the very start, over 10 years ago, we've argued that this would the wrong development, in the wrong place and that it would have a damaging impact on the community. We've been proved correct on that score, so we should accept nothing less than an outcome that brings an end to this chaos once and for all.

Finally, officers from the planning team have agreed to meet with me and Stacey, along with additional local representation from the parish council and the Hesledens Residents' Association, to clarify the current position of the enforcement process, reaffirm the council's total commitment to bring this development to an end in line with the planning committee's ruling and discuss in further detail any matters arising out of this latest development. We've written to the planning office to agree a time and date to meet in county hall as soon as possible. 

In the meantime if there are any issues that you would like us to know about please get in touch at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or stacey.deinali@durham.gov.uk 

Priority signs on the High Hesleden chicanes

I’ve contacted the county council’s highways section again to suggest that the risk of an accident could be significantly reduced if priority signs were installed at the three chicanes in High Hesleden. Regular readers of these pages will know that I’ve been pressing the council for some time to install the correct signage in the hope of preventing an accident before it occurs. Background details can be found in an article I published on this site in 2019: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2019/12/chicanes-at-high-hesleden.html?m=1

I’ve pointed out to the highways department that most other similar chicanes and pinch-points in the area have sign posts attached to them to signify which vehicle has right of way. For example the chicane on Front Street in Hesleden has illuminated road signs signifying who has priority over oncoming vehicle, and the same is true of the pinch-point on East Street in Blackhall Colliery.

There are clear ‘Give Way’ markings painted onto the road at the approach to the chicanes in High Hesleden to tell which vehicle has priority, but I’ve argued that in the interests of road safety there should be a consistent approach to street signs and traffic management across the county. For that reason alone it would make sense to bring the chicanes in High Hesleden into line with others nearby.

I’ll update on progress with this matter as soon as I have more information from the service, but in the meantime please let me know if there’s anything in your neighbourhood you would like me to deal with: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

Hesleden Pit Heap - planning enforcement update

Late last week we were informed by a third party that there had been developments in the planning appeal process involving works on the site of the former pit heap in Hesleden. Essentially, we were told that the planning team had withdrawn one of the current enforcement notices against the company with the intention of issuing another enforcement notice - which on the face of it appears to be a tactical move towards reaching a 'satisfactory end result'. 

The first point to make is that we are less than happy that as local members we were not informed of this development and we were left to pick the information up second hand. Our approach in everything we do is always to keep our residents up to date with what's going on in their patch. Clearly this is impossible if we are not told in advance of critical issues which directly affect our communities. This isn't the first time we've been left in the dark on this particular matter. The council must manage its communications better if it wants to be seen as a credible source of public information.

In addition we have concerns about what this latest development will mean for the ongoing planning appeal process and the outcome that we've pressed for since day one - to bring about an end to works onsite to prevent any further misery and upheaval for our residents.

However it's early days and we need to know more about how this latest development plays out. With that in mind we've arranged to meet the planning team later this week, after which we'll update on the current position. In the meantime I've published below the planning team's response to my earlier correspondence setting out my concerns about this latest development and the way it's been handled.  

Morning Rob

I had discussed this case with the team last week and we were looking  get something  out to you and Stacey on this ahead of the web site being update – apologies we did not manage to do this, which I appreciate is far from ideal.

However, following protracted legal discussions between ourselves and the operators planning lawyer over the last few months, it was considered that in order to achieve a satisfactory end result in the matter a new Enforcement Notice should be issued. We have therefore had to exercise our powers under Section 173A of the Town and County Planning Act 1990 (as amended) to withdraw the current Notice alleging a breach of condition(s) of planning application DM/19/02315/VOCMW.  However this course of action will allow a revised Enforcement Notice to be issued and it is the team’s intention to work on this as soon as possible and look to get the Notice issued in the near future.  No doubt once this further Enforcement Notice has been issued by ourselves this will lead to a further appeal being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and you (and the wider residents) will be duly notified of this.

In discussion with the team over the last few weeks it is clear this is a highly complex case with some challenging legal issues; although we also fully appreciate the public perception angle too. It would be helpful to get some time in with you so we can bring you up to date.

Report from the Blackhall PACT meeting for April 2024

The monthly Blackhall PACT meeting was held on Wednesday evening (10 April) at the Blackhall Parish Office in Middle Street. 

Following the monthly police reports, including updates on a number of completed and ongoing eviction notices, the police and PCSO issued an update on the latest reported crime and anti-social behaviour figures - which showed a reduced number of reports across all sectors, including incidents of shop-lifting. On the face of it that downward trend looks encouraging - but data can often be misleading! I’ll be at a meeting of the council’s Safer & Stronger Communities committee in county hall next week and I’ll want to be assured that incidents of anti-social behaviour across the county have not been distorted by new reporting mechanisms where anti-social behaviour is now recorded as a crime. Obviously if that’s the case, a decrease in reported incidents of anti-social behaviour may well be concealed within the overall crime figures. 

In addition to the usual monthly police reports the main issue coming from myself and other residents was about the noise and nuisance created in and around our villages every week by off-road bikes. The police told of one specific incident where bike riders had evaded them by taking off along the Black Path between the B1281 in Blackhall Colliery and High Hesleden, and then along the lines to Hesleden. For obvious reasons this practice has become a particular problem in terms of public safety, and a concern that I’ve raised at previous PACT meetings. Some time ago the police had agreed to support plans to erect gates at either side of the Black Path (similar to the ones at Chicken’s Green), and also at the cut between Mickle Hill Road and Elizabeth Street in Blackhall Rocks where bikes frequently cause a disturbance.

For some reason that initiative has drifted, so the police have agreed to contact the Community Safety team to revive plans to erect anti-bike gates at those locations. In order to get things going as quickly as possible I have also committed to support those plans financially if necessary. In the meantime the police have maintained the problems associated with off-road bikes and quads as a priority.

The next PACT meeting is scheduled to be held at the same venue on Wednesday 22 May 2024. In the meantime if you have any issues you would like me to know about please get in touch at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

Prolonged heavy rainfall causes several cases of flooding in and around our villages

Although I'm focused on local issues every day I had an exceptionally busy day on Tuesday dealing with residents' reports of flooding and drainage issues in several locations in and around the villages in the Blackhall, Hesleden and Castle Eden area. To put things into perspective however there have also been many quite serious cases of flooding across the county and the whole country recently.

It goes without saying that the increase in reports of flooding have been caused in recent weeks and months by heavy and unusually persistent rainfall and excess run-off from already saturated fields surrounding our built-up areas. These type of  reports accounted for more than half a dozen separate incidents along the B1281 alone - and anyone travelling this stretch of road from Blackhall Colliery to Castle Eden recently will have noticed running water and pooling caused by outflows of water from fields at several locations.

Many of the reported issues in our residential areas have also been caused by heavy rainfall over an extended period of time, and in some cases the drains and gullies simply haven't been able to cope with the volume of water. In most instances these incidents tend to correct themselves when the rainfall subsides. However I have asked the council and/or Northumbrian Water to investigate persistent drainage issues specifically at a number of locations, including at the Scheme Houses in Blackhall Colliery and Station Road in Hesleden amongst others.

Although I reported several incidents of excess waterflows outside the villages earlier this week the most frequently reported ones related to long-term incidents of water running down the B1281 adjacent to the new housing estate in Blackhall Colliery, and water flowing into the highway further along the B1281 approaching The Village between Hesleden and Castle Eden. 

In these individual instances the landowners have been contacted with a request they do whatever they can to limit the overflow of excess water from their fields. 

In the particular case of the new Gleeson housing development on the B1281 at Blackhall Colliery the developers were contacted recently with a request they do whatever they can to address residents' concerns about flooding outside some of the properties on the estate (the roads here are not adopted by the local authority, so in these cases maintenance responsibility falls to the landowner/developer). 

In addition I've asked for an update on the developer's planned works to restrict water flow onto the B1281 and address public concerns about the roundabout at the entrance to the estate. Some readers may remember that in correspondence earlier this year I was advised that the developer is awaiting the appointment of contractors and delivery of materials with works expected in April or May. Background details can be found here: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2024/02/update-on-highways-improvements-at.html 

I'll update on progress with these incidents when I have more information from the authorities, but in the meantime if you have any issues you would like me to know about please get in touch at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

Footpath repairs on the B1281 between Blackhall and Hesleden completed

Although it was a long and arduous task convincing the council that the footpath along the B1281 between Blackhall Colliery and Hesleden was in desperate need of repair the constant phone calls, persistent reports and requested site visit eventually paid off.

After almost two weeks of resurfacing works the entire footpath between the two villages is now in a much better and safer condition than it ever was. 

I’m aware there are other footpaths in and around the villages that still need some level of attention and I’m hopeful they’ll be included for repair in the forthcoming works programme. In the meantime if you have any footpath repair issues to report please get in touch with me and I’ll raise them with the council’s highways department for inspection and repair wherever necessary: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk

I’ve posted below a few images of the B1281 footpath before the works began, and shortly after repair works were completed.