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.
