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