Earlier this week a resident got in touch with me to ask if anything could be done to repair a damaged bench on the beach banks in Blackhall Colliery. The benches along the tops are owned and maintained by different organisations so I said that after the Christmas and New Year break I would contact the local authorities and any other agencies to ask if they could replace any badly damaged benches or fix those that were not beyond repair.
This morning I took a walk along the beach banks between Blackhall Colliery and Blackhall Rocks to see for myself which benches had been damaged and which had been removed entirely. I’ve noticed that one or two on the Colliery side of the beach banks were either badly damaged or had disappeared altogether, while others between Blue House Gill and Station Road at Blackhall Rocks were in generally good condition.
I’ll contact the relevant agencies next week to see what can be done to bring all benches back to use as a soon as possible. I’ll also take the opportunity to get an update on plans to upgrade the coastal footpath (now known as the King Charles III coast path) and also the latest developments on a request to locate which parts of the coastal walk between Blackhall and Crimdon are designated as bridleways - and which should be accessible by horses and their riders. I’ll update on these issues as soon as I have more information from the authorities.
