The latest Blackhall PACT (Police & Communities Together) took place at the parish council office on Middle Street in Blackhall Colliery last night. It followed the monthly meeting of the Monk Hesleden Parish Council environment committee which I attend to update on any environmental issues affecting our villages from a county perspective, and also to coordinate a collective response to similar issues raised by residents at the parish level.
Among the issues covered last night included the ongoing problem of quads and off-road bikes trespassing on public land and potentially putting lives at risk - and that's on top of the disruption in our communities and the damage caused to open grassed areas intended for general public use.
The police and neighbourhood wardens updated on recent operations in the area that are having an impact in deterring vehicles from transporting off-road bikes into our communities from other places (it has been reported for some time that the vast majority of off-road bikes in Hesleden, Blackhall and surrounding areas come in from other areas, rather than our own villages).
In addition I reported a police initiative raised with me and other local county councillors in neighbouring wards intended to acquire a drone for use specifically in our villages. Similar initiatives elsewhere across the country have proved highly successful in tracking the movement of off-road vehicles and crucially pin-pointing the exact places where bikes and quads are stored when not in use. This information enables the police to target those storage locations and take whatever measures are necessary to prevent riders from causing problems in our villages. I'll monitor progress on this police proposal and update on what is likely to be a game-changer in tackling the persistent problem of off-road bikes trespassing on otherwise safe places in the community.
Contact details for reporting off-road bikes to the police can be found in an article I posted on these pages a couple of weeks ago: Off-road bikes and quads in Hesleden
Other issues raised last night included the usual reports of potholes, littering and untidy back yards in some of the numbered streets in Blackhall Colliery. Although there are still one or two particular areas affected it was reported that complaints about similar issues in other streets and other parts of the villages were markedly reduced from recent months. This fits with my own experience and is largely down to residents contacting me as soon as issues like this arise. This means the neighbourhood wardens and the empty properties team at DCC are able to react immediately when problems are reported and then set the ball rolling on whichever actions are needed to put things right again. Although there are still one or two issues to tackle (most notably the paint-damaged property in First Street and rubbish in open back yards in Middle Street and Third Street), progress is becoming noticeable in many other locations.
If you have any issues you would like me to know about please get in touch at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk and I'll raise them with the relevant authorities as soon as possible. Finally my thanks go to all those residents who have taken the time to contact me in the past to let me know about their concerns. It's by working together in this way that we'll make our villages better and more attractive places to live and work.
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