Fly-tipping at Deneholme - your views matter

Following incidents of fly-tipping in the area around Deneholme over recent years we have approached the Durham Heritage Coast Partnership with a request that they consult the public on possible methods of dealing with this problem.

We have now received a response detailing a number of consultation events to be held in Blackhall over the next week or so.

We have reproduced this response below for your information:

Following on from our meeting in the summer and subsequent flytipping incidents, we have now arranged dates for community consultation on the options for Deneholme/Denemouth area.

This is an informal consultation.

These will be as follows:

 

Friday 22nd November                   10.00 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.                  Blackhall Community Centre      Morning Session         

 

Friday 22nd November                   1.30 p.m. – 3.30 p.m.                      Blackhall Resource Centre           Afternoon Session

 

Saturday 23rd November              10.30 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.                    Blackhall Resource Centre           Weekend Session

 

Wednesday 27th November        4.00 p.m. – 7.30 p.m.                      Blackhall Community Centre      Evening Session         

We will have a story board of the area including images of its current state with the preferred option of the Durham Heritage Coast Partnership and seek comments and ideas for alternatives. Present at each of the sessions will be representatives of the Heritage Coast, Police, Street Wardens and Natural England.

I will be passing this information on to the Parish Clerk, others who we know have an interest locally including the Horden councillors and Horden Parish.

I will also be asking the Hartlepool Mail and the Peterlee Star to publish information about the events along with a current image.

If you cannot attend any of the above events please forward your comments to the Heritage Coast Partnership manager, Niall Benson, on:

03000 268 130 or at niall.benson@durham.gov.uk

Crematorium consultation in Castle Eden

We have been made aware of a public consultation exercise to be held next week regarding an initial proposal to build a crematorium on land to the North of the former brewery in Castle Eden.

The public consultation event will be held at The Old Brewery in Castle Eden on Wednesday 13 November 2013 between 3pm and 6.30pm.

Whilst this proposal is at the early stages of development we think it is essential that members of the public have their say now prior to any possible planning application being submitted in future (although there will be a full public consultation exercise carried out as part of the planning process if a planning application is eventually submitted).

We tend to keep an open mind on planning issues until the developer has had the opportunity to tell us how they think a particular proposal will directly benefit the community and its residents.

Most importantly though, as local councillors, we want to hear what the people of Castle Eden think of this proposal so if you have any comments please don't hesitate to contact us:

rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or lynn.pounder@durham.gov.uk

The Miners' Hymns - a free event at Blackhall Welfare

Blackhall Welfare (better known to some as the Community Centre) on Hesleden Road will be hosting a free event on Friday 22 November at 6pm.

The Miners Hymns is a film by the American artist Bill Morrison and is focused on the former coalmining communities of North-East England. It depicts the hardship of pit work, the role of the trade unions and also the world renowned Durham Miners Gala.

The show is entirely free and there is no need to obtain a ticket beforehand.

For further details contact: 0191 586 7396 or visit www.theminershymns.com

Coastal fly-tipping continues

Once again, unfortunately, we have further incidents of fly-tipping to report. On this occasion the neighbourhood wardens took this image of discarded rubbish at the bottom of Deneholme and reported it to the coastal partnership for clearance. This is the same section of the coast targeted by fly-tippers over the past year or so and the cost of clearance is a heavy burden for the authorities in these cash-strapped times.

Incidentally, the Durham Heritage Coast partnership is currently consulting on plans to close the top of Deneholme bank to non-emergency vehicles in an attempt to prevent further fly-tipping in this area. It is vital that you let the partnership know of your views with regard to this proposal.

If you are aware of any other incidents of fly-tipping in our area please contact us so that we can arrange clearance.

Accent Housing in Blackhall

We have been made aware recently that the Accent Housing group is seeking to transfer a number of its properties in Blackhall and Horden to an alternative housing provider.

Details are rather sketchy at the moment but later this week we will talk to the Head of Housing at Durham County Council to try to identify which options may be available to Accent and, more importantly, what the implications may be for residents and the wider community.

Along with the parish clerk we then intend to seek a meeting with officers from Accent and other interested parties to discuss with them the issues around any potential ownership changes to their housing stock.

We will update on progress in due course but in the meantime please get in touch if you have any particular concerns about this matter.

Damaged road signs at Chicken's Green

The road direction signs on the A1086 at the Dene Road side of Chicken's Green have again been reported as presenting a danger to the public.

The image below, taken this afternoon, shows that the supporting poles are severely corroded and are in imminent danger of collapse so we have asked the highways department to deal with our request for replacement signs with urgency.

Please let us know if you are aware of any other similarly damaged street furniture in need of repair or replacement.

Half-term events at Blackhall Welfare

Friday 25^th October 2013

7pm – 11pm Halloween Family Party with Hi lights Disco

£5.00 per family (4) single tickets £2.00

Tuesday 29^th October 2013

4pm – 5.30pm Under 12’s Halloween Disco

Fancy Dress Optional 50p per person

Wednesday 30^th October 2013

10am – 12pm Multi Sports Age 5 – 13yrs £2.50

Spaces Limited

Wednesday 30^th October 2013

5pm – 6pm Street Dance Free Taster Session

With Tom from URBAN ROCKZ

Spaces Limited

Friday 1^st November 2013

Funky Feet 9.30am – 11.00am £1.50 per child

Additional monthly surgery for Blackhall Colliery

Beginning next month, in response to increased demand and in support of our local library, we are to hold an additional monthly ward surgery at Blackhall library.

As you will be aware we already hold a monthly surgery on the first Friday of each month at Blackhall Community Centre. Following the success of these events, and in recognition of the growing number of issues affecting our constituents, we now intend to hold an additional surgery on:

the third Friday of each month at:

Blackhall Library, Hesleden Road from 9.30am until 10.30am

The first new library surgery will be held on Friday 15 November 2013 and no appointment is necessary, however if your query or complaint is urgent please contact us in the usual way:

Rob: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk or
Lynn: lynn.pounder@durham.gov.uk

Rodridge Hall flooding update

Following our enquiries with the highways drainage team at county hall regarding long-running reports of flooding on the road connecting Station Town with Hutton Henry we have received the following update on progress.

As with the similar report elsewhere on this site relating to flooding at Blackhall Colliery, only time will tell if these works have been successful but the engineer's comments appear to be quite positive.

Works in the area of Rodridge Hall are complete.

Investigations found several issues:

The highway drainage connects to a nearby  watercourse in farmland to the east and this watercourse was silted above the level of the outfall blocking the flow.  This was remedied by the farm owner the same day as he was contacted.

There was an intruding connection in the highway drain from unknown and possibly redundant land drainage adjacent to some farm buildings near the bend in the road. The connection was causing a 90% restriction in the highway drain and has been removed and connected correctly.

There was a collapse on the highway drainage in the verge adjacent to Rodridge Hall, this has been repaired.

The system was generally silted, likely caused by the blockages and restrictions. The entire system has been cleansed and surveyed.

Following the works we have no further reports of flooding to the highway.

Plans to prevent illegal access to the former pit site at Blackhall Colliery

We met recently with the head of the estates section at county hall to discuss security breaches last August at the DCC-owned former pit site at Blackhall, and particularly the issues to be addressed if we are to avoid a recurrence.

At the meeting we outlined our intention to take whichever measures are necessary to prevent any future illegal access onto the Hackworth Road site. We also expressed our concerns about the council's initial proposals to lease the land and the potential impact it could have on the community if leased to an inappropriate party. As a result the estates section has agreed to defer the proposal to lease the land and they have also confirmed that they are willing to allow sufficient time for both of us, and other agencies, to work up our own plans for the site.

Last week we met with a business representative along with officers from the countryside section of the council to discuss our next steps and we have now agreed a scheme which, amongst other things, would see the removal of the existing gate to be replaced by continuous metal fencing to take away the opportunity for unauthorised access to the site. We also propose to carry out security works at the alternative point of access from Station Road at Blackhall Rocks.

 

We are currently waiting for an estimate of the costs involved before we can get started on the security works which will ensure that the site is made sufficiently secure to prevent illegal access in future.

Update on Blackhall drainage issues

We have received a progress report recently from the drainage engineer, and at the risk of tempting fate we seem to be in a position to report that the long running flooding problem in the Chicken's Green/St Joseph's area has been resolved.

Clearly we won't know for certain that works have been fully successful but the engineer's report appears positive enough. We'll sit tight now and wait for heavy downpours over the winter months to test his optimism!

We have copied the engineer's comments below for your information:

 

Here is my update for the above. Works in this area are now complete.  

A new connection has been constructed from the Coast Road highway drainage to a culverted watercourse in Chickens Green.  

During the investigation it was discovered that the highway drainage which serves in excess of 800m of the coast road connected to an non operating soakaway near the Chicken’s Green Play Area.  This resulted in regular flooding at the lower areas mainly around the junction of the B1281 and Emerson Court.

Following the completion of the works there have been no reported flooding of the highway in this area.

Street lighting matters

Following the conclusion of the county council's recent public consultation on the provision of street lighting we have asked for a meeting with the head of strategic highways at county hall to discuss further the potential to reinstate street lighting on the roads connecting the villages in our ward.

In our written response to the consultation exercise we drew the council's attention to the necessity for adequate lighting on the roads between our villages because of very strong social and family links, particularly between people from Blackhall and the Hesledens.

We have also insisted that lighting in these areas is essential to ensure public safety, especially given the poor public transport links between the villages as a result of bus companies withdrawing services which they see as unviable (please see elsewhere on this site for details of our campaign to reinstate bus services in the area).

We will keep you updated on progress but in the meantime please let us know if you have any particular concerns about street lighting in our area.

Central Park at Blackhall Welfare

Blackhall Community Association

Proudly Presents

Central Park

 Saturday 7^th December 2013 

Doors Open 7pm

Tickets £3.00

 First come first served

Tickets selling fast get yours now

 Contact 0191 5867396 or call into the centre