Cllr Liz Maddison has provided the following update of activities over the festive period:
Independent County Councillors for Spennymoor & Tudhoe would like to wish all residents a Healthy and Happy New Year.
We attended Hirst Court Community Centre where we met with residents about to sit down to Christmas lunch prepared by Mr Alan Black and volunteers of Star Fundraising Group.
We met with Alan in 2023 when he shared news of an exciting project he is planning in 2024 to provide a trip away for Spennymoor residents in the summer.
We visited a few of our shopkeepers in the run up to Christmas who were exceptionally busy and also the Art Gallery, a little gem in the Town Hall, who display and sell both original artwork and prints, impressive photographs and a range of jewellery.
To add to an existing artist in residence, a new glass artist has now joined the team.
We also called into the Mining Museum who have a multitude of items on display and their knowledgeable volunteers are happy to give visitors a talk on the history behind the mining memorabilia that has been donated to them.
We were there for a couple of hours listening to some of the stories, and would recommend a visit.
Our casework has continued through the holidays with reports of fly tipping, and anti-social behaviour, potholes and other highways issues.
The wind and heavy rain presented a few issues for the waste team but they did an excellent job in emptying our waste bins in difficult weather conditions.
Some missed bins were reported to us and we were grateful to the Team who came back and emptied them the same day.
The accumulation of litter around the Festival Walk steps and grassed area has been reported to Hellens Group to have cleared and a request made to have new bins placed in this vicinity as soon as new stock arrives.
A number of coping stones are also missing on the planted area that will be addressed.
Durham County Council have now acknowledged all requests for actions that will be implemented as soon as Teams return to work after the New Year.
The Highways Team has advised me that the speed visor on Oxford Road should be in place February or March this year, paid for with my Member Neighbourhood funding.
Road markings should be completed at the same time.
The road surfacing on Gibside Way, Phase 5, Burton Woods, was partially held up because of a damaged car on the highway that could not be moved.
Barratts have advised me that they should be back on site to complete the road surfacing on 15th January, weather permitting.
Whilst we enjoyed our Christmas festivities, key workers continued to provide services to our Community. Can we thank the Police, Fire, NHS workers, Care workers, volunteers, Highways and Waste teams and other professional organisations for their valuable work in keeping us safe and well.
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
