Cllr Liz Maddison has provided an update of activities on behalf of Spennymoor’s independent county councillors.
The Festival Walk pathway should be complete by end October, weather permitting.
Following a request made to Hellens Group, the rear car park has had parking and disabled bay markings put in to avoid congestion in this busy parking area.
Plans for the Cheapside area have moved another stage further. A planning application will be submitted shortly with a recommendation to agree works for this area.
The old Library building has now been assessed and a recommendation made to demolish. Our focus moving forward will be to improve this area.
Along with planned works on Oxford Road, paid for with Member Neighbourhood budget, there has been additional dropped kerbs put in closer to Aldi to improve safety for pedestrians in crossing this busy road.
A request was also made several months ago to repair the road surface condition of Holborn Road along to its junction with King Street.
Requests for refreshed road markings, street furniture improvements, pot holes and bus stop markings have been submitted for identified areas across Spennymoor, Tudhoe, Middlestone Moor and Byers Green, to also include the painting of mini roundabouts and pedestrian crossings.
Spennymoor Leisure Centre saw record visitors during the summer months, slightly delaying their ongoing works timetable. Work will start shortly on the soft play area, cafe and pool features. One section of the car park will need to be closed off to be used as a works compound. A bike shelter has also been requested.
The Boundary Commission Report will be out in October when we will know what the Spennymoor and Tudhoe Divisions will look like.
We do know that the number of Councillors will be reduced from 3 to 2, in Spennymoor Division and will stay at 2 in Tudhoe Division with an enlarged housing and population base in both areas. Tudhoe and Spennymoor Divisions will move from Bishop Auckland Parliamentary Constituency to the Aycliffe and Spennymoor Parliamentary Constituency (including Sedgefield).
On Wednesday 13 September, Cllr McAloon and I were contacted by concerned residents after the arrival of 27 caravans onto the Daisy Field. Services were contacted promptly and a rapid response course of action was put in place by council officers resulting in withdrawal of the last caravan by 21 September.
Clean and Green are removing the considerable amount of fly tip, litter, wood chippings and felled tree branches from the area and we have asked if the grassed areas can be levelled and repaired.
Damaged steel fencing has been repaired and secured at the entrances.
We attended a PACT meeting this week and raised a number of questions regarding ASB in the town. A decision will be taken as to where the three recently funded mobile security cameras can be sited. We have asked if at least one could be placed in hotspot areas such as the town centre.
There have been 17 incidents of stolen or damaged cars this month and between 8/9/23 and 23/9/23. There have been eight incidents of off road bikes and quad bikes riding dangerously through the town and on bridleways.
The police have asked if any incident, large or small, can be reported to them through the 101 service or on line, and we ask that incident numbers are always obtained; that way all incidents are officially recorded, analysed and reported.
We learnt that Faraday bags to store car keys and block the signal between car and key could be a deterrent. We discussed the increasing number of quad bikes in the woods; these incidents are also being monitored.
Last weekend, a road traffic incident occurred on the road to the primary school at Byers Green. The pedestrian barrier was significantly damaged, trees and bushes were burnt down and the road surface was damaged after a car was set alight. This is the main footway from the village to the School and a request has been submitted for urgent repair of the damaged barriers and road and for one of the trees to be checked for stability.
Other roads in the area have also been highlighted for speeding and parking on footpaths.
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