Cllr Liz Maddison has provided an update of activities on behalf of Spennymoor’s independent county councillors.
Two new bus shelters have been delivered to High Street to replace those vandalised. I have asked for an update on the third privately owned bus shelter.
The BT phone box and wifi seat on Market area have had wires pulled out and requests have been made to repair these. The police and the Community Safety Partnership are aware of the ASB. It is hoped that the new mobile cameras that the police successfully bid for, with funding provided by the Spennymoor Area Action Partnership (AAP), can be deployed in local targeted areas.
We have also learnt from the Police Commissioner that they have been successful in obtaining funding from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund and I have asked how this will be allocated equally across the county to tackle ASB in our towns.
Work on the walkway of Festival Walk has been temporarily halted whilst an issue was resolved, but I understand this has now been sorted and that work will soon restart and make speedy progress to complete on schedule this year. The plan is for Cheapside end to start early next year once all logistical work is concluded.
As reported previously, most of the technical analysis has already been completed and funding secured.
On our regular walkabouts, Cllr McAloon and I have been promoting the shop front improvement grants that are available to shop owners in the town. We are pleased to say that there has been a high take up of this business opportunity.
I have met up with highways officers to look at the areas highlighted to them where legal notices are required to implement road markings when safety concerns have been raised. We have subsequently toured both Spennymoor and Tudhoe Divisions and identified other areas needing this work as well as the trim back of hedges and verges, where road potholes needed repair and road safety markings refreshed.
As on previous occasions, residents will be consulted on any legal notices that are needed to be implemented.
Livin have now confirmed that they will look at their grounds maintenance (hedges and verges) around the estates after we referred issues to them at Princess Court, King William Grange and at Middlestone Moor.
I am pleased to report that the fly tipping at Livin garages on Baff Street has been removed and the open garages boarded up. Thank you to Livin staff for undertaking this major clean up! Fly tipping continues to be an issue across the town and we do try to have this cleaned up promptly. Please let us know if you have any issues or concerns on an area near you and we will call to see these – or catch us on our walkabouts.
Remedial work on the grass verges on frontage of Howsham Road/Marske Way has been promised by Barratts for completion by 8th September. I will follow this up.
There has been a delay in finalising the work on the junction of Whitworth Road to Burton Woods as further drainage surveys have needed to be undertaken.
Barratts have reported that all relevant surveys have now been completed and that they should be able to progress this work in the coming weeks. An update has been promised on other outstanding jobs I have highlighted to them following concerns raised.
Cllr McAloon and I met with Alan Black of Star Fundraising Group to talk about an exciting project he has planned for August next year that will benefit our Spennymoor Parish community and that he will promote as soon as he has all details in place.
We have offered him our full support to get this project up and running and hope we can bring other partners on board too.
We all contributed funding to the Town Council to improve a walkway and stream embankment in the woods close to Mayfields and Cow Plantation earlier this year. The funding has come through and we understand the Town Council hope to have this work completed in the next few months to create another pleasant walkway in the woods.
We have been invited to the official opening of Whitworth Academy’s new 3G pitch on Friday, 15 September.
All County Councillors and the AAP have supported this project and we hope it provides long term benefits to our Spennymoor Community who are able to book directly with the school to use these facilities.
Congratulations to the school for their hard work and dedication in bringing this project to fruition.
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