Owen Temple

I’ve been to two partnership meetings this week; Consett North’s on Wednesday and Blackhill, Bridgehill, Benfieldside and Shotley Bridge’s today.

Both are groups of people wanting to make their areas a better plave to live in, but two very different groups. One new and just getting going. The other long-established and looking to re-launch itself.

Nothing ever stands still in community life, but one thing is constant. The need for people to get involved. If you live in either of these areas and want to be put in touch with your local partnership, please let me know. I know they’ll be pleased to hear from you.

In response to my question about what steps the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council had taken to acquaint themselves with the Project Genesis Trust, of which they are ex officio members, I got the following response: (my summary - not verbatim)

The council has written to the solicitors acting for the trust to request them to accept different representatives as follows (in alphabetical order):

Andy Palmer: Head of Policy, Planning and Performance

Councillor Bob Young: Portfolio holder for the Environment

Councillor Neil Foster: Porfolio holder for Regeneration and Economic Development

I don’t believe any response has yet been received to this request.

Some of you have noticed the academy site straw poll to the left. Join in and you’ll see what the rest of Consett thinks.

Durham County Council took a small first step along the road to a meaningful consultation with local people over the academy site. The consultation will now run until July 17th, giving people a further two weeks to respond.

I welcome this small step, but no-one should get too carried away. In Iran they extended the voting by six hours. Who trusts the result that produced?

The step people really need to see is the county holding a public meeting in which they debate the pros and cons of each site. Following that, with the necessary information in their hands, let the people have their say.

I have put the following question down for the leader of the Council tomorrow:

“The trust deed of the Project Genesis Trust, a multi-million pound public-private partnership set up to develop the extensive former steelworks site in Consett, specifically nominates the leader and deputy leader of Durham County Council (successor council to Derwentside District Council) as trustees of the trust, together with the Chief Executive of Durham County Council.

In the light of this, and the site’s key role in the regeneration of North West Durham, what steps have the leader and deputy leader taken to ensure their understanding of the trust and its role, and to take part in its proceedings?”

I know it sounds really dry, but it’s critical to the future development of this town.

No-one has been a more vociferous critic of the secrecy that has surrounded the Project Genesis Trust than I have, but that doesn’t mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water.

The gift of the site by BSC put 700 acres at the disposal of the council. The Project Genesis Trust arrangement, for good or ill, means that it can now only be developed through active cooperation between the county council and Project Genesis Limited. The simple choice is - seek co-operation or see the site goe to waste.

The people of North West Durham will not forget or forgive if the Leader of the Council sits on his hands.

One of the disadvantages of being a local councillor can be a tendency to let your world narrow.

You’ll be impressed, therefore, that I have been reading up on Macon in Georgia, USA. It’s a city I’d never heard of, and don’t expect to visit.

If you want to know what led me to Macon, click here

OK, so perhaps my world has narrowed a bit!

There used to be a poster outside churches which said “If you’re too busy for God, you’re too busy”.

I certainly wouldn’t see blogging on a par with that message, but there is some paralell because as you blog you think through what’s important to you. Not blogging may therefore be a sign of not thinking. So here goes.

It’s been an enormously frustrating, annoying, stressful week. That’s ranged from computers that have let me down, through traffic chaos, to a county council which behaves with such breath-taking arrogance that you wonder if you’re imagining things. I mean, could there really be a democratic institution that would make a decision vital to residents’ interests behind closed doors, keep it secret for five months, and then offer people a “pretend choice” to make in ten days? It’s the sort of “choice” that used to be commonplace behind the Iron Curtain.

At the same time it’s been an enormously exciting week as local people have taken up the challenge and driven events at the breakneck speed required to meet the county machine head on. My phone, doorbell and email has never been so busy. Today on Middle Street there were people from different politcal parties and none seeking petition signatures. Two thousand leaflets have been put out by people who probably wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it a week ago. And what was their revolutionary demand. Just that the people who claim to be their council come and talk to them - discuss, explain, argue, justify and do all the things good democrats do for their own people.

British politics is a pale thing. Look around the world at people in Iran, in Zimbabwe, in Myanmar (that’s to test you) and you’ll realise how little our democracy costs us. Often it seems we aren’t even willing to pay that price. Apathy comes cheap.

We’d all better hope that we never need the kind of courage politics takes in some countries. We could hope for a bit of the passion, though.

Let’s stop just managing people. How about enthusing, involving, encouraging, and even possibly one day inspiring them to want them make their world a better place.

The green space of Consett is not to die for. It is worth fighting for, though. And just as much worth fighting for is a political scene which is full of busy people grafting, talking, thinking and striving. And full of people who believe they can make a difference.

I know the site for Consett’s proposed Academy is not on everyone’s mind - but it’s been on the mind of most of the people who’ve communicated with me in the last two days. One of them asked me if we should get Hilary Armstrong MP involved. My answer was that of course we should. She’s our MP, whichever party we voted for.

It set me wondering.

Hilary Armstrong was actually one of the original trustees, and a signatory to the Genesis Trust. I wonder how she feels as she watches Durham County Council studiously ignoring the trust - and with it the opportunities it offers the town to develop the land we were given. Does she see their behaviour as a betrayal of the project she signed up for? Or was it a loss of faith in the Genesis project that led her to leave the trustees?

The absurd aspect of this laughable two week consultation is that the Genesis site is not even under consideration. As the Northern Echo put it, the Genesis site is the elephant in the room. It pays to be wary of elephants, they’re scary when roused.

Recent events are giving me concern.

The failure of the cabinet to consider the “Business as Usual” proposal for Consett Sports Centre, planned and financed for the Berry Edge site, concerns me. The elimination of the Berry Edge site from the possible Academy sites concerns me.

It’s not that I’m sure that that is the right site for either, but that the county doesn’t seem to understand that it owns the site or seem very interested in engaging with the Project Genesis Trust. It seems just to have abandoned the idea of a site which brought the possibility of having college, school and sports facilities in one tight knit area which would enable children to benefit from the facilities during school hours.

It’s hard to imagine on what basis anyone would want to ignore this site. It’s huge. It’s valuable. It was given to the people of Derwentside (yes, that’s right, not just the people of Consett) and that’s a legacy which we should make the most of.

I used to complain about the lack of transparency of the project - and justifiably so.

Now what we’ve got is even worse - invisibility.

If the new county council is serious about being for all the county they’ll have to get a grip of the opportunities in this part of it. If they don’t the voters will take their revenge.

If you want to see the two sites that the county council is choosing to offer you for the new academy in Consett, please click here

Since there are only two sites, no doubt you’ll have no problem making your mind up and sending in your views to the county in the nine days available to the ludicrously short deadline of July 3rd.

If however you want the list of the six sites considered, which were apparently reported to cabinet in January, though not discussed in public or clarified to the public academy consultation meetings in February and March, please read on.

My apologies for the length of what follows, but this is an important issue and you deserve to know the facts.

Option 1: Existing Consett Community Sports College
The existing school site is large enough to accommodate the proposed development, measuring approximately 172,800 m². This figure includes the cricket field (approximately 28,384 m²) currently let on a lease and the detached playing field (25,580m²) not currently used by the school.

It would appear that the only area suitable for the building of a new academy would be on the playing field to the rear of the existing building. However access to this part of the site is very difficult due to the topography of the site, in particular the severe slope on its eastern boundary. Access for construction vehicles would need to be carefully considered to avoid impact on the operational school and local residents.

Option 2: Existing Moorside Community Technology College
The existing school site is large enough to accommodate the proposed development, however it is distant from the main area of population. This would impact on the travel distances required for those living outside the Moorside area.
Although the slope of the site is not excessive there are a number of changes in level that mean both the existing school buildings and playing fields are terraced. In addition the site is with an area of high landscape value which could make development on another part of the site more difficult. There could be potential to use an area to the east of the site, owned by DDC but this also slopes quite steeply from the highway.

Option 3: Project Genesis site
The site is more than large enough to accommodate a proposed development but acquisition would be needed. A single developer agreement exists on the site which could present problems in terms of cost and the extent to which their rights affect development by others. The whole area was formerly the site of the Consett Steelworks which will lead to some contamination issues that would require further investigation and may prove costly to remedy.

Option 4: Land at Belle Vue, Consett
This site presents a viable option but is not large enough to accommodate a proposed development without the demolition of the existing structures on the site, which includes the football ground and the rugby clubhouse. The levels across the site do vary with a significant slope downwards inside the football ground, earthworks would be required. The potential exists to share facilities with the neighbouring Consett Junior School if required.
It is likely that the facilities used by the football and rugby clubs would have to be reprovided elsewhere in Consett which would have a cost associated with it. In addition it appears that a number of quarries were present across the site which would require further investigation to determine if any contamination exists.

Option 5: Land at Crookhall, Consett
Land at Crookhall extends to approximately 140,000 m² which would meet the statutory requirements for a new academy and presents a viable option. The site is within the ownership of Durham County Council and Derwentside District Council so no acquisition would be required. However OS maps show that the site was subject to past industrial activity and as a result contamination may be present. In addition the football pitches are well used by the local community and it is likely facilities would need to be made available as part of the academy development.

Option 6: Land at Leadgate
The existing site is not large enough to accommodate the statutory requirements needed to support an academy in this area. A mixture of reclamation land and grazing land off Leadgate Road extending to approximately 93,000 m². The minimum statutory requirement for the academy is 99,800m² which would mean land acquisition would be required in order to meet these requirements which may affect the timescale.
The land has been subject to past industrial use and as a result contamination may be present. Access is a major issue on this site which appears difficult and costly to remedy. With this and the acquisition that would be required to meet the statutory minimum it does not appear to be a viable site.

So there you have it.

The really intriguing bit is why the Project Genesis site was ruled out. And what does that say about the plans for the Sports Centre?

I’ll turn to that theme tomorrow, but in the meantime please let me know what you think of the two sites offered by the county - Belle Vue and Crookhall - and how you think they compare with the Genesis and other sites.