After a sticky 10 miutes Consett AFC came through srongly to beat Poole Town from Dorset 4-1 at Belle Vue Park and qualify for another long trip down South - this time to Surrey to play Merstham - in the last 16 of the FA Carlsberg Vase.

It’s good to have the football team putting Consett’s name on the map.

Whilst this new Conservation area appraisal is titled “Blackhill”, it will be of great interest to people living in Consett North ward, especially those who live on Aynsley Terrace, much of which is in the conservation area.  

Of course, it is also very important to all of us who live in and value this beautiful and historic area.

It’s a substantial document which you can access at http://www.derwentside.gov.uk/getmedia.cfm?mediaid=9897 (but even with broadband it will be very slow to load) and covers a wide range of issues from planning controls to the history of the area, from tree preservation to the architectural heritage. The purpose of it is to create a public debate about what is most important to protect, and what is detracting from or threatens the area.

The development plans team want your suggestions and comments and to enable that there is a “Public Workshop” in Blackhill Community Centre on Monday 29th from 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. If you can’t make it to that you can still give your input by filling in the comments sheet which you can download from http://www.derwentside.gov.uk/getmedia.cfm?mediaid=9899

Of particular interest to some people will be the proposed new boundaries which you can see in the plan on page 10 of the document. The bits that have been excluded are marked in blue, with the addition of a large part of the cemetery marked in salmon pink. Alternatively click on the image of the plan to enlarge it.

For further details email developmentplans@derwentside.gov.uk

Four years on, a decision has finally been made. We are to have new sports facilities based at Berry Edge, but the plan is no longer the massive £25 million project that was supposed to be deliverable for just £6 million of Derwentside council tax payers’ money.

As the promised flood of funders dwindled to a trickle, councillors faced a stark choice. They could either find £16 million - that’s an extra unbudgetted £10 million - to produce just the first phase of the original plan (minus the football, athletic and tennis elements) or come up with an alternative.

The cheapest option was to refurbish the Belle Vue Leisure Centre and add a new swimming facility to it. Councillor Keith English and I thought that was a good option, at around £8.5 million, to retain and update the level of facilities we have now, but it did offer fewer development opportunities for the long term - particularly in the capacity to develop extensive junior football, tennis, athletic and facilities or possibly, in the long term, to provide a new stadium for Consett AFC.

The Labour group, backed by most of the independents, proposed a new sports centre at Berry Edge with a £10 million cap on Derwentside Council’s share of development costs, with another 1.2 million to draw up a revised specification. The net result is that we will get less in terms of facilities than we have now, and pay more for them, but with a site which is capable of being expanded and developed if additional sources of funding can be found in the future.

It’s not ideal but Keith and I decided to go with this proposal because it offers some real benefits:

• Development potential mentioned above

• It remains affordable without completely asset-stripping Derwentside

• Minimum disruption to leisure facilities during the building programme

• Modern buildings with greater energy efficiency and lower running costs

The task now will be to hammer out an appropriate specification that will be well used and provide the facilities that local people want. It is essential that people make their voices heard. In particular bowlers will get another chance to argue their case for inclusion which was to have been denied in the original sports village plan.

And by the way, if you wonder why suddenly this article is full of figures, the controlling Labour Group had a sudden “deathbed conversion” to openness and democracy. In a U turn, despite the meetings agenda, they moved that the Press and Public be allowed into the meeting. It would be good to think that our campaign had changed their minds. Sadly, I fear that it just means they thought that their political advantage lay that way.

that Derwentside Council will allow the Press and Public into the debate on Consett’s Sports facilities (contrary to the agenda as reported in my last article).

Actually, it’s not so much rumour as The Journal which reported on Saturday:

“Coun Watson said he will ask members to agree to debate the matter in public, so the details can be reported.

He said: “I think that it should be heard in public so people know what is happening with it.”

We couldn’t agree more - we’ve been argiuing loudly for the press and public to be allowed in. And even if it’s quite late in the day for this change of mind, we’ll applaud it if it happens. Log on on Wednesday morning for a completely unbiased report on what happens.

I’m sure you are frustrated not to be getting all the facts about the possible options for updating Consett’s ageing leisure facilities.

I can promise you that I am every bit as frustrated by having information that I ought to be able to share with you but am prevented from disclosing under legal threat.

I was so frustrated I wrote to the Legal Services Officer asking whether I could publish specific figures relating the project. This was the reply.

“The onus is upon a member to ascertain whether or not information that he/she proposes to publish  is both factually correct and does not disclose confidential information , this includes reports to Executive/Council which are exempt by virtue of the Local Government Act 1972( as amended). Paragraph 4 (a) of the  Members Code of Conduct sets out guidance in this regard.

As a member of the Council you will have received copies of any reports to the Executive /Council relating to the Consett Sports Village which will state whether or not the contents of those reports are exempt from publication .Similarly ,if you have received any other communications from the Council in this regard then it ought to be clear from those communications whether or not the information contained within that communication is confidential . I would suggest , therefore, that you examine any reports/communications for the purpose of establishing what information ,if any, you may publish.”

There’s helpful! It’s not quite as clear as the response I got back from the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors: ”Councillors have been disqualified for disclosure.”

Sadly, I can tell you that the report on Consett Sports Project scheduled for discussion and decision on Tuesday night’s full council meeting has its usual heading, ” Not for publication by virtue of Paragraph 3  of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of The Local Government Act 1972 (As Amended).”

So there you have it. The councillor you elected to represent you and keep you informed is between a rock and a hard place. If I tell you what’s going on this time - I stand to be disqualified so I cannot do anything for you again. Alternatively, I can leave you in the dark now and hope that some time in the future I can do something useful for you. I’d be interested in your views.

Better still, bombard Derwentside District Council and the local press with demands that council decisions are taken openly with full disclosure of all the facts to you - the voters and council tax payers.

 Sharp-eyed residents of Consett North ward may recognise this footpath which suffers from litter, along with many other spots in the area. If you can’t quite place it, click on the image for a bigger picture.

I’ve notified the district council ”street-scape” team of the issue and will be looking out for it to be tidied up in the next week.

The problem was brought to my attention by someone when I was out and about delivering Focus leaflets, and emphasises again to me how important that two-way communication is.

If you’ve got a particular spot in the ward which suffers from litter please let me know exactly where it is and I’ll do my best to get the problem sorted. Better still, send me a picture and we can make this a regular spot on the website.

It’s a privilege being a councillor. You can ask a lot of questions that most people never get the chance to, and talk to many people you would never meet otherwise.

That’s why when John, a constituent, asked me to look into why he had twice been told he could not have an out patient appointment at Shotley Bridge Hospital within 3 months, but could have one in Hexham or Durham, I was keen to investigate.

Sandra Long (in charge of the outpatients booking system) and Jackie Park (Acting Director of Access & Improvement) for the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust quickly agreed that it would be a good opportunity for them to understand John’s point, and for me to get to grips with how the booking system works.

Everyone round here has heard conspiracy theories about the deliberate diversion of patients from Shotley Bridge Hospital. Would this cast any light on the situation?

John talked through the two different occasions. Both had involved the Choose and Book system, one in its early days and one more recently. In neither case had his outpatient appointment or surgical procedure occurred at Shotley Bridge.

Whilst there had clearly been problems in both cases, neither John nor I came away with any feeling that he had been the victim of a deliberate attempt to steer him away from Shotley Bridge Hospital. Indeed, both of us were convinced that the people we were talking to were 100% committed to providing the best service and the greatest possible choice to patients. They also accepted, however, that there were improvements in both training and communication which could improve the service and provide a better experience for patients.

They promised that those issues would be addressed with the people concerned.
To get the best out of the system, you need to know the following:

• When being referred for an outpatient appointment by your GP, you have the right to a discussion about where you want your appointment to be held, choosing between 4 providers.
• Not all GPs are using the computerised Choose and Book system. If your GP chooses not to use it, you may find it takes longer to get an appointment because it takes longer to send in a paper referral letter than it does to send in the information via the Choose & Book system
• Choose and Book in this area cannot manage referrals to a particular consultant, but you do have the right to that option. If you want it you should ask your GP to refer you outside the choose and book system and explain that the choice of a particular consultant is more important to you than the length of time you have to wait

There’s a huge range of outpatient appointments available at Shotley Bridge. You can find out what they are at http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Hospital.aspx?id=RXPCW&v=2

You do, however, need to be aware that not all day surgery in these specialties can be carried out at Community Hospital.

If you have experiences you’d like to share in this area, please let me know. I’ll make sure that whatever you want passed on gets to the relevant people.

The Labour Executive of Derwentside Council is to reconsider whether to extend the collection of garden waste (“Green Waste”) which has been trialled within the district.

This story shows the nonsense of Central Government trying to micro-manage local decisions by the way it sets targets for everything.

Garden waste put into the “ordinary” bins is bad for the environment. It goes into landfill sites where it creates a lot of methane – 23 times more damaging than carbon dioxide – so collecting this waste separately and composting it has real benefits.

In the council’s voluntary pilot programme 2,000 houses had their garden waste collected. People liked the scheme so they separated more and more garden waste for collection and a waiting list formed to go onto the scheme. The trouble was, it meant the council was actually collecting more rubbish than before. Since the government requires it to collect less waste this meant the council got it in the neck for missing the target. In turn that meant that they didn’t extend the service even though local people obviously wanted it.

Now the government has been told by Europe that we must stop putting so much biodegradable waste into landfill sites, to protect the environment. As a result they’ve created new targets which result in the council being fined £150 per tonne if too much biodegradable waste goes into landfill.

It’s a Classic Catch 22. If you collect the garden waste you can help the environment, keep local people happy – and get slammed by government as an inefficient Council. If you don’t collect the waste you get praised as an efficient council, and fined for putting too much bio-degradable waste into landfill!

Liberal Democrats believe:

• We all have a duty to protect the environment and should “do our bit”
• Local people are the best people to decide how that is achieved, and can be trusted to make responsible decisions if they are given the right information.

In Derwentside we hope the Executive will extend the “Green Waste” collection on a voluntary basis for waste that cannot be composted at home, whilst encouraging everyone to compost what they can themselves. That’s the real “Green Waste” because the only energy it uses is your own, and it can be used to improve your own garden and tubs.

For information on how to get a cheap composter through the County Durham Recycling scheme click this link http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/Waste+Management+-+Countywide+Composting+Promotion

We received the following reply from David Pyke to our recent “Focus on Consett” leaflet. It is so important that, with his permission, I print it in full here.

“I am Secretary of Consett YMCA Junior Football Club. We are an FA Chartered Community Club.

Way back in 2001 we put in a funding bid with the FA for £1 million to re-develop Belle Vue - this was taken on board as a great bid, but it made sense to go with the council’s sports village project of which we would be a major partner (plus the idea originated from us - the community):

31 junior teams from under 7 to under 18 (over 400 children and countless volunteers, parents, guardians etc

1 Ladies team

1 Adult disabled team

1 Consett reserve team

1 Consett over 40s team

1 Under 21 team

Also as secretary of Consett AFC (part of the community club) we were part of the deal  with Belle Vue Park lease in exchange.

This is what all the football pitches were for as there are not sufficient facilities in Derwentside of any quality - for any sport, let alone football.

We pay lots of money for facility hire eg £20 per hour for indoor training, £1,000 for the Empire (our end of season presentation) etc. etc.

We should have had all this in place in 2007, now. We have been badly let down and left with archaic facilities - unless there is a plan B or councillors who care?”

As you would expect, I have replied to this comment and will update you when I get responses so long as David Pyke agrees to my doing so.

This is just the sort of open public debate we need - not decisions taken behind closed doors where you, the public, get told only what the council wants you to hear.

Happy New Year to all readers. I hope it is a prosperous and happy one for you.  As your councillor I have made a number of resolutions. Apart from the usual one of getting a grip on my weight (which always fails) I have made a number of political ones which I will try very hard to keep. You can help me to keep them by a mixture of encouragement and nagging, criticism and praise.

1. Put at least one new item per week on this website so that voters know more of what’s going on
2. Put out at least four Focus leaflets a year for the same reason
3. Respond quickly to any comments, queries or issues raised with me
4. Regularly demonstrate that as a Liberal Democrat I will put myself where my mouth is; fighting for hard-won freedoms and helping people to have control over their own lives
5. Treat everyone in the ward equally, regardless of political, social or religious opinions, age, sex, nationality, wealth and all the other things which can get in the way of that aim

Please help me to keep these resolutions. And please use me and this website to help the free-flow of information locally. If you think you know something that others should be made aware of let me know - though obviously you will accept that I have to exercise editorial judgement over what goes onto this site. Owen Temple