I promised to update you on the situation of the trees and grassed areas around Consett Town Centre, so here it is.

Derwentside District Council’s Executive considered a report around January of this year in relation to ‘Town and Village Centres’ (or Placemakers, as the initiative was proposed to be called).  Around £800,000 of the £1.5m budget was identified to be spent on ‘off street car parking’ around the District, and the Car Parks were listed in the report.  The proposal is, generally, to take out the trees and grassed areas and provide a number of additional tarmac’d parking spaces.  Following on from that decision, a programme of work has been arranged and the projects are being picked up ‘one by one’.  So plans for the work at Albert Road and Edith Street have been drawn up and the work costed, but the council would go through the Planning process before any work was authorised.

I’ve seen the “plans” referred to above which would involve the removal of trees and grassed areas on four sites: the edges of Albert Road car park, the edges of Edith Street car park next to the parish church, the grassed mound at the junction of Front Street and Albert Road (formerly a Baptist church) and the parkland to the rear of Albert Road, Edith Street and Alexandra Street which the Residents Association have been working all year to raise money to get it landscaped as open space.

These plans would turn Consett into a grey parking lot, undoing the work of the last twenty years to build some greenery into the environment.  

The only slight encouragemt I had was the assurances I got that nothing would happen without going through Planning. This would at least give warning and enable opposition to orchestrate its approach.

If you care about this it would be good if you wrote to Peter Reynolds, Director of Environmental Services, Civic Centre Consett DH8 5JA telling him your feelings and asking for assurances that no action will be undertaken before there has been full public consultation. The more evidence there is of popular feeling the better.

I will certainly undertake to let you know if I hear anything else.

Take a good look. We don’t know how long this view of Consett’s beautiful listed Parish Church will be available.

Enquiries have confirmed that there are plans to “take out the trees and grassed spaces” around both Edith Street amd Albert Road car parks in favour of extra tarmac’d car parking spaces. Local councillors have yet to see the plans, but apparently there is funding for the proposed extra tarmac and we will be receiving the plans soon.

We all know that there is a problem with car parking in Consett. Many of us believe, though, that it is an issue of managing the parking rather than an outright shortage of spaces and that the first priority should be to introduce a system of time limited parking in the central car parks.

If the town centre car parks were emptied of the shop and office workers’ vehicles which choke them up all day there would be plenty of space for shoppers. The all-day parking could be a little further out at Sherburn Terrace or Hermiston Park.

The appointment of a traffic warden would look after the rest of the problem and the Town Centre would have a chance to prosper again.

That makes a lot more sense to me than creating a small number of extra spaces at the expense of the limited greenery we have around the town.

I’d be interested in your views. Just click the “comment” link at the top of the article.

The one reassuring thing is that we have been promised that these proposals will have to go through the planning process, so people will have the chance to comment or object. I’ll let you know when they come up.

The county, funded by the Urban Renewal and Renaissance Initiative (URRI) is to carry out a bit of a facelift of Middle Street.

There’s not enough money for a complete re-vamp, but there will be replacement of some of the trees which have failed to thrive - partly because of our harsh climate, but also possibly through insufficent space for water penetration and/or salt used to de-ice the paving.

There will also be some replacement of “tired” street furniture, improved paving at the Parish Church end, together with some works to improve the access from Nile Street.

The scheme, which was approved and budgeted before I arrived at County Hall is well advanced, and intended for later this summer. There will be a display and information day, the date and venue of which is still to be decided. As soon as I know anything more, so will you.

The good news for enthusiastic recyclers is that the new contractors for Derwentside’s blue bins, Greencyle, will take envelopes and books (It’s not yet clear whether this is only paperbacks - so play safe) from April 1st.

The bad news is that recycling rates across the district fell last quarter to just 25.57%, 20.33% being recyclates and 5.24% compost. That’s a very disappointing result, apparently arising from problems with the Thornley waste disposal site.

Brickbat: On “walkabout” with the Police last Friday I spotted this eyesore, and potential danger at the rear of Currys on Middle Street. The burnt out fridge was “fired” weeks ago, and some youths arrested, so its downright irresponsible that it is still there - alongside another potential target. I’ve contacted Currys to move the fridge and notify me. I’ll let you know when it happens.

Plaudit: The “artist” of this graffiti in Berry Edge had struck again, this time on the wall of Levys on Middle Street. I notified Derwentside District Council’s graffiti removal team on Monday and went to take a picture to show you the problem. It was gone. Well done the Derwentside Team who I find very responsive when asked. We’ll be doing well if the service is as good when Derwentside is abolished and we all have to rely on a council based in Durham.

And if you know anything about this graffiti please let me or the police know.

It’s depressing to walk down the street to the rear of the Empire. You are confronted by a jumble of bins, rubbish and waste that spill onto the street.

So who is responsible for the the mess, and what are they going to be made to do about it?

Those are the questions I have put to Peter Reynolds, Director of Environmental Services for Derwentside Council.

The situation must be a hazard, whether in terms of fire risk, danger to children exploring, or the health hazrd of what appear in places to be rotting materials.

It’s not a new problem, and clean ups have occurred before, but it is essential that we move forward to a situation where the people responsible for the site take their responsibilities seriously and earn the respect of the people of Consett.

I hope they can be persuaded to do so. If they can’t, they will have to be forced to.

Derwentside Lib Dems put out the following press release today: 

“Lib Dems have distributed two and a half thousand of Derwentside’s recycling information “wheels” in Consett. The clever little device tells people exactly what they can and can’t put in their twin-bins, and is a must for everyone keen to improve their recycling. If you want one too, ring Derwentside’s customer services on 01207 693693. “Councillor Owen Temple met some confusion on the doorstep while handing out the wheels. People were especially surprised that they must NOT put plastic supermarket bags in their wheeled bins, the opposite of what they were once told. It turns out  it’s because some people had put dog dirt and soiled nappies in plastic bags in the recycling bins which was completely unfair on the workers who have to sort the recycling materials. “Commenting, Councillor Temple said, “I’m sure that if people knew about their fellow citizens who have to sort out the recycling waste, they would make even more effort to get it right.”