Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes

Minutes of the meeting, 2nd August 2022

1. Attendance: Roger Cornwell (in the Chair): Lesley Aers, Emma Backhouse, Robert Banks, Chris Hugill, Drew Lowrie, Vicky Mattless, Brendan McKeown, Simon Priestley, Jean Rogers, Ann Stokes, Sarah Wilkinson,
Cllr Esther Ashby,
Roger Cornwell opened the meeting by announcing the news that Redhills has been included in a consortium of 'workers assembly halls' to be put forward for UNESCO world heritage status.
2. Apologies for absence: were received from: Joan Adams. Morag E. Crichton, Ann Evans, Malcolm Reed, David Ramsden.
Cllr Victoria Ashfield, Cllr Alan Doig, Cllr Grenville Holland, Cllr Carole Lattin.
Cllr Liz Brown, Cllr Richard Ormerod
3. The minutes of the July meeting:: were approved as a correct record of the meeting
with thanks to Brendan McKeown for proofreading assistance.
4. Update from Rushford Court: Roger had spoken to Jon Nicholls, who is currently still working in Newcastle, but who hopes to to attend future meetings of the CCP when he formally replaces Louise Fowler in the autumn.
He was able to report that University College (Castle) have taken 50 places in Rushford Court for the coming year, to accommodate their overflow.
5. Hawthorn Terrace "Platty Jube" (Platinum Jubilee) Street Party on 4 June: a) Roger had received, and previously circulated, the reply to his FOI request about the cost of policing the event; the police had a general overtime budget for the Jubilee, but were not able to supply a figure for an individual event.; b) The Licensing Department had told him that police had not attempted to count numbers attending the event; they asked the CCP to submit a formal statement that it had exceeded the number permitted by the license. Members who had hitherto reported this to the meeting were Roger Cornwell, Emma Backhouse, Cllr Liz Brown, and Cllr Alan Doig: Roger would coordinate a statement to the Licensing Department.
The meeting was emphatic that the CCP does not seek the prosecution of the organiser, but was anxious that the department should be more aware of potential issues when considering any future application.
6. Temporary Event Notices: a) At Holi and Bhang (Farnley Tower): Roger had received an automated response to his letter to the Licensing Department.; b) In general: NORA (National Organisation of Residents' Associations) were not aware of issues nationally with TENs.
Cllr Esther Ashby had experience of previous TEN licences in Walkergate, and had found the Police more helpful than Environmental Health. Nonetheless, after the event it was worth reporting noise to Environmental Health.
7. DURF (Durham University / Residents' Forum): Simon Priestley reported on the meeting between DURF and the Vice Chancellor, which followed up on her initial meeting with DURF six months earlier. The University was still exceeding its target numbers for student admissions, as the bulge worked through the system, but the University still aimed to work back to the originally intended numbers. Simon felt that the meeting had generally been positive. Hannah Shepherd (the University's Community Liaison Officer) is now returned from maternity leave, and is working with Rebecca Eves, her maternity leave cover, in handover. The University is looking at the possibility of offering "warm spaces" during the winter months.
8. Community Residents' Association Forum: Simon had also attended this meeting, organised by the Parish Council. It had considered a final draft of a leaflet: What to do if you have a local issue in Durham, for distribution to all residents, which had been agreed by the Police and University as well as the Parish Council.
The Parish Council is prepared to part-fund additional Police presence in the City, is looking for more support and is also considering whether the money would be better spent on more staff, or on more hours for the existing staff.
9. 1 Crossgate Peth Wall collapse: An update had been received from Cllr Liz Brown: Highways are pressing the landlady (Lucille Butler) to make progress with repairing this, but her engineers anticipated major works, necessitating piling. She was happy to take any additional questions people might have.
Chris Hugill, an immediate neighbour, found this helpful, but urged the CCP to continue to monitor progress; he also felt that Liz's suggestion of double yellow lines to regulate parking in Back Alexandra Crescent had possibilities, but was not straightforward.
10. Livers Out leaflets and deliverers: Simon reported that the final draft of the leaflet is currently being approved by participants: he will e-mail round asking for volunteers to deliver leaflets. Ideally, volunteers should be prepared to talk to student neighbours while delivering.
11. Bus Station: Cllr Elizabeth Scott's reply to Roger's letter was discussed: there seemed to be a discrepancy between her statement (that positions of bus stops had already been reviewed and would not be revisited) and Cllr Richard Ormerod's report (considered last month: that the present arrangement was being reviewed). Esther thought that Richard's information was correct.
Brendan added that the situation was exacerbated because not all bus drivers switch off engines while standing / loading: Roger would look into local regulations on this.
12. Benches at Margery Lane / Crossgate: Cllr Carole Lattin had undertaken to liaise with Richard Ormerod, the relevant DCC ward councillor, about how these benches can be improved, but no news had been received from her.
13. Reports from County Councillor: A written report has been received from Liz Brown shortly ahead of the meeting: Morgan Douglas (the agent) had promised to improve the garden at 24 The Avenue; she is also keeping an eye on proposed works at 50 The Avenue.
14. Reports from Parish Councillor: Esther was keen that as many members of the public as possible should continue to attend full Parish Council meetings each month: could the various community groups set up a rota, so that there is always one person present? These are 'in person' meetings.
The council is also having problems achieving a quorum for subcommittee meetings; this was particularly embarrassing when an outside speaker was present. Part of the problem might be that the "new" council (elected in May 2018) had reduced committee membership from 6 to 5; now the full council had voted to merge Planning and Licensing Committees, subject to review. Committee meetings are still held by Zoom, although the Government is trying to oblige them to meet in person.
15. Date of next meeting: The next meeting would take place on Thursday 8th September 2022.