Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes

Minutes of the meeting, 4th May 2023

1. Attendance

Roger Cornwell (in the Chair): Joan Adams, Emma Backhouse, Robert Banks, Ann Evans, Margaret Jefferson, Drew Lowrie, Brendan McKeown, Simon Priestley, Jean Rogers, Ann Stokes, Sarah Wilkinson, Joe Witherspoon.
Cllr Esther Ashby, Cllr Carole Lattin.

2. Apologies for absence

were received from: Lesley Aers, Morag E. Crichton, Chris Hugill, Vicky Mattless, Malcolm Reed, Judi Webb (received in the course of the meeting),
Cllr Victoria Ashfield, Cllr Alan Doig, Cllr Grenville Holland.

3. The minutes of the April meeting

were approved as a correct record.

4. 24 Nevilledale Terrace (planning application DM/23/00241/FPA)

The objection of the CCP has been submitted, and the meeting thanked Simon Priestley for drafting this; it is now on the Council's Planning Portal. We do not know when it will go to committee for determination: it is not listed for next Tuesday's meeting, and the portal still shows a date of 28th March.

5. Goldrill, Farnley Hey Road (planning application DM/23/00436/FPA)

The applicant claims that the current property is falling down, and that it is therefore necessary to rebuild. However, the proposed replacement will be considerably higher, obscuring the view of the cathedral which appears as you descend Farnley Mount. Numerous local residents have objected to this, as has the City of Durham Trust. The meeting agreed that the CCP should add its voice, and Jean Rogers agreed to draft a brief response saying so.

6. Delays in returning for uncollected bins.

Ann Evans reported problems with the collection of garden waste: her bins had been missed, possibly because a relief team was unfamiliar with the street layout, but it had taken repeated complaints before the bins were actually emptied. She was particularly annoyed to receive e-mails from the County Council claiming that her bin had been emptied when this had not in fact been done. Simon Priestley had had a similar problem last year, and agreed that DCC tend to react by claiming that the job has been done. whether or not this is the case. There was agreement that the problem here was not in the actual service, but in the quality of response to residents' complaints; Ann had received an e-mail from "Mark", promising to look into improving this.
Cllr Esther Ashby took the opportunity to seek views on the stability of the large communal waste bins: unless there were very carefully positioned, the camber of the back lanes could render them very unstable, with the risk of users being hit by the heavy lid of the bin. Roger added that bins also tend to migrate downhill.

7. Air quality in Durham City

Map on DCC website

Margaret Jefferson referred to a recent report in the Durham Advertiser, identifying areas where many students were living as areas of high pollution. What is being done about this? Cllr Carole Lattin responded that the Parish Council Environment Committee had expressed concern about air quality, but had been asked to go slow on the topic as DCC is undertaking a City-wide consultation. In the interim, it is refusing to engage with local groups, such as Elvet Clean Air.
A wide-ranging discussion included the following contributions:

a recent article in Palatinate
Should face masks be worn as a matter of course?
Is it possible to ban heavy lorries within the City?
Newcastle and Gateshead have implemented a Clean Air Zone, with a charge for commercial vehicles that do not meet a minimum emissions standard.
The PCC is holding a round table on traffic.
There are developments like Duresme Court and Milburngate corner which overlook such heavy traffic that it is not possible to open the windows.

8. Report from the recent meeting of the Community Residents' Associations Forum

Simon had attended the previous week's meeting on behalf of the CCP. He reported that:

The Parish is seeking additional licensing requirements for HMOs, but the cost of the preliminary survey is beyond their budget. However,, the University were sufficiently shaken by last autumn's headlines that they are now undertaking some research themselves into where their students are living.
The Parish's supplementary policing scheme ("Operation Lentil") started at the beginning of April. It has its own dedicated officers (and while they may be pulled out to other duties, those hours can be reclaimed). The scheme is now moving towards providing feedback to people who put in complaints.
Residents are urged to use the PinPoint online tool to record issues of late night noise disturbance and other forms of anti-social behaviour in Durham City Centre. (Link on the front page of our website.)

9. Reports from Parish Councillors

a) Carole corrected a typographical error in her written report (previously circulated): the statement that DCC are not progressing the development of a licensing portal should read "DCC are now progressing ..." She also clarified the reference to a "Bokashi composting scheme": the Parish is supporting a trial of this scheme in schools and restaurants.

b) Esther reported that the Business Committee had invited the Chair and Vice Chair of Durham Pointers to talk to them about the visitor economy, and about the problems of the 'meet and greet' system for coaches.
The proposal for an 850 bed PBSA at Mount Oswald had been considered by the DCC Planning Committee earlier that week. She had not been permitted to speak on behalf of the Parish Council because the letter from the Parish Clerk, saying the Council wished to be represented, had arrived out of time (by 4 minutes). Luckily one member of the public had spoken very well, despite which the application had been approved without change. Since it was an outline plan only, this means that substantial elements of the plan are reserved, and can subsequently be approved by officers without returning to committee. Areas of concern include:

The Parish had wanted to pin down the agreement on NBG (Net Biodiversity Gain) where the proposed compensation for loss of biodiversity in the City is at Inkerman, near the developer's headquarters, and Open Space Loss Mitigation (not specified).
Parking provision: the current proposal is to provide for staff and maintenance staff, and to tell students not to bring cars. But residents of the adjacent houses at Mount Oswald are not happy because students are already parking there.

10. Other Business

Roger would circulate the e-mail address of the letters page of the Durham Advertiser.

11. Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday June 6th 2023.