Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes

Minutes of the meeting, 5th September 2024

1. Attendance

Roger Cornwell (in the Chair) Joan Adams, Lesley Aers, Max Arnold, Gillian Banks, Robert Banks, Ann Evans, Martin Hiles, Brendan McKeown, Jean Rogers, Ann Stokes, Sarah Wilkinson, Joe Witherspoon,
Cllr Grenville Holland, Cllr Carole Lattin.

2. Apologies for absence

were received from: Emma Backhouse, Morag Crichton, Chris Hugill, Margaret Jefferson, Vicky Mattless, Simon Priestley, David Ramsden, Judi Webb,
Cllr Liz Brown,
Cllr Esther Ashby, Cllr Victoria Ashfield, Cllr Alan Doig.
Cllr Victoria Ashfield had sent apologies from hospital; Roger Cornwell had already sent the good wishes of the CCP.

3. Minutes

The minutes of the July meeting were approved as a correct record.

4 Emergency Plan - update

Martin Hiles had attended the meeting of all communities with emergency plans, convened the previous day by Cllr Carole Lattin, and commended it warmly. Progress was slow, because the multiplicity of plans necessitated constant tweaks to the template, but a substantial amount of work was being done. Carole commented that the meeting had been terminated by an actual emergency at the Library, which had caused the building to be evacuated: however, this had been dealt with very efficiently. Recent civic unrest had raised the possibility of a type of emergency which the Working Group had not previously considered.

5. Obstruction of pavements by weeds and overgrown hedges

Specific locations discussed were:

Growth through the fence of 24 The Avenue: Cllr Liz Brown had already reported this to the Council, using their Do It Online service,
Overhanging hedges at the top of Crossgate (back of St Margaret's Mews),
The footpath up to the station,
Margery Lane, whose footpath even at its widest is barely adequate to the number of students using it at its busiest: Carole reported that this had already been done.

Cllr Grenville Holland suggested that areas of concern could be referred to the Environment Committee of the Parish Council, whose complaints to DCC carried more force than those of an individual (and Carole offered to do this); he added that meetings of the committee are held by Zoom, and that members of the public can attend, and can raise issues.

6. Allergate planters

Gillian Banks explained that the missing planters had been replaced, but that the replacement was destroyed by a vehicle backing into it. Two further replacements had now been delivered and placed on either side of the entrance to Hanover Court. She and Martin had planted them with the flowers supplied by the Parish Council, and these were still alive (as pictured in the report of the Neighbourhood Wardens). They would now like to treat the planters with wood preservative. Roger suggested that the CCP could fund this, and, with the agreement of the Treasurer, the meeting approved this. Gillian would choose a suitable product, and Roger would seek the approval of the Parish Clerk.

7. "Redundant" BT phone boxes

A request had been received from Parish Clerk Adam Shanley about a BT consultation on telephone boxes which are no longer in use: are there any of these in our area? Members made various suggestions, but were uncertain which boxes were still in situ, and which of these still functioned as call boxes. The meeting was generally agreed that retaining public call boxes serves no useful purpose, and Roger would convey this response back to Adam.

8. Availability of all-day parking scratch cards

Ann Evans had been informed by the Parking Shop that the single all-day card had been discontinued, in part because "they don't work on Sindays." Members who are still using up 3-hour cards issued before the Sunday charge did not find this argument persuasive. In addition, Ann pointed out the waste of paper resulting from the use of three cards instead of one. Liz had reported that she was seeking a meeting with the Parking Shop: Roger would feed back to her that the meeting objected to this change.
The Parking Shop had also told Roger that the allocation of scratchcards had been increased to allow for the Sunday charge; they seemed unaware that this was not an unmixed blessing.

9. Trees in the Bowers - update

Joe Witherspoon gave an update: Simon Chivers (DCC Senior Tree & Contracts Officer) had now approved the cutting back of the most dangerous tree to a height of twelve feet, and he showed a photograph of the resultant stump, The adjacent tree was in the same state. Permission had been granted to cut back any branches less than two inches wide; the completed works to the tree were virtually undetectable and the danger of large branches falling was not reduced. Two weeks previously an oak tree had come down in Flass Vale. As a result, residents in The Bowers had been permitted to do some work, but were awaiting the next disaster. Joe thanked the CCP and the Parish Clerk, whose support had produced some degree of result.

10. Making good of pavements after digging holes

Although this item had appeared on the agenda as "Utility companies not making good...", in fact the company installing fibre optic cable had made good, and the places where they had dug holes were now the only sound patches of the pavement. DCC had declined to resurface pavements while this work was pending: will they now do so? Roger would consult Liz about what the prospect was of repairs.

11. Neighbourhood Wardens' report

The Wardens' written report had previously been circulated, and was noted.

12 Inviting Police to attend a CCP meeting

Inspector Dave Clarke had expressed willingness to come and talk to the CCP about ASB in Durham, if formally invited by the Secretary. The meeting was grateful for the offer, but did not feel this would be a good use of the officer's time. It was noted that there are regular PACT (Police and Communities Together) meetings.

13. Report from County Councillor

A written report from Liz had previously been circulated, and had already been referred to at earlier points in the evening. Roger talked the meeting through the remaining items.

14. Reports from Parish Councillors

a) A written report from Carole was circulated. She added that volunteers were still wanted for the Non-Designated Heritage Assets project.

b) Grenville was concerned at some recent PINS (Planning Inspectorate) decisions on HMOs (including Nevilledale). He praised the work of the Parish Council Planning Committee, and encouraged members of the public to attend.

15. Other Business

Building works at Rushford Court were leaving mud on the roadway in Waddington Street: the BRIMS management plan commits them to keeping the site clean. Roger had previously found BRIMS helpful, and would contact them.

16. Date of next meeting

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 1st October 2024.