GENERAL MEETING - Bowburn & Parkhill Community Partnership - Charity Number 1112151
Tuesday 16 January 2018 from 6.00pm
Present: M Bell, J Blackburn, J Blakey, R Cowen, M McKeon, D Paget, G Parker, S Raine, J Richardson,
M Ridley, M Syer In attendance: Cllr S Dunn; Jane Bellis (6.50 – 7.00pm)
1.Apologies: None
2. Declarations of interest: Declarations of interests would be made as required throughout this agenda.
3. Security: (i)PACT: ‘Walkabouts’ - Friday 19 January at 10.00am; meet at the old Co-op
Friday 16 February at 10.00am; meet at Bowburn Community Centre.
PCSO Steph Butterfield is to train as a police officer in June but she hopes to have a two-month hand over
period with the replacement PCSO.
A suggestion was made to keep to the same route for the walkabouts for a longer period and publicise, it so
that residents become familiar with the timing.
4. Minutes: Minutes of the General Meeting 21 November 2017: The minutes were approved and agreed.
5. Finances: Treasurer’s report: Mike presented a list of transactions to date.
Agreed to have further discussions on One Unite at the next Trustees meeting in March.
The Youth Club application to the Community Fund: CDCF informed that it has not received the application to
the Partnership Acorn Fund from the secretary. A repeat application will be made by the treasurer.
It was agreed that the History Book should aim to cover the years up to 1939 (instead of 1967).
5ii) Raffle: J Richardson won the prize kindly donated by M Bell. Gary Parker has donated a prize for February
5iii) Quiz: The new quiz ‘Up, up and away’ is on sale at £1 with a closing date of 17 February 2018.
6. Item for Any Other Business: Report on Trustees course – G Parker
7. Current Masterplan:
7A Regeneration Fund:
7B.FUTURE IDEAS:
8 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Julia Errington, Bowburn Fire Training Centre, will liaise with her Managers
to see which dates are best for a visit. Members also agreed to have a longer visit to tour the Training Centre,
and have a talk at a meeting of the Partnership so that we can highlight the work of the Partnership. JANET
Project Notes
Pointing
Durham Road
DCC conservation does not recommend raking out pointing which is satisfactory as it could harm the bricks and
allow water to seep in.
Grass
strimming and
weed strimming
18/04/17: DCC Operation ‘Spruce Up’ tidied verges, planted trees, reduced litter, installed new litter/dog bins
along Mary Terrace and outside the Community Centre in Bowburn.
C HIndmarch can provide incentive schemes to encourage the children to continue ‘sprucing up’.
06/09/17: Trustees discussed the possibility of funding to pay a part-time project officer to work with schools.
Gas meter
boxes in
Durham Road
After agreeing that the Partnership could contribute a reasonable sum towards improving this problem it was
agreed to contact all residents in Durham Road to gain ideas as to how to smarten up the gas boxes. 8 new
gas boxes were fitted 20 to 30 June, and all 32 painted by 17/07/2017
Let by signs Request to remove ‘Let by’ signs in Durham Rd is being followed up.
17/10/2017 Thanks to Sylvia for highlighting the problem and thanks to Cllr McKeon for aiding the removal of
the ‘Let by’ signs on Durham Road.
Seats in the
park
17/10/2017 Agreed to consult residents in Beaumont Close and Lansdowne Crescent on installing a seat below
the children’s enclosed play area.
16/01/2018 The first replies to the consultation are in favour of the seat. JANET
Children’s
holiday
activities
A meeting is being arranged with Victoria Grieves (AAP) to discuss ideas for activities for children.
23/10/2017: Meeting with Jane Bellis provided examples of holiday activities throughout the AAP.
21/11/2017: Agreed - a joint meeting with the Youth Club, Community Centre and Library led by Cllr McKeon.
16/01/2018: Survey of holiday requirements for Bowburn is online.
Jane Bellis informed that an AAP grant application will be available for the summer.
Trees on
Mary
Terrace
19/09/17: The Partnership has applied to the APP Participatory Budget for environment projects to plant trees
beside the A177 opposite Mary Terrace; provide hedgehog boxes and a weather station to the schools.
17/10/207: An application has been submitted and confirmed to go through to the PB event on 25 November.
21/11/2017: ‘Tree Week’ funding of £150 for a tree in Mary Terrace.
16/01/2018: Apply for grant to Windfarm funds to plant 7 trees to the south of Mary
Terrace. JANET
Camera bird
boxes
Co-op local Community Fund success – spend on Co-op products up to October
2018, will increase our fund for camera bird boxes in the schools and Youth Club.
Pick up a weed and a piece of paper every day to keep your pavements clear
FUTURE IDEAS: Jobs Fair of local businesses for School Years 9/10 to feature work available in Bowburn.
9 REPORTS:
i) Planning issues:
Intergra 61: Discussed an application to landscape the roundabouts and roads in the first phase. RICHARD
Surtees Avenue: Thanks were given for the efforts of the councillors to get the application refused.
Cllr Dunn informed of the Section 106 agreements for this site of £25TH towards Recreation and £10TH
towards Art.
Carlin Close: Cllr Maura McKeon continues to liaise with DCC officers and potentially the site owners to
resolve the problem of the damaged mesh fence alongside the boundary of the site. CLLR McKEON
Hill Top View: A gate has been put into the fence but to date the path has not been constructed to the A177
because permission is needed from Highways England. CLLR McKEON
Parkhill development: Newt traps have been put on the site.
Bowburn Hall: Awaiting an update. RICHARD
ii) Bowburn Industrial Relief Road: Ongoing as we await the Durham Plan.
iii) Air quality on A177: Collections in Durham Road will be made over at least the next twelve months, and
after that time a result will be known. JANET
iv) MW A1(M) junction 61: Ongoing.
v) Community Centre: The pantomime was successful; the New Year’s Eve party was not as well attended as
in previous years; thanks were given for raffle prizes; there is a new carpet in the passageway; a wall has
been constructed between the hall and lounge to create two useable rooms; the LH games room will be
refurbished next. The bi-monthly meeting is 24 January when fees are due for affiliated groups.
vi) Youth Club (Contact 0778827732): The young people have signed new contracts, and they have put
forward ideas to upgrade the heating, resurface the play area, and a storage area for the spinning bikes.
Gym: New members always welcome. Times: Mon to Sat AM 9.15-11.30am; Evenings Tue to Thur 6-8.
vii) Primary school: The four-week consultation period that ended on 21 December was mainly positive, but
the Unions commented on protecting the staff. The new school will be the third largest primary school in
County Durham and the plans will be outsourced to a new designer. The problem of access could be
overcome by creating a road in the scrub area between Carlin Close and the football field, or CISWO might
give permission to construct a road via the entrance to the football field – if there is an improvement to the park
area. There would be a change of speed limit from 40mph on the C12A to 30mph if a mini roundabout was
created at the junction of the C12A with Tail-upon-End Lane. Parking issues could be solved with a one-way
area above the staff car park, or making a parking area behind Broadmeadows, but this may not be suitable.
A meeting with the school staff may bring other solutions. RICHARD / COUNCILLORS
Existing school parking - Walking bus: The January launch has started with assemblies. CLLR McKEON
vii) Coop: There are problems with parking in the car park plus one space is covered by palettes; and litter.
Hopes were expressed that a new retailer could be found to replace the service lost at the old Co-op building.
10. Correspondence: Durham Dales Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have identified six priorities based
on information from the public and they want you to choose the FOUR you think are most important to include
in their work for 2018-19. The six areas are: Mental health support; GP appointment systems; Dementia
support; Transition support (from children to adult services); Patient transport; Dental charges and treatment.
Durham Dales, Easington & Sedgefield, and North Durham CCGs are working increasingly closely together.
The two CCGs work in partnership with the same main providers of health services and together cover the
same geographical area as Durham County Council. With that in mind the two Governing Bodies have agreed
to meet ‘in common’ wherever possible and will continue to rotate and alternate venues across both CCGs.
At this meeting it was stressed how difficult it is to get appointments at Bowburn surgery.
All email correspondence has been sent out to members.
11. Reports and matters arising:
i) East Durham Rural Corridor AAP: 20 December at St Alban’s Church Hall, Trimdon Grange
C Varty was chair; Investing in Children updated Connecting Young People, a Campaigning Project, and a
Mentoring Project; V Brumwell and D McDermott, Wellbeing for Life Service updated the Health Trainer for the
Trimdons; L Hunter updated the Joint Priorities Task and Finish Group meeting held on 22 November; 13
groups were successful at the public vote held at the It’s Up 2 U Participatory Budgeting/Forum Event on
Saturday 25 November, where just over 600 people voted; Inspector Honeyman updated local policing
information and neighbourhood issues previously raised by local residents.
Date and time of next meetings -Thursday 15 March from 5.00 pm at Cassop Community Centre
Pick up a weed and a piece of paper every day to keep your pavements clear
ii) County Councillors: Cllr McKeon – Fostering in County Durham: There is a need for foster carers in the
county and a Road Show hopes to dispel the myths of fostering. Members were asked 5 questions to give
their impressions on fostering towards a consultation to maximise fostering in the county.
Cllr McKeon was also involved in the holiday activities; reporting dog fouling; the pantomime raffle; arranging
for bollards in Romaine Square; reported objections to parking in Bede Avenue; arranging a Clarence Street
clean-up; querying the times of the 56/57 bus services, and noting that the funding for the X12 bus will only
affect the late-night service.
Cllr Dunn – Reported that on 17 January, Cabinet will decide on the demolition of County Hall to create a
business park for high skilled jobs, and to rebuild County Hall at The Sands car park; use Mount Oswald
building for the county archives and possibly the DLI museum.
Cllr Blakey – Had argued for County Hall to relocate to Bowburn on the site of Integra 61; was concerned that
special needs children may not be able to access the holiday activity scheme; explained a new walking route
to school from Park Hill.
Report environmental offences on 03000 261000 or to DCC or to your local County Councillors Jan Blakey
(03000 268685), Stuart Dunn (03000 264342) and Maura McKeon (03000 268789).
iii) Report of Cassop-cum-Quarrington Parish Council Meeting, 20 December 2017: DCC had notified the
Parish of a revised tax base for the financial year 2018/19 to 1597.7, from 1519.9 for 2017/18. This will result
in an additional precept yield of £2,912 over the previous year based on the current band D Council Tax Rate.
Parish agreed (again) to wait until after Christmas before agreeing to any repairs of gravestones at Bowburn
Cemetery, as relatives often visited graves at that time of year and might become aware of any repairs they
needed to fund. A report from the Youth Club informed members that the Youth Club was currently in a healthy
funding situation and activities at the club were various and popular.
Next Meeting: 17 January; Litterpick: 3 February 2018 at 9.30am in Bowburn Community Centre car park.
Neighbourhood Plan (NP): The three preliminary topics which are being developed, namely: Design of new
development; Quality of the environment; Rural setting of settlements.
Coal column: Groundwork NE are making arrangements to meet with the artist Colin Rose.
iv) Quarry Liaison: There is to be a meeting in March; contact with Tarmac is progressing.
12. Group Noticeboard:
(i)Banner: The Centenary banner is away for repairs; the group has sponsored a seat in Redhills; have
purchased a computer and printer.
(ii) BVC Interchange: Issue 85 has been delivered to all houses by the local volunteers.
The next Quiz Night will be held on Friday 26 January in Crowtrees Club at 7.30pm.
(iii) Credit Union Bank: The bank is open on Fridays from 11 am to 12 noon in the Community Centre.
Both Bowburn schools also save through the Credit Union.
(iv) History: The Resources Room is open every Wednesday 1pm till 3pm.
(v) Fun Day: The Fun Day will take place next year with the funding already in place.
13. AOB: Gary distributed information from a DCA course on Trusteeship.
14. Next General Meeting: 20 February 2018 at 6.00pm in Bowburn Community Centre
Pick up a weed and a piece of paper every day to keep your pavements clear