Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Daley and Dunbar.

Minutes of the meeting of the Cramlington, Bedlington & Seaton Valley Local Area Committee held on 20 September 2023, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Daley and Dunbar.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required?where a matter arises at a meeting;

1. Which?directly relates to?Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

2. Which?directly relates to?the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion? or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

3. Which?directly relates to?their financial interest or well-being? (and is not? DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

4. Which?affects?the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

5. Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact?monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. ?Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full.?Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Councillor Robinson requested declared an interest in agenda item 7 – Bedlington Place Plan and Town Centre Regeneration Update as he was a member of the Borderlands Working Group involved in the Place Plan.

This item is to:

1. Receive any new petitions: to receive any new petitions.  The lead petitioner is entitled to briefly introduce their petition by providing a statement in writing, and a response to any petitions received will then be organised for a future meeting;

2. Consider reports on petitions previously received:  No reports to consider.

3. Receive any updates on petitions for which a report was previously considered: any updates will be verbally reported at the meeting.

No petitions had been received; there were no reports or updates to consider.

To reply to any questions received from members of the public, which may be received in writing in advance of the meeting or asked at the meeting. Questions can be asked about issues for which the Council has a responsibility.  If questions are received in advance of meetings it will increase the likelihood of an answer being provided at the meeting. (Public question times take place on a bimonthly basis at Local Area Committee meetings: in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.)

As agreed by the County Council in February 2012, the management of local public question times is at the discretion of the Chair of the committee.

Please note however that a question may possibly be rejected if it requires the disclosure of any categories of confidential or exempt information, namely information:

1. relating to any individual;

2. which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual;

3. relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person;

4. relating to any labour relations matters/negotiations;

5. restricted to legal proceedings;

6. about enforcement/enacting legal orders;

7. relating to the prevention, investigation of prosecution of crime.

And/or:

• is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
• it is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of this or another County Council committee in the past six months;
• the request repeats an identical or very similar question from the same person;
• the cost of providing an answer is disproportionate;
• it is being separately addressed through the Council's complaints process;
• it is not about a matter for which the Council has a responsibility or which affects the county;
• it relates to planning, licensing and/or other regulatory applications;
• it is a question that town/parish councils would normally be expected to raise through other channels.

If the Chair is of the opinion that a question is one which, for whatever reason, cannot properly be asked in an area meeting, he/she will disallow it and inform the resident of his/her decision.

Copies of any written answers (without individuals' personal contact details) will be provided for members after the meeting and also be publicly available.

Democratic Services will confirm the status of the progress on any previously requested written answers and follow up any related actions requested by the Local Area Committee.

Susan Weedy, Bedlington resident – submitted a written question on behalf of residents living adjacent to the building development sites.

          For 31/2 years, residents living adjacent to the building development sites, Miller homes and Taylor Wimpey (since January 2023) had been subject to numerous issues which had destroyed their enjoyment of life at home. For example, excessive dust, noise disturbing sleep, deliveries and work outside of permitted hours. At times this had made life at home totally intolerable and had a significant negative impact on residents’ wellbeing. Numerous representations about the issues had been put forward to NCC officers and to date there had been little or no support provided to help resolve issues.  Residents wanted to know why 31/2 years into the building development, conditions had not been enforced on the sites, particularly Longridge.

          A written response had been received from the Planning Enforcement Officer:

There have been various cases over the last few years however this relates to current planning enforcement case 23/00536/BRCOND which relates to the site not adhering to the Construction Method Statement which controls various aspects of the site such as working hours, mud etc.

This case is on hold pending the outcome of planning application 22/04292/DISCON.

          Councillor Robinson concurred that the situation was unacceptable and contrary to the planning conditions.

          Malcolm Wilson - submitted a written question relating to the development behind 21 Front Street East, Bedlington:

          Since 2016, why has the Council failed to deal with significant breaches of planning control that has resulted in the development of 2 properties within a conservation area, built on contaminated land without planning permission?

          Councillor Taylor stated that she had already written to Rob Murfin, Director of Housing and Planning requesting a meeting with Mr & Mrs Wilson but had received no response.

          A response would be sought from the Director of Housing and Planning.

          Joanne Hogg, 14 North Ridge, Bedlington - referred to speeding along the B1331 in Bedlington. There was no school patrol and stated that traffic calming measures were needed before a serious accident happened.

          Councillor Robinson advised that a 20mph was due to be put in place very soon.

          The Chair advised that a 20 mph road safety schemes is the first step in traffic calming and will be monitored after this has been put in place. Once this has been in for a period further speed tests can then be carried out to see if more traffic calming is required in the area.

          Adam Hogg, Bedlington – referred to the lack of enforcement action with the Broad Oaks development, woodland and mud on Choppington Road from both the Longridge Farm development and the Willow Farm development both of which had made Choppington Road a complete mess.

          West Bedlington Town Council had raised these issues but had received no response or update.

          The Chair informed Mr Hogg that the Director of Housing and Planning was working with Parish and Town Council’s to resolve any issues and suggested that Mr Hogg email him direct  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

To receive a verbal update from the Area Managers from Technical Services and Neighbourhood Services in attendance about any key recent, ongoing and/or future planned Local Services work for the attention of members of the Local Area Committee, who will also then have the opportunity to raise issues with the Area Managers.

The Area Managers have principal responsibility for highway services and environmental services, such as refuse collection, street cleansing and grounds maintenance, within the geographic boundaries of the Local Area Committee.

The Winter Services Preparedness and Resilience Report 2023-24 will be included within this item which provides an overall update of the pre-season preparations ahead of the forthcoming winter services season

Tony Gribbin, Neighbourhood Services Manager provided the following updates:

Grass Cutting:

• Grass cutting had ended for the year and teams had moved to winter works tasks. 
• The season finished on 10 cuts in Bedlington, 15.5 in Seaton Valley and 9 in estates and 10 on arterial roadsides in Cramlington. The wet weather at the end of the season had prevented completion of routes in those areas. 

• This year had been particularly challenging for grass cutting teams, with unusual weather patterns with lots of wet weather, followed by warm weather. 
• Grass grew at a faster rate for longer periods of the year, making arisings visible in some areas long after the summer period started. 
• Storm Babet brought the premature cessation to the grass cutting season due to the amount of rain experienced, this left the ground saturated and unable to accept the weight of a ride on mower or other large cutting equipment (without causing significant surface damage). 
• Weather would be assessed early next year to determine if the grass cutting could be commenced earlier. 

Weeds: 

• Winter works season had commenced, and the effectiveness of this years weed control programme was being reviewed. 
• It had been a challenging year for weed control, placing more pressure on teams with unusual patterns of growth. 
• It was hoped that the weather would be better next year. 

Street Sweeping:

• Sweepers were active prior to and immediately after storm Babet, supporting with colleagues in Highways keeping the road network moving. 
• Leaf hotspot areas were being worked on to prevent localised flooding. 

• Members were requested to bring any areas in need of sweeping to the Team’s attention. 

Winter Works 

• The winter works programme had started and the target programme was shared with all councillors on 19 October. 
• Walkabouts could be arranged to identify any pressure areas. 
• Core works would be carried out first then the prioritised list of requests. As with all other aspects to service provision, this was subject to weather conditions which may have an impact on the programme. 

Members raised the following: 

• The small mobile sweeper was required at Hartford West and Church Lane. 
• Double Row and Wheatfield’s paths were difficult to walk on due to mud. 
• Members to be emailed with updates of any changes to work done at the end of each month 

Russell Mason, Highways Delivery Area Manager provided the following updates: 

• Highways Inspectors and response were continuing to inspect and fix carriageway/footway defects, with all planned routine inspections currently up to date. 
• Gully emptier was fully deployed dealing with reactive and cyclic maintenance. 
• There was a current back log of reactive reports to deal with following the recent severe weather conditions across all areas of the southeast. 

Larger Tarmac Patching has been carried out in the following locations; 

• Highburn, Cramlington (flags to flex) 
• Chesterhill, Cramlington (flags to flex) 
• Westmorland Cycleway, Cramlington (Small Cycle Way Repair) 
• Burnside Close, Seghill (flags to flex) 
• Cranshaw Place, Cramlington (garage area) 
• Seven Oaks Park, Cramlington (footway) 
• St Johns Crescent, Bedlington (footway) 
• Millway  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

This item will provide an update from NCC Regeneration team on the development of a new Place Plan for Bedlington including Bedlington town centre and Bedlington Station.  The Place Plan is a key step on the journey to accessing Borderlands funding to support the growth and renewal of the area including as part of the Borderlands Place Programme.  As part of the presentation an update will be provided on progress with Bedlington's current town centre regeneration project being delivered by Advance Northumberland.

Councillor Glen Sanderson was in attendance and received a number of questions about the perceived lack of investment in Bedlington town Centre.

Councillor Sanderson suggested a more informal meeting with Bedlington County Councillors, Bedlington Parish and Town Councillors and some members of the public to meet at a venue at Bedlington or, County Hall.

Several members of the public requested that questions should be answered on the night, but the Leader pledged to meet with residents at a later date to discuss their concerns.

Residents requested that the meeting should be a formal minuted meeting where residents could raise questions.

A further meeting would be arranged, hopefully before Christmas.

Rob Strettle, Interim Senior Regeneration Manager, Andrew Mowbray, Director of Projects, Advance and Peter Mawer, Senior Programme Officer, Economic Growth and Regeneration were in attendance to provide an update on the development of the place plan for Bedlington, including Bedlington town centre and Bedlington Station.

The Interim Senior Regeneration Manager explained the background of the town regeneration in the wider area and Borderlands:

·            The Borderlands Partnership represented five local authorities along the English to Scottish border working together to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.

·            The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal was made up of a series of interlinked investment programmes and projects.

·            Borderlands – Improving Places Theme was made up of two elements.

o      Destination Borderlands

o      Place Programme

·            Towns had the opportunity to bid with matched funding from NCC.

·            The Bedlington Place Plan had now been finalised following community and business engagement with drop in events fed into the partnership group which included County Councillors and Parish and Town Councillors.

Andrew Mowbray, Director of Projects, Advance shared information of existing project delivery:

·            Phase 2 construction started in April 2022

·            Tolent Construction entered administration in February 2023 and work had been suspended.

·            The project was restarted in April 2023 with Advance acting as principal contractor and handing over to Greggs in accordance with their lease.

·            Greggs unit opened in September 2023 which saw the completion of Stage 2a.

·            Stage 2b had been retendered in August to secure a new contractor.

·            This stage saw 3 further retail units and 6 apartments to rent.

·            Surgo construction started work on 20 November.

·            Advance would continue to market the 3 remaining units in the terrace and 3 development plots.

Mr Strettle continued outlining a summary of existing project delivery which the Place Plan took account of:-

·            The Council had already secured Government Levelling Up Funds (LUF) to provide new and upgraded active travel infrastructure in Bedlington which would enhance the east to west link across the town.

·            The dual use pedestrian and cycle route scheme would connect the western extent of Bedlington, key residential and employment areas with the proposed Northumberland line.

·            Additional benefits to this route included a connection towards schools across the town to facilitate active travel at an estimated cost of over

£7 million

·            There were also several capital investment schemes in development within the Council’s Parks Enhancement Programme.

·            Good progress  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

To note the latest version of agreed items for future Local Area Committee meetings (any suggestions for new agenda items will require confirmation by the Chairman of Council after the meeting).

RESOLVED that the work programme be noted.

The next meeting of the Cramlington, Bedlington & Seaton Valley Local Area Committee is Wednesday 24 January 2024.

The next meeting to take place on Wednesday 24 January 2024.

To consider such other business, as in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.