The Head of Neighbourhood Services and Highways Delivery
Area Manager were in attendance to provide verbal updates about any
key recent, ongoing and/or future planned Local Services work and
to respond to issues raised by members.
Neighbourhood Services
Mr G Gavin, Head of Neighbourhood Services provided an
update as follows:
- Since the last meeting there had been some
challenging weather conditions with ice and snow. From a grounds maintenance perspective winter
maintenance had continued at the expected rate despite bad weather
and teams had coped very well.
- NEAT operatives were diverted to support
colleagues in highways and deployed to grit and clear footpaths in
high footfall areas and to ensure access to the vaccination and
testing centres was maintained to support NHS
colleagues.
- In terms of transitioning from the winter season
to the summer season, when ground conditions were suitable, grass
cutting would commence in either late March or early April
depending on those ground conditions.
- The Neighbourhood Services Area Manager was in the
process of finalising recruitment for seasonal staff who were
brought in each year to support activities.
- The weed control programme would be undertaken
in-house this year. It had been
particularly challenging last year due to people working from home
and parked cars. This year some
alternatives to glyphosate weed treatment traditionally used would
be trialed and although most research indicated that alternatives
were more costly and slower, these would be tested throughout the
summer season in local settings.
- From a street cleansing point of view, in line
with usual practice, mechanical sweepers were temporarily stood
down.
- It was anticipated there would be an increase in
footfall throughout all of Northumberland’s parks, open
spaces and coastal areas again this year and proposals were being
pulled together for an enhanced street cleansing service with extra
maintenance of public conveniences throughout the summer
season.
- In terms of waste collection, despite the snow and
the ice, almost all collections in this area were complete with
very few bins missed in some of the more rural areas.
- Garden waste collections had started this week and
people were reminded to renew their subscriptions. The cost remained the same as last year at
£43 per bin.
- Despite the challenges, teams had continued to do
an excellent job and managers were very proud of them.
Members expressed thanks to the teams for the excellent
service they had continued to provide throughout the challenging
conditions.
In response to questions the following information was
provided:
- Bowling greens would be maintained in the same way
this year as they had been last year with no changes.
- In response to a request for information about the
ownership of railings which had blown over on the path between
Tomlea Avenue and Waverley Avenue, Bedlington Station, Mr Gavin
said officers would look into this and provide information to
Councillor Gobin as requested.
- Mr Gavin could not confirm if wet play facilities
within parks would be allowed to open this summer but, as it was a
possibility, funding had been commissioned to have everything ready
in anticipation of being given the go ahead to open.
- Concerns were raised about fly tipping in the
Cowpen Quay area and the costs incurred by the Council, Mr Gavin
agreed this area, along with the Hirst area in Ashington, was a
hotspot for fly tipping and said a lot of work had been carried out
to tackle this through communications and enforcement
activity. There were further activities
planned to help resolve the issue as most of the fly tipping was
small amounts of household rubbish being dumped from local
households. Actions taken this year had
seen an 8% reduction across the county from the same period last
year but it was not a good situation and needed to be reduced
further.
- A member referred to the difficulties around weed
control and suggested this should be carried out in a different
way. He said in the past the Council had used lower cost sprays and
should pay more for a better quality weed spray.
- In terms of public parks, people were walking
more, and the cleaning of these areas should be more flexible to
avoid overflowing rubbish bins.
- Regarding enforcement, this should be more robust
with fines issued and publicised.
- A member requested support regarding litter around
the SITA site near the Portland estate.
She asked if officers could work with the Environment Agency in
this regard. Mr Gavin confirmed that
officers were working on this and he would follow this
up.
The Chair expressed his personal gratitude and reiterated
the thanks of members to the teams involved for the excellent work
done.
RESOLVED that the information be noted and issues set out in the
bullet points above be followed up.
Technical Services
M
Carle, Highways Delivery Area Manager, provided an update on
highways as follows:
Following the recent severe weather, there had been
numerous pothole reports received on top of additional carriageway
Inspections. All maintenance crews had
been working tirelessly fixing potholes and category one defects
across the South East area making the roads safe.
- Larger Tarmac Patching has been carried out
in: Avondale Avenue, Druridge Drive and
Solingen Estate, Blyth; Bothal Village; A197 Ashington to Pegswood;
Park View, Ashington
- Tarmac patching was programmed for: Woodhorn Road, Newbiggin; Avondale Gardens and the
Northern Relief Road, Ashington; Teal Avenue and Amble Close,
Blyth
Drainage Improvements:
?
A189 Spine
Road -
Investigation work following water overflowing onto the A189 Spine
Road between the Three Horseshoes and Bebside Blyth. A new ditch
and bund had been created to hold the large volume water before it
was discharged into the drainage system. The drainage network from Heathery Lonnen down to
the A189 had been cleansed and new manholes had been installed and
ditches cleaned.
?
Horton
Road -
Investigation work followed recent floods along the Horton Road.
Damaged pipework in the farmers' fields had been identified and
permission granted to fix these once the fields dried
up. The existing drainage network had
also been cleansed.
Flags to Flex
As part of the additional funding received this year, flags
to flex work had been completed at Fulmar Drive, Blyth and College
Road Ashington. There was further
footpath work to complete at Beatrice Street, Blyth which was
expected to start in early April.
Tarmac Resurfacing Work
- Malvins Road, Blyth - civils preparation work for
resurfacing work had been underway for the last 6 weeks and
additional gullies and improved the drainage systems had been
added. Resurfacing work was programmed for Monday 22 March 2021 for
5 days.
- Maple Crescent - Civils preparation was programmed
to begin in early April for 4-5 weeks and resurfacing work was
programmed for early June.
- North Seaton Church - Preparation work for some of
the footpaths in North Seaton Church, Ashington had recently been
completed and resurfacing was programmed for Tuesday 30 March
2021.
- Titchfield Terrace, Ashington – work was
programmed to start on 6 Apri 2021 for two weeks. Concrete
carriageway would be replaced with a flexible tarmac
surface.
Micro Surfacing Preparation
Work.
Tarmac patching preparation work had been completed at
Bywell Road, Ashington.
Preparation work was programmed for: William Street, Blyth - programmed to start 27
March 2021 for one day; Jubilee Terrace, Blyth - programmed to
start on Monday 15 March 2021 for 3 days.
Winter Services LAC’s
Update
Since the last meeting there had been a significant snow
event in February effecting the entire county. Teams had worked constantly around the clock and
snow blowers had been out all week on higher ground. Feedback was very positive during and after the
event. Any issues during these events had to go through the contact
center to allow operatives to log, manage and follow issues
through.
- Approximately 4,160 hours were worked gritting the
network between all shifts within the two weeks of prolonged
weather.
- Approximately 11,872 Tonnes of salt was used on
the Northumberland road network.
- Approximately 14,372 in total salt usage including
gritting, bin refills, footways, farmers, re - visits to
sites.
Mr Carle expressed thanks to his colleagues for the
excellent work carried out and to Neighbourhood Services
colleagues, farmers and contractors for their
assistance. He said it had been a
busier winter than usual with110 runs across the county and the
effects of the snow and flooding in February were
ongoing.
- Members expressed their appreciation for works
programmed in Beatrice Avenue, Blyth and Titchfied Terrace,
Ashington which were long coming.
- Repairs to the Northern by-pass road were welcomed
as it was not up to standard which was not encouraging in
attracting new businesses.
- Concerns about the roundabout at Briardene,
Ashington which was crumbling away – this was on a strategic
route and should be looked at as a matter of urgency.
Members expressed their gratitude to the Highways Team for
their excellent work under difficult circumstances including
reduced funding, extreme weather conditions and COVID
19. On a personal note, the Chair added
his thanks to the Team and to the Committee for all the work
done.
The Highways Delivery Area Manager said he would pass on
the feedback which was much appreciated.
RESOLVED that the information be noted.