The City of Durham Parish Council has written to the Chief Executive of Durham County Council to thank officers at the County Council who are on the frontline in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with our wonderful NHS staff, other emergency services personnel, key workers and an incredible team of volunteers, officers at the County Council are putting themselves at risk to support the local residents, businesses etc under immense pressure. Find our letter here:

CoDPC Letter to Terry Collins re Covid-19

Please see more details about a project aimed at keeping people connected during the COVID 19 crisis; enabling them to stay safe and stay well.

Keeping People Connected Flyer

It was a real pleasure to support so many worthy local community and voluntary organisations this financial year.

Find out more about the organisations the Parish Council supported and the impact this has had for each of them here: Grants report

For the financial year 2020-21, the Parish Council has agreed a total fund of £20,000 to go towards supporting local community and voluntary organisations who do such excellent work in our parish.

For further details
A copy of the application form can be found here: Grant application form 2020-21

The Parish Council’s policy on grant awards can be found here: Grant-Awarding-Policy

This window is open until June and a decision on all applications is expected to be taken at the Parish Council’s June Full Council meeting. Please note that due to the coronavirus situation, this may change depending on the latest Government advice.

Please return all application forms to the Parish Clerk at parishclerk@cityofdurham-pc.gov.uk

Durham County Council is currently consulting on introducing a selective licensing scheme on privately rented homes in some areas of the County.

In order to respond to this consultation, the Parish Council established a Working Group which consisted of Members of the Parish Council, a representative of Durham Students Union and a local student landlord. The final response of the Working Group can be found here: CoDPC response – Selective Licensing Scheme

It is unlikely that such a scheme will be introduced in Durham City despite the number of HMOs in our parish. To that end, the Working Group is calling on a separate scheme to be introduced to run alongside the County-wide Selective Licensing Scheme to address the issues we are all aware of with HMOs in our parish.

Anyone wishing to find out more about this consultation can find more details here: https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/22640/Consultation-on-licensing-of-privately-rented-homes-in-some-areas-of-the-county

Please let your views be known on this important consultation by writing to selectivelicensing@durham.gov.uk by 5pm on 24th May 2020.

The following key decisions were made at the February Full Council meeting of the City of Durham Parish Council:

Parish Council updates – February 2020

Notice is hereby given that, due to the death of Cllr Judith Atkinson, a vacancy has arisen in the Office of Councillor for the Parish Council. The Notice of Vacancy can be found here:

Notice of Vacancy – City of Durham (Elvet and Gilesgate) – dated 18 February 2020

The City of Durham Parish Council is sad to announce the death of popular Elvet and Gilesgate Parish Councillor Judith Atkinson.
Coun. Atkison sadly passed away at home on 31st January following a short illness. Condolences were expressed across the Council at the sudden passing of our beloved colleague Judith.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council Elizabeth Scott led the tributes: “Since her successful election in May 2018, Judith volunteered much of her time to make Durham a better place for everyone and she distinguished herself as an exceptionally caring, warm-hearted and hardworking member of our Council. Judith will be especially remembered for her brilliant contribution to our Council’s Environment Committee and the work she did to launch our very popular business frontage awards for Christmas; a first in the City and something we are keen to continue”.
Coun. Scott added: “Councillors and staff at the Parish Council have expressed to me their real shock and sadness at Judith’s passing in the last few days. We have extremely fond memories of working with Judith and she will be extremely missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Judith’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time”.
At the funeral on 15th February, a poem written by Coun. Atkinson herself, titled “the Eternal Optimist” was read by her son and attendees made donations to Blind Life in Durham – an organisation dear to Judith’s heart – at the family’s request.

The City of Durham Parish Council has responded to the proposed new bus station plans for North Road. A copy of the Parish Council’s full response can be found here:

Response to bus station consultation_CoDPC

Please see the key decisions taken at the Full Council meeting in January 2020 here: City of Durham Parish Council updates – January 2020