The Durham City Neighbourhood Plan is set for the next stage of public consultation after Councillors on the City of Durham Parish Council unanimously approved the latest version at a Full Council meeting in October.

The Neighbourhood Plan recently underwent a Regulation 14 (public) consultation and the vast number of responses were positive and there were also a number of amends requested to the Plan. The latest version of the Plan represents the culmination of amends to that feedback and, following the Parish Council’s approval, this Plan is now set to go out to another (Regulation 16) public consultation.

Councillor Roger Cornwell, Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council Planning Committee and also of the Neighbourhood Plan Working Party said, “the City of Durham Neighbourhood Plan has reached a major milestone with the submission of the Plan to the County Council for a final consultation, an independent Examination, and a Referendum. At the end of the process Durham City will have a plan shaped by local residents, meeting their hopes and aspirations for the next fifteen years. All planning applications in our City will need to take this Plan into account. The theme of sustainability runs like a golden thread through the Plan. All new development will contribute to a long-term sustainable future for Durham City by ensuring a balanced relationship among environmental, social and economic outcomes”.

Councillor Elizabeth Scott, Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council said, “The City of Durham Parish Council was set up to be a voice for the City. Like our residents, we recognise the need to promote development which is affordable, sustainable and in accordance with the local needs of our Parish. The Neighbourhood Plan is going to allow us to develop a shared vision for our community; creating a strategy for future development in our area and influencing where new homes, shops, offices and other developments are built. This will also allow us to identify and protect important local green spaces as well as ensuring the conservation of our precious World Heritage Site”.
“The Neighbourhood Plan is the work of a team of dedicated volunteers first in the Neighbourhood Planning Forum and latterly in the Parish Working Party. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for all of their hard work”.

The City of Durham Parish Council is hosting a licensing training event for local residents. All are welcome at this event where the Parish Council will have a fantastic training provider – Barrister Mr Nigel Booth of St. John’s Buildings Barrister’s Chambers, Manchester – who specialises in licensing law and who has also authored a number of books on the subject, including the License Review Handbook – www.LicenceReviewHandbook.com.

The event will be taking place from 6pm in Durham Town Hall on 30th September.

The event is designed to provide training free of charge to residents on responding to new licensing applications in our area and more.

At our annual Parish meeting, a number of residents said they’d like to find out more about licensing and the Parish Council has decided to host this event as a result.
Anyone wishing to attend need only sign up to the event via the below Eventbrite link or else write to the Parish Clerk via e-mail at parishclerk@cityofdurham-pc.gov.uk

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/city-of-durham-licensing-training-event-tickets-70899439131

The Parish Council is looking forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a most informative event

A message from the Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council, Councillor Elizabeth Scott on the closure of the Sands carpark.

The City of Durham Parish Council has contacted Durham County Council and is looking into all issues raised within this video. The Parish Council is clear in their position that this is the wrong scheme for Durham City.

The Parish Council has raised concerns about the felling of the much-loved trees in this carpark. The County Council earlier this year declared a climate emergency and has now felled a large number of trees at a time when we need more trees not less for the City centre.

The Parish Council is also pushing for alternative temporary car parking provision to be made available to ensure that the impact on local businesses as a result of the closure of this carpark is mitigated against. The fact that the a very well-used open air car park in the city centre has been closed at the height of the Summer tourist season is unacceptable.

The Parish Council has also requested that the fencing around the common land be removed immediately. No works are taking place on this land and members of the public do have a right to roam on this land.

On 29th July, the City of Durham Parish Council were notified that the Sands carpark is due to close from the 11th August to enable the construction of the new County Council Headquarters building.

The move to close the Sands car park will result in the loss of one hundred and thirty car parking spaces. In addition to this, the County Council is also taking away the longer stay spaces at the Sidegate carpark and changing the tariffs to this carpark in order to create more short stay spaces. The coach park currently in operation at the Sands will also be moved to Belmont from 11th August. The County Council is also currently consulting on a scheme to introduce 10 parking bays specifically for the use of the Market Traders on a Saturday at Providence Row, over 100m away from the Sands car park, which a number of the traders using high sided vehicles currently use. These changes to the car parking provision in the City are entirely to support the construction of the new County Council Headquarters at the Sands; a scheme the City of Durham Parish Council has long objected to.

Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council Cllr Elizabeth Scott said, “this is really unbelievable from this County Council. They are closing the most central, well used open air carpark in the City at the height of the Summer tourist season. At the same time, they are doing away with the long stay spaces at Sidegate at a time when much of the Prince Bishop’s multi-storey carpark is closed for refurbishment. Where exactly do they expect visitors of the City to park? To add to this, the alternative provision of the replacement coach park at Belmont is totally unsuitable and something we as a Parish Council have never been consulted on. This is all being done to enable the construction of their new County HQ which will have a devastating impact on our City.”

Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council Planning Committee Cllr Roger Cornwell added, “aside from anything else, I know this news will come as a real blow to the many businesses we have in our City centre who rely on visitors to our City for their livelihoods. The County Council say this is “very much business as usual” but it won’t be for the many market traders who are now faced with no parking provision at all ahead of these plans being put in place, nor will it be for the many retailers we have in our City. To add further insult to injury, the Parish Council are only given two weeks’ notice of this.”

The City of Durham Parish Council was invited by Durham County Council to comment to an informal consultation for the proposed application for deregistration, Section 16 Commons Act 2006, of part of the Common Land at the Sands, Durham City.

A copy of the Parish Council’s response to DCC to this initial invitation for comments can be found here:

Parish Council response on Common Land de-registration

There is currently a public consultation underway on the draft Neighbourhood Plan for the City of Durham area. This is your opportunity to have your say on this important document which will help to shape Durham for years to come.

Details of the dates, times and venues of the consultation drop-in events can be found here:

St. John’s Church, Neville’s Cross
Wednesday 22nd May – 2-6pm

St. Giles Church Hall, Gilesgate
Monday June 3rd 3-7pm

St. Nicholas Church, Durham Market Place
Wednesday June 12th 3- 7.30pm

A big thank you to everybody who has donated to our appeal. We reached our initial target of £4,000 in only four days, with donations ranging from £10 to £1,000. This shows the breadth of support we have. With matched funding from the Parish Council we now have enough to apply to the Court for permission to apply for a Judicial Review. Getting permission would mean that a judge agrees the Parish Council has an arguable case to take forward.

Our solicitors have already written a formal letter to the Council setting out our case and asking them to quash the planning permission. The Council have promised a reply by Tuesday 7th May and, while we hope they will concede at this point, our solicitors are already building the case to put to the judge to make sure we get permission. We have until 13th May to file the papers with the Court.

Once permission has been granted, and we are hopeful that if it gets that far it will be, then it will be several months before the full case comes to Court. This will cost many tens of thousands of pounds, and our further, more ambitious ‘stretch’ target of £45,000 is to help fund this.

There is more information about the judicial review process on our solicitors’ website at https://www.richardbuxton.co.uk/the-law/judicial-review-process
Please continue to share, promote and donate to our CrowdJustice campaign using the link below:

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-challenge-against-dcc-sands-hq/

The City of Durham Parish Council has launched a crowd funding campaign in its fight against Durham County Council’s proposed new Council Headquarters being built on the Sands in the centre of Durham.
The move comes after solicitors acting on behalf of the Parish Council issued the County Council with a pre-action letter on 23rd April requesting that planning permission for the new Headquarters be quashed. In its correspondence to the County Council, Richard Buxton solicitors stated there were four grounds for objecting:
• Unlawful imposition of condition 3 and consequent failure correctly to assess traffic impacts as part of the EIA;
• Failure to consider all relevant alternatives as part of the sequential assessment;
• Failure to take into account and give reasons for not accepting the advice of Historic England and the Council’s Design and Conservation Officer relating to the design of the multi-storey car park;
• Failure to provide “clear and convincing” justification for the harm to the designated heritage assets.
Despite overwhelming local opposition to the plans, Durham County Council’s planning committee voted 8-6 on 5th March in favour of moving County Hall from its current home at Aykley Heads to a new building based on the current Sands car park.
At an extraordinary meeting of the Parish Council on 10th April, Councillors voted unanimously in favour of seeking a judicial review of the scheme and to investigate funding options for carrying out the legal action, after receiving a number of offers of donations from members of the public towards legal costs.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council, Cllr Elizabeth Scott said, “the public clearly recognise that the Parish Council is committed to fighting this proposed scheme all the way and a number of members of the public had even offered donations to support us in fighting these plans. As a result, in deciding to move forward with legal action, we also decided to investigate the option of crowd funding. This is a real community-led effort in a bid to try and stop these proposals and get the County Council to go back to the drawing board on this ill-thought out £50million scheme which will have a devastating impact on our City, our local amenity, our environment, traffic, local residents and businesses and our much-loved world heritage site”.
Anyone wishing to donate to the campaign can do so by following the link below and pledging their support:

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-challenge-against-dcc-sands-hq/

At its Full Council meeting on the 25th April, the City of Durham Parish Council voted
unanimously in favour of entering into a service level agreement with Durham County Council to
provide additional Neighbourhood Warden services for the Parish area.
The move comes following a recommendation by the Parish Council Environment Committee.
The Committee has received a number of complaints from residents relating to dog fouling,
littering, bins being left out for long periods of time and dangerous car parking, etc.
The benefits of the Council taking up this offer could be significant due to the heightened
responsiveness to environmental issues and a substantial increase in proactive environmental
enforcement. This has already benefitted other Parish Councils which have signed up to this
arrangement including Stanley and Spennymoor.
The Neighbourhood Warden would deal with all local incidents in relation to fly-tipping,
littering, dog fouling, nuisance parking, waste accumulations, graffiti and waste duty of care
offences. They would also carry out proactive work in relation to dog fouling and littering and to
identify specific neighbourhood problems at an early stage. The Warden will work closely with
the Parish Council to identify hotspots and areas that are causing concern for residents and
businesses. The Warden will also be involved in publicity and education of the public in all
aspects of environmental issues within the Parish area and be able to carry out mini-campaigns in
problem areas to tackle local environmental problems in particular problem areas.
Fixed Penalty Notices can be issued by the Neighbourhood Warden to those who commit an
offence.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council Environment Committee, Cllr Victoria Ashfield said,
“the City of Durham Parish Council was established to be a voice for residents in our area and
this project will respond to some of the most significant concerns expressed to us. It has therefore
been high on our list of priorities to address and I am so pleased that this is now going ahead. We
will continue to listen to residents to help us to pinpoint precisely where and when the worst
problems are happening so that we can focus the Neighbourhood Wardens on these times and
areas. We hope residents will continue to keep in touch with us and we hope that the programme
will encourage the offenders to change their behaviour”.

At an extraordinary meeting of the City of Durham Parish Council this week, Councillors voted unanimously in favour of seeking a judicial review into the proposed new County Headquarters scheme.
The extraordinary meeting of the Parish Council was called after Councillors received legal advice from Richard Buxton Solicitors that certain aspects of the scheme were legally flawed and there were a number of grounds for a judicial review into the proposed new County Headquarters and the process by which the decision to approve these plans was made.
Last week, the City of Durham Parish Council vowed to continue the fight against the new £50 million County Headquarters on the Sands after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire MP decided not to call in the application.
The plans to relocate the County Council Headquarters from its current site of Aykley Heads to a new building on the Sands car park have faced overwhelming opposition from across County Durham and beyond. In addition to a call-in request from the City of Durham Parish Council and other local bodies, a change.org campaign amongst residents requesting that the Secretary of State call in the application had reached over 4,700 signatures.
Members of the public attending the extraordinary Parish Council meeting on Wednesday expressed anger at the impact the proposals would have on the local area and the City.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council, Cllr Elizabeth Scott said, “throughout all of this, what we have seen from this County Council is well-established and Saved Local Plan policies being disregarded and an avoidance of any accountability whatsoever to the welfare of the residents of Durham City and the fabric of our City. For many of us who have fought these plans, there seems to have been a sense of pre-determination from the outset, with the County Council operating a ‘one stop shop’ in its determination of these plans. Last week we vowed to continue our fight and fight on we shall. As such, the Parish Council has now resolved to seek a judicial review of the scheme, with the aim that the County Council goes back to the drawing board on its plans for a new headquarters. People far and wide have expressed their opposition to these plans and we want them to know that the City of Durham Parish Council will continue to be a voice for this City. The impact of the proposed new £50m County HQ on our much-loved World Heritage site, our local amenity, traffic flows, parking, local residents and our environment will be hugely damaging.”