There is a VERY serious problem with anti-social behaviour in West Cornforth. Same old story. Problem families (private tenants of PPP and their like) who are allowed to run riot. Community Force nowhere to be seen. Police doing their best. Kids never at school. Education dept. not doing their job. Untaxed cars. DVLA not doing their job. Litter. Environmental health doing their best. Children neglected. Social services are not interested. Expensive CCTV system has been a complete waste of money because it is never monitored. And if that depresses you, you can rest in the knowledge that all these families are on benefits and WE are paying for them out of our taxes. Have a nice day.

Name Withheld, west cornforth, 08/05/2003 09:22:23

The total abundance of litter which surrounds the bus shelter, both on the road and in the field surrounding the shelter at Matthews Road, East Moor Estate, Murton is a disgrace. There is obvious signs amongst the litter of drug taking. The litter includes broken office chairs, bottles, cans, fast food debris etc.

As a first step can this litter please be cleared. I understood that under the Environmental Protection Act that land owners had a duty to keep their land free of litter.

Millions of pounds have been spent on the new Dalton Park development, yet adjacent to the area is a filthy tip of rubbish.

As a second step could something please be done to help the kids on this estate find somewhere to spend their spare time - perhaps an outreach worker to lead them away from the obvious drug taking which is taking place.

Thank you in anticipation.

Name Withheld, Murton, Co. Durham, 05/03/2003 11:25:31

Absentee Landlords in County Durham
It really is about time there was some sort of legislation in place to deal with absentee landlords. The DSS should also take more responsibility for handing out money to anti-social tenants and their landlords.
Over the past few years we have seen many terraced houses being bought up by people wanting to make a quick return on their investment from the DSS. These landlords have little or no experience about letting property and are only concerned with their monthly payment from the benefits agency. Unfortunately for the rest of us who have to live near these properties, nobody is prepared to do anything about the problems.
Example ? Ferryhill Station, County Durham.
Absentee landlords and investment companies who advertise in the Sunday Times started buying property which at the time was �15K-�20K. It started with just a few properties. They advertised in national papers saying DSS tenants welcome. Soon these few properties were let to hardcore anti-social families and exceptionally undesirable people who had been chased out of council estates as far away as Glasgow. Obviously, nobody wanted to live next door to them so anyone who had any sense, sold-up and moved as quickly as possible. House prices fell through the floor, some originally bought for �25K, going for under �5K. So the investment companies bought more properties and installed more trouble. The area went into a very sharp decline and became a notorious black spot. The houses were not maintained and the ones which could not be let were boarded up then burn out. In effect, the investment companies had created a ghetto in under 3 years and the only thing the local council could do about it was to act out a compulsory purchase order and demolish the streets.
This is not an isolated incident. It is happening all over the North East and something needs to be done about it NOW!

Name Withheld, west cornforth, 15/02/2003 09:45:27

When is the Council going to do something about the absentee landlords in Cornforth and Ferryhill?
Private landlords are renting to anti-social DSS tenants who create misery for others in the area. The landlords don't care just so long as the DSS pay the rent.
There seems to be no control over the tenants. The problem then lands with the police.
Other counties have a landlord accreditation scheme which forces the landlords to check the background of tenants before renting. Once again, Durham and Sedgefield are way behing the rest.
Gradually these landlords create ghetto's and the council has to act out compulsory purchase orders. See Ferryhill station and parts of Sunderland for proof.

Name Withheld, west cornforth, 14/02/2003 06:46:01

It would greatly enhance my quality of life if the roads round here were gritted. 1cm of snowfall and the roads are impassable.

For crying out loud, even people in Sunderland get a better level of service than this!!

Name Withheld, West Cornforth, 31/01/2003 19:47:16

Web Administrator: Editor's comment: If you have a specific concern about winter roads maintenance or any other highways matter, please contact [HAL - our Highways Action Line.

Will all the parents that take their children to Shotton Primary School please stop parking your cars outside church view in the (pull in /lay bye,) you are all very inconsiderate you are all breaking the law? Police and Councils have been informed about this matter.

Name Withheld, Shotton county durham, 24/01/2003 19:10:56

I see that most people are concerned about issues of crime, anti-social behaviour and community safety. I work in Local Government in this area and I don't wish to be a harbinger of doom but I genuinely see no answer.
The Government seems to have turned a blind eye to the tidal wave of hard drugs that has hit the region in the past 6 years until we are now in the situation where just about every village has a heroin problem and the situation has reached pandemic proportions in our towns. This problem fuels acquisitive crime and adds to the general atmosphere of hopelessness that covers the county.
As I said - there is no quick answer. I'm sorry to be reactionary but we really do need tougher measures to address BOTH dealers and users but I fear this is beyond the powers of County Hall. If you leave the environs of Durham City - which is quite priveledged what with the University and Cathedral exerting their influence - and travel out into the hinterlands of the county you will find that communities that were once built on coal are now built or smack, bootleg fags and shoplifting.

Name Withheld, SPENNYMOOR, County Durham, 19/01/2003 21:51:12

If you suffer from NEIGHBOURS FROM HELL, log onto the following website and discuss your problems with likeminded people.

www.nfh.org.uk

Arty Skem, [email protected], West Cornforth, Durham, UK, 19/01/2003 18:30:05

At 6.30 pm on Friday 20 December there were 3 police vans and 3 police cars already in NOrth Road to deal with the problems of alcohol. This latest all night. The following evening there were 300 police in Durham as they were anticipating trouble. Surely this is a misuse of Police Resources when they could be used to solve real crimes. And now the Courts have agreed to another wine bar in North Road when the Council, residents and Police object to this? Surely this is ridiculous. The Police have enough to do without imposing another alcohol premises on them.

Name Withheld, Durham, 02/01/2003 13:19:24

I was born and went to school in County Durham, that beautiful part of England.
Young and old GET INVOLVED with your town.
Attend Council Meetings and change things YOU do not like.
Suggest a few heavy fines for the careless dog owners.
Feel fortunate to be where you live and look around at the beauty.

Jan Grayling, Palm Springs, California, USA, 29/12/2002 23:36:49

This site is good but can I say that the area of Stanley is full of yobs. We have had various liquids thrown over our car, some disgusting, but usualy coke spat on it, or just spit. this is disgusting when you go to open the door. I think yobs with a record that keep offending the law and people, should be evicted and then the deicent people like my family can live or lives like we once could, before these scruffs moved in!
Thank U 4 letting me have my say, and good night!

James Shorten, Stanley, Co. Durham, England, 31/10/2002 11:32:01

Web Administrator: Thank you for your comments. There are multi-agency Anti Social Behaviour Problem Solving Groups in the county (whose members include people from the police, the Social Services Department and the Youth Offending Team) to combat this kind of behaviour. There is one for Derwentside and also a combined one for Chester-le-Street and Durham. For further information or to report a specific incident, please contact Durham County Council's Community Safety Unit on telephone number 0191 384 4252.

I regularly use the Civic amenity site at The Morrison Busty, Annfield Plain both to dispose of and recycle household waste. I am always impressed with the service of the staff working there, they are always very helpful and most civil. The site itself is extremely tidy and well organised. However I do on a very odd occasion use Brooms Dene (If I am passing). This site is disgusting, it is an absolute tip, in more ways than one as 'the goods for sale take up so much room' and the layout restricts cars to line up as although there are a number of skips, only one car at a time may unload causing a traffic jam (I have sat 15 minutes on more than one occasion). The staff refuse to help, even refusing a request to do so. I noticed that the Morrison Busty is to close for one month, and have been told that the staff are to be paid off so that contractors can be given the jobs and that the lay out is to be changed. Well I hope that it is not going to be like Brooms Dene. I know many friends who totally agree with me and I would be grateful if you would listen to views by regular users before changing the system.

Name Withheld, 29/10/2002 08:24:20

Yet again Ushaw Moor has been made a mockery of. First there was the lump of coal that cost �10,000 pounds most of which went to some unknown artist. I wish I had went to art college, from what I've seen of this modern art rubbish you don't even need to have any talent. Then there was the gymastics centre, to be fair its turned out a lot better than I thought it would apart from the sports centres lost the football hall, which is quite a big problem considering the development of yet another bland housing estate on our playing fields and park. I remember that there used to be a BMX track, swings, roundabout and pitch and putt there when I was a bairn. However due to the city councils greed to make yet more money the kids will have nowhere to play football. This causes then to play it in the street so you have gangs of 14-18 year old kids causing havoc and nearly putting your windows out which leads to mass punch ups in the street. The field wasn't even the councils land to start off with it was donated to the village years ago. However this hasn't stopped them from claiming the land as theirs because they have maintained the play park for years, how low can you get? I've noticed that the powerful quango that is Sport England has remained strangely silent over this issue, they are quick enough to mouth off whenever school playing fields are sold off. Or do they think kids just play football in school? Their logic baffles me at times. The other big issue about Ushaw Moor or Ushaw Manure as the residents are starting to call it that concerns me, is this SRB development grant. As much as blocking the road off at the crossroads makes sense. What is the point in building a stupid block paved barrier with two arty farty silver metal trees sticking up? It does not blend in with the village at all, it looks ugly, vandels will have a field day felt tipping rubbish on the brickwork and metal trees and its a criminal waste of money, I've heard its cost was �45,000 pounds most of which will probably go to the middle class yuppie artist who designed them, probably on the back of a beer mat while he was off his face on drugs.
Why not just keep the road as it is and put some bollards in to block it off. Much cheaper and much more pleasing to the eye. Think about what the PM would say "Is This Scheme Best Value For Money ie is the scheme the best build for the money available?'' "Do you think that the city councils service delivery in helping you to spend all this lovely cash has been best value'' I don't know what most of the people in Ushaw Moor would say, but I don't think this scheme is best value. I complained to the council about this scheme. I was told that most of the local people had been consulted and approved it. Yeah right is that why every man and his dog is whinging about it. I didn't get invited to any meetings to discuss it neither did I get any questionaire or leaflets though the door. Either the kids that deliver the advertiser have chucked these documents away or the council has as usual consulted the UDC (Ushaw Moor Dictator Committee) this shadowly group consists of a few local busy bodies who drink in Ushaw Moor Catholic Club. Most of them are retired or don't work so they know jack about the modern world and the views of the working man in the street. Not that there are many working men left in the North East now seeing as we are the poor relations of the rest of England. You would think Tony would help us out a bit seeing most of us voted him in. However this shadowy group along with the local Labour party make all these decisions and don't think of consulting anyone else. The first we hear of it is in the papers with some horrid photos of them or when we get up to find the road closed off One of them is very excited and all for building new housing everywhere because according to him this is what Ushaw Moor needs. Houses for the young people he says, yeah right I'm in my twenties I have a fairly decent wage but I can't afford to buy house's that are retailing for �90,000 pounds upwards. Call me cynical but perhaps the slogan "Houses For Rich Snobs, No Playing Fields For Local People'' might be more apt. Bit annoying really live in a place all your life, fairly nice village apart from one or two dip sticks. Nice sceney all around then suddenly the place starts getting demolished and rebuilt as a sort of surreal arty farty paradise with tons of houses that look the same that block the locals views of the countyside, that look out of place and to rub it all in are totally out of our price range. Its like local people are like second class citizens, durham city council may just state its true mentions of making a ton of money off selling land for building houses and send in some bulldozers and knock the place down and build a mega housing estate. It reminds me of the highland clearences in Scotland when landowners decided that sheep where more profitable than crofters so they drove them all away to America and Aussie. Only in this case its houses and money matter more than people. I thought local authorities were there for the people obviously I was wrong I wonder if you can still emigrate to Aussie?

Name Withheld, Ushaw Moor, Durham, 17/10/2002 08:14:02

im sick of seeing young people around my area causing havoc. scallys i think they are called. they walk around with their trousers tucked into their socks. All they do is look for trouble.I don't feel safe walking to the shops.Free me of these demons.

brian koop, durham, england, 24/09/2002 21:22:43

I think there could be more community involvement, particualrly by the Police. We have a heroin and crack cocaine problem which is getting out of hand and will eventually wipe out a lot of our young people. We can blame the parents, the state, the police, but we are all guilty. However there are little or no prospects for our youth the same as their parents before them. We have no cultural outlets, apart from going to the pub and getting ratted. As for those who would point a finger at "teen" parents, they may do well to remember that these are the children of our future, and are indeed replacing the population. We will in future need them as much as they now need us. And women,we are not allowed to be parents, we must work, study, improve, progress. Who will look after the children? THey have a right to their mother as we as mothers have a right to ensure that our children are cared for. It is very rare that anyone else can care for a child with as much love and concern as it's parent. We will pay the price for our lost children, all of us. People ned to stop and take stock of what is important and real in our world. Each other. And as long as we care only about ourselves, our own, and possessing more than our neighbours, we will continue to create the social problems that are destroying our society.

Julie Davis, [email protected], Seaham, 06/09/2002 11:29:44

Dog dirt is a big problem in the Easington area, a lot of Dog-Owners only pick up the dirt if someone is watching them! The anaimals don't know any better, but their owners should be publicly shamed!

Frank Burnett, 01/08/2002 13:40:46

The comments by your Ushaw Moor Correspondent are the fundamentals of Civilisation - this may sound strange but are true - the misguided fool(s) who this week added contemporary graffiti (to the misguided cult of tribal football) to this monument , degrade not only the village, it's community life, the past, the disabled and the victims of industry that created the community that they live within, but also those who gave the greatest Sacrifice of all - life.

My personal opinion of the only way to improve the quality of life would be to extract these individuals from the real community for life - for they do not add to the community - and never shall

Ushaw Moor Resident, Ushaw Moor, 21/02/2002 12:56:00

Instead of this stupid plan of turning the sports centre into a world class Gymnastics Centre spend more money improving the existing factilities. More gear for the boxing club and fix some of the gear thats broke in the weights room. Thing is people who live in a ex pit village don't do gymnastics and things like that I think the people in Tech & Leisure at Durham City Council have been watching Billy Elliot too much. Young lads do things like boxing and weights and while they are doing this it keeps them from drinking cider and smashing windows. Another thing is why waste �10,000 pounds by putting a stupid rock painted to look like a bit of coal up to celebrate our mining hertiage. I can't recall anyone in the village apart from the labour party mafia being asked if they thought this was money well spent. If you want to celebrate our mining hertiage then why not a nice statue of a miner at least that would look a bit better than a lump of concrete painted back it doesent even have a plaque on it to say what it is. Also the paint is starting to come off alreadly so it will be gray in a few years time anyway plus concrete cracks over time. I'm all for celebrating our hertiage we should be proud of it despite what all the jokes that daft cockneys and students who seem to have took over the area say about it. At the end of the day though I and I sure that anyone with a bit of brains can think of better ways of spending the money for instance a nice war memorial the presnt one is a scruffy bit of plyboard outside the church. I always thought Gerry Steinberg was a common sense kind of guy seeing him unveiling this piece of concrete coal makes me wonder!

Name Withheld, Ushaw Moor, 28/12/2001 11:59:51

I have just looked at your Urban Capacity pages. The database is empty. Nevertheless there is minimal consideration in the report as assesment for social capacity of Entertainment site allocation. For entertainment read as anything that takes up spare time , other than TV and Football, in Seaham
Each site allocation should include a "tithe" of land for entertainment use at developers cost. regards.

Dave Golden, Seaham, 19/11/2001 12:32:48

Web Administrator: Apologies for this - the database is meant to be empty as it was provided as a tool for other local authorities to use, but this should have been made clearer on the page concerned. I will be taking this up with the department responsible and will forward your comments about the report to them. Best regards, Karen Hannah (Website Administrator)

Seaham has minimal facilities for youth "energy expenditure" in the dark winter evenings. excepting of course the expensive sports and youth centres. Not everyone goes in for football. Where are the cycle assault coureses? Where are the floodlit basketball sites? Where is the handball court?
Oh! they are there or nearby, at a cost. Where is the Swimming Pool?
How do we get to tell you all of these things? you stopped the local forums. What have you replaced them with?

Dave Golden, Seaham, 19/11/2001 12:12:26

In Gilesgate where I live more community activities would be welcome to bond the area. I feel the sense of lack of common responsibility is in part due to the large residential area we live in. More common activity and increasing our sense of belonging is key to our identity. It would lower crime and a number of other social problems. By community activity I mean utilising our resources such as parks and having ward funding to propagate our communal feeling

Name Withheld, Durham, 13/11/2001 14:55:57

belmont and durham have nowhere to ride. we don't like the bmx track because we don't do jump. we would like a trials course building (rocks and benches and things) so we aren't getting shouted at by people who think we're vandals for scratching the walls

ThE iNsTiGaToR, [email protected], Durham, 25/10/2001 23:22:53

Better facilities for the young people, which are facilities that they want. Also more police presence and a campaign to reduce young people from driving dangerously and fast on estate roads. Better public transport.

Name Withheld, Durham, 25/10/2001 13:18:12

Awfully Provincial.
Poor theatre and recreation.
Poor provision for the arts

Name Withheld, durham, 18/10/2001 12:23:38

More flexible bus services at a reasonable price - at the present time I would need to take 3 buses in order to travel to work in Durham, at a cost of approx �4.00 each way. With a better bus service I would be able to leave my car at home, thus easing congestion in the city centre and alleviating parking problems (and don't forget environmental problems).

Kate Leonard, Crook, Durham, 18/10/2001 11:57:03

Stronger police presence to deal with anti-social bahaviour;
Better bus-service from where I live in Ferryhill to Co. Hall (i.e. not just from where I live to Durham Bus Station). This is not just for convenience, it would also allow me to not bring the car to work thereby helping the environment and also the parking problems at Co. Hall. At the moment I have to get 2 buses to travel 9 miles one-way, which is a bit of a deterrent in the middle of Winter.

Name Withheld, Ferryhill, 18/10/2001 11:47:25

Some of the earlier respondents seem to think that all we need to improve quality of life is a reduction in dog fouling and litter. If that is all that is needed in some areas of the county then the people in those areas are very lucky.
What about unemployment, which robs too many of us of our dignity and hope for the future?
What about crime and antisocial behaviour, which ruins many people's homes lives and sense of security?
What about the racism and intolerance which is endemic in our area?
What about the substantially reduced levels of health in the county compared to the national average?
If these Local Strategic Partnerships are going to achieve anything, please let it be in these areas where there is a real need for change.

Name Withheld, Chester-le-Street, 17/10/2001 22:48:06

The removal of dog dirt on footpaths & in parks. The law should be changed to make it mandatory to scoop a poop.

Name Withheld, Darlington, Co Durham, 17/10/2001 16:09:19

Interesting and appropriate activities for the older teenager in Derwentside. Activities should be developed based on what the teenagers want as opposed to what adults think they should be doing.

Pauline Thompson, Pauline - Stanley - [email protected], Consett, Durham, UK, 16/10/2001 16:54:40

Better traffic management in the city, not just on the peninsula but on the main roads too. More visible police presence in the evenings when the streets are heaving with people

Name Withheld, durham city, 16/10/2001 11:25:53