Reaching across the Skerne - conservation

Tonight Stephanie and I met with the Victoria Embankment Conservation Area group - making a unique moment when two communities connected by one asset came together.

Our mutual interest is, of course, the River Skerne, and more particularly, its banks.

Darlington has 16 conservation areas, of which Victoria Embankment is one of the more recent, being created in 2007. The character appraisal makes fascinating reading, describing a journey of architecture from the 1890's through to present times.

When Esh Development first applied for planning permission on Feethams Football site, they promised to retain a wild-life corridor to the west side of the Skerne. This was an area historically protected by the east boundary of Darlington Cricket Club. The concept was to form a river-side walkway alongside the new access road.

Our recent survey of the river bank indicates that this idea has either been abandoned or alternatively given very little priority. Whilst the unsightly cracked concrete wall was removed, galvanised fences took its place where the walkway was supposed to pass, and behind, the development has impacted on the line of trees and river bank edge.

Together with the Victoria Embankment group, we propose to make a difference. I have volunteered on your behalf to join a joint residents steering committee (the Kingfisher group) to examine the options available to us as residents to protect and enhance the west bank, to spare it further environmental encroachment, and to ensure that the riverside character and tree-line is preserved.

Do get in touch with Stephanie or me if you have any ideas or thoughts about the riverside.

End of Year Round-Up - and the Year Ahead

The South Terrace Residents blog has now been up and running for 11 months (starting on Sunday 10 February 2013). In this time we have tackled a number of issues close to your hearts: including crime, scams and SmartWater with the Darlington Neighbourhood Police team, Sainsburys development, the Esh housing scheme on the football ground, the new Terrace Hill cinema complex at Feethams North, parking in South Terrace, the Big Spring Clean 2013, South Terrace garden Spring and Summer competitions, departing residents and new arrivals, the demolition of the Feethams twin towers, and of course the important publication by South Terrace's own writer, Karl Bone.

I sense that 2014 is going to be a challenging year for us on the terrace. Esh have handled their part of the Feethams housing development with a degree of sensitivity - especially with the frequent updates on our South Terrace Facebook page, but will the same be true for Persimmon? How will Darlington Council respond to the development of 82 new dwellings on the Feethams estate? Will we get the Victoria Road pedestrian crossing point we have been seeking? Is the council going to address the parking issues we have raised?

With care and collaboration, South Terrace residents could be the beneficiaries of the recent and proposed changes. But to achieve this, our voice must be heard, and that voice should be a united one. We need to keep our group active, informed and involved.

I propose that we arrange a meeting early in 2014 to prepare an agenda for the year. Pending this, think about what you would like to see happen during the year, and what you most wish to avoid. This way, we can exercise a level of influence over the decisions that will or may most affect us.

Persimmon seek a revision of planning for Feethams

Persimmon propose 82 new homes, to include a 4 storey apartment building providing 12 flats overlooking the cricket field. They describe the proposals as carrying 'an executive feel'. You will recall that the previous planning permission was for 146 homes. Take a look at the attached information sheets, and note the deadline for comments is Thursday 13 December!

Anyone wanting to make representations may do so direct to tees.consultation@persimmonhomes.com, by post to the address in the leaflet, or via comment here or on our South Terrace Residents Facebook Group page.

Feethams - Latest Update

Paul's latest  2 weekly update for the Feethams Developments;-

·         With the completion of the cricket season the final stages of the football stand (Tin Shed) demolition  can commencing this week and should be complete by the end of the week.

·         The importation of the recycled granular materials to raise & level of the existing ground is still ongoing which we hope to have complete by the middle of next week.

·         The old concrete & timber benches along the north & east side of the pitch have now been removed and work on the new access road  has started, with the area being excavated ready for the new road construction.

·         The existing concrete coping pillars on top of the turnstile entrance are to removed later this week in preparation for the demolishing work commencing next week. These are to be retained and if in a suitable condition they are to be reused on the new walls that are to be installed at the site entrance.

                The next 2 week the following works are scheduled to start:-

·         The turnstile & scored board demolition.

·         Construction of the new access road will continue.

·         Once all the recycled granular material has been imported to site. The existing concrete posts and rail around the east side of the cricket pitch are to be removed to allow for the installation of a new timber fencing & ball stop mesh.

Please note the footpath in front of the existing turnstiles entrance gates (see attached sketch) will be closed from  the beginning of this week as works at the site entrance start to commence (copping pillar removal) and is to remain in place during  the turnstile demolition, installation of foundations & new access walls, drainage and the new access road entrance.

Regards

Paul Nicholson

Senior Site Engineer

Lumsden & Carroll Civil Engineering

Esh House, Bowburn North Industrial Estate, Bowburn, Durham, DH6 5PF

T: (0191) 3774500 M: 07971 981268 F: (0191) 3774501

September update on the terrace

New residents
We welcome our new residents to numbers 3 and 21. Congratulations on your choice of homes at no 3 and no 21. We hope you will be very happy here at South Terrace. Can we encourage you to sign up for the South Terrace Facebook group - it is a great way to get to know others here, and to keep abreast of the news that affects our community. Note, South Terrace has its own Neighbourhood Watch group. At present, all households on the terrace are represented and you will automatically be included.


Parking
There has been a yawning silence from Traffic Management at Darlington Borough Council following our enquiry concerning residents' parking. Here is a copy of our letter dated 15 July 2013:

"Over the past six months, the residents have been engaged in discussions concerning parking in South Terrace. 

Currently there are 30 parking spaces on South Terrace, of which 19 are designated for residents permit parking - 5 at the east end of the terrace, 6 in the middle section, and 8 at the west side. This leaves 4 non-resident spaces on the east side of the terrace, and 7 in the middle section. 

Two issues have been detected. 
First, with 24 households and 8 cottages, and a number of households having more than one permit, there are insufficient residents parking spaces for the number of permits issued. Residents who now pay £40.00 per year to park in the vicinity of their home should be entitled to be able to access a parking space.
Second, substantial numbers of non-residents attend each morning to take non-resident spaces that have been vacated by residents. These spaces are then occupied for the rest of the working day, to the exclusion of both residents and their visitors.
The South Terrace Residents Group has formulated a solution.

Resident parking designation
Whilst residents want to keep some non-resident spaces on the terrace for non-resident parking, we request that the seven non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace is reduced to four; and all four of the non-resident spaces opposite nos 1-7 are to be made residents permit only. 

Yellow line restrictions
Residents would wish that the yellow lines on the west side of the terrace opposite nos 9-10 should be reduced, to give another one or two extra parking spaces there, and on the east side of the terrace opposite nos 1-7 to give one extra space there. We are aware of the council's concerns about parking within certain distances of junctions, but the local wisdom is that this should not be a problem here. 

The net effect of changes:
Without yellow line alteration - to increase the permit spaces to 26, leaving 4 non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace. 
With yellow line alteration - to increase the permit spaces to 28 or 29, leaving 4 non-resident spaces in the centre of the terrace".

It is unfortunate that Traffic Management has not even acknowledged our concerns. If no response is received before the end of the month, I will take the issue up with Councillor Harman. In the meantime, if you are free, do go along on Monday 23 September, 5 pm at the Dolphin Centre - Public consultation on Parking Strategy focusing on Residents Parking Zones. They definitely need feedback from us about the shortfalls of our South Terrace Zone D.

Esh Development and the Cricket Club
Residents will have noticed that Feethams South to the Twin Towers has been measured and marked. The plan is to alter the approach to the new road that will skirt the cricket pitch. I propose to invite Paul Nicholson, Senior Site Engineer employed by Lumsden & Carroll, Civil Engineering to Esh Developments, to post news updates on the blog, or the South Terrace Facebook page. 

Additionally, although no planning application has yet been posted, we understand that the Cricket Club is proposing to implement some development at the club building. If you have any news on this, let us know by posting here on the blog, on Facebook, or by email.