Agenda item

a)    Joint report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships and the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services

b)    Presentation by Steve Bhowmick, Environment and Design Manager, Regeneration and Local Services

The Committee considered the Joint Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships and the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services that provided Members with background information on the revision of the Partnership Vision and priorities and looking to work with partners to influence partnership activity and areas of focus (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Environment and Design Manager was in attendance to present the report and give a presentation on the County Durham Environment Partnership which provided Members with an overview of what the county has to offer, challenges to be faced including the impact of extreme weather on the county and counting the cost of fly-tipping, what the future holds, it is bright with a countywide partnership approach needed to implement the vision for the county, vision and approach proposed by County Durham Environment Partnership (plan on a page) identifying four themes and the priorities and measures within the themes, strategy going forward consisting of education/awareness, involvement/participation, partnership and enforcement, examples of various projects for each of the four themes and detail of working with partners (for copy of slides, see file of minutes).

Members were provided with a copy of the County Durham Environment Partnership’s plan on a page identifying the Approach and key Areas of Focus including themes, priorities and measures and asked members for their views and comments. The presentation was concluded by the Environment and Design Manager asking for the committee’s views/comments in relation to the plan on the page.

The Chairman thanked the Environment and Design Manager for his very informative presentation and commented that in order to achieve the vision of ‘A place where people want to live and visit because of the high quality of the natural built environment’ then good partnership working is essential. He continued by commenting that the Environment has a huge impact on people’s lives.

Councillor Jopling commented that in relation to the theme of ‘promote the value, diversity & benefits of Durham’s natural environment’ and the comment made by the officer of a healthy environment for everyone there are issues in relation to the indiscriminate use by Durham County Council of sprays which are killing healthy plants and there is a need for the appropriate Durham County Council staff to be educated.

The Officer responded that he would raise the issues with the appropriate officers.

Mr Bolton commented that in relation to the theme of ‘promote the value, diversity & benefits of Durham’s natural environment’, County Durham is rich in woodland and heritage and has a beautiful coastline however local people don’t take advantage of what the county has to offer. The plan needs to encourage local people to use the many natural attractions available in the county.

The Officer responded that residents were blessed with a great coast but the constraint was the coastal railway line but they were trying to create greater access with new points linked to the new railway station at Horden together with better signage and maps with additional information. He then referred to the East Coast path and their partners Natural England and advised Members that in the next couple of years there will be more profile given to the path encouraging more local people to use the path and take advantage of the coastline. He also indicated that there is a need to push forward cycling.

Councillor Kay referred to sustainable transport and cycle routes in the area and commented that in relation to the theme of ‘reduce green house gases and adapt to the impact of climate change’ concerning the priority of supporting sustainable travel detailed in the partnership plan, the inner city cycle routes in the county such as the Howlands route, needs a considerable amount of work. He continued that this needs to be addressed. He highlighted that the County Durham Plan makes a vague reference to national cycle routes, however there are a number of routes in the county requiring a high level of work to be undertaken and gave as an example the West Auckland to Barnard Castle route. He concluded by commenting that Durham County Council needs to engage with local cycle clubs to identify their needs/requirements.

The Officer responded that there was a programme to upgrade the disused railway line but the bid was unsuccessful but the route was still there and they needed to push this further up the agenda.

The Chairman referred to the Committee’s work programme which included a further update in relation to Cycle Routes in the County and this would provide an opportunity for Councillor Kay to raise these issues with the relevant officer/s. He continued that he thought this item was scheduled for either the next meeting or the November meeting of the committee and that although a lot of work had been undertaken on cycle routes there was still a lot to be done.

Councillor Kay suggested that a group of members from the committee and the relevant officers visit some of the cycle routes in the county.

Councillor Clark referred to the Pyramid in the presentation and commented that a register of information for the whole County that the public could access was needed. Councillor Clark continued by highlighted that in relation to the themes of ‘promote the value, diversity & benefits of Durham’s natural environment’ and ‘promote, sustainable, sympathetic development and enhance Durham’s heritage assets’ and the respective priorities, there is a need for a single point of contact to retain information on the various attractions/assets in the county. This single point of contact would contain information on the various attractions/assets in the county including natural attractions/assets. This information would then be readily available and could be accessed by both local people and visitors to the county. She then referred to a Joint visit by the committee to the Heritage Coast visit which was held before Good Friday and poorly attended.

Councillor Clark continued that She had also noticed when attending events or visiting attractions that there were leaflets on areas in the North East but nothing for County Durham and gave an example of when she had attended Bowes Museum and found that there were no leaflets in relation to County Durham.

The Officer responded that the partnership could bring this together.

The Chairman highlighted that if members of the committee had any further views or comments to send them directly to the Officer.

Resolved: (i) That the report be noted

(ii) That the comments/views made by members of the committee in relation to the plan be forwarded to the appropriate officer for feedback to the County Durham Environment Partnership.