Parking restrictions

April 3, 2010

Durham County Council have posted notices in the village centre about the renewal of the existing parking restrictions. The Traffic Regulation Order is being made in readiness for the new Civil Parking Enforcement regime that is being introduced in November. This is when the County Council will take over the responsibility for enforcing parking restrictions, from the police.

More information is available on the County Council website.

As part of its study, ‘The Parking Lot’ [a focus group set up by the Village Trust] has investigated parking provision in the village centre. It has been discussing solutions with county councillors and engineers from the traffic section and hopes that a review of parking restrictions will be carried out.

Pavement parking

March 28, 2010

Parking on pavements not only causes damage to the path but can be inconvenient to pedestrians, particularly those with pushchairs or wheelchairs.  It is a particular problem in the village centre and near the Junior and Infant schools, where pedestrians are often forced into the road by inconsiderate drivers.

In many residential areas parking on footpaths cannot be avoided as there is insufficient off street parking available.  But where the road is wide enough to allow vehicles to pass there is often no excuse to park on the pavement.

Durham County Council’s website gives more details about the problems caused and information about illegal parking and obstruction.

Blooming meeting

March 24, 2010

The ‘Blooming Shotley Bridge’ group’ held a walkabout in the village today to decide on the boundary for the Britain in Bloom Neighbourhood Award, for which the Village Trust intends to register.

It was also looking at potential sites for improvement within the Conservation Area.

The ‘Shotley Bridge’ entry signs on the River Derwent Bridge, on the A691 near Shotley Grove Road and on the A694 near the Spa Grounds are to be used to define the extent of the neighbourhood, but whether to go beyond Snows Green as far as Elm Park has still to be decided.

Photographs, for display at the next open meeting of the Trust, are to be taken of the potential sites that could be improved or planted with bulbs and flowers. An action plan and funding will need to be discussed at the next meeting of the group.

Google Maps – Street View

March 20, 2010

Did you know that in Google Maps you can not only see a street map, satellite image and terrain of Shotley Bridge but also photographs of where you live in Street View.

BIG Tidy Up morning

March 13, 2010

The Benfieldside, Blackhill, Bridgehill and Shotley Bridge Partnership organised a BIG Tidy Up this morning. Volunteers met at the Bridgehill communal room to collect their bags, equipment and instructions before setting off in groups to pick up litter from hotspots [which had been identified by survey].

[Click on the photos to enlarge]

A big thank you to Consett Rugby Club, particularly the U17 & U18 teams, who came along to help tidy up litter hot spots in Shotley Bridge – along the Derwent Walk, around the Benfieldside playing fields and down by the riverside at Shotley Grove.

Thankyou also to the ten residents of Shotley Bridge who found time to give their support to pick up litter around the village centre and at Snows Green.

In total, nearly 150 bags of rubbish were collected by 75 volunteers from the litter strewn open spaces throughout the Partnership’s area.