Durham County Council consultations

There are a number of current consultations being advertised by Durham County Council and your are invited to submit your responses and opinions.

Please find below details of several consultations, which went live on the 23 January, which may be of interest to you. your networks. We’d be very grateful if you could respond and/ or share as you see fit.

• Review of Customer Access Points We are reviewing our Customer Access Point (CAP) Services including looking at locations and services offered. We are also proposing to change the opening hours in the least used CAPs at Barnard Castle, Chester-le-Street, Consett and Stanley. The consultation is open until 5pm on 6 March 2023.

• Review of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for dog ownership 2023 We are currently reviewing the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for dog ownership, which we have in place to deal with issues arising from irresponsible dog ownership. Despite improvements, following the PSPO’s initial introduction in 2017, dog fouling and other dog related issues remain a key concern for communities across the county, so we are proposing to expand the PSPO to help. There are five countywide proposed additions to the PSPO and one location specific related to the ‘slope’ beach in Seaham. The consultation is open until 5pm on 13 March 2023.

In addition to the proposed specific seasonal ban of dogs on “the Slope” beach in Seaham, this consultation also includes the extension of the PSPO to include

• Dogs being banned from more fenced off play areas such as MUGA’s and Tennis courts
• Dogs to be on leads in churchyards, cemeteries and crematoria
• Dogs to be on leads in identified marked sports pitches
• Dog walkers to walk a maximum of 6 dogs at once (pretty topical following the recent death of a dog walker in the south of england)
• All dogs in an open space to have a collar and tag

• Review of traffic sensitive streets We’re currently reviewing our list of traffic sensitive streets following reforms to criteria made by The Department of Transport. Any roadworks on streets, or parts of streets, which are designated as traffic sensitive will have a bigger impact, so anyone wanting to carry out works must give a greater amount of warning and apply for permission. We are talking to businesses, contractors and other people who carry out work that may affect the use of these roads and footpaths eg need to dig them up. We are also interested in hearing the views of local businesses, organisations and those involved in organising major events or attractions in the county. The consultation is open until 5pm on 24 February 2023.

In County Durham there is currently a list of over 600 streets that are classified as traffic sensitive. This is a reduction in the number of Traffic Sensitive Streets from their previous review in 2019, which had over 800 streets listed.

From April 2023, DCC will define a street as traffic sensitive if it:

• has an estimated traffic flow of greater than 500 vehicles per hour per lane (excluding bus or cycle lanes)
• is a single lane two-way road, with a lane width of less than 6.5 metres and has a total traffic flow of more than 600 vehicles per hour
• is within a congestion charge area
• has more than 25% heavy commercial vehicles
• has more than eight buses per hour in both directions
• is within 100 metres of an important traffic lit junction, roundabout or gyratory (complex roundabout)
• has a pedestrian flow rate of at least 1300 people per hour per metre width of pavement
• is designated as an A road

DCC are particularly interested in hearing the views of local businesses, organisations and those involved in organising major events or attractions in the county. They want to know if you feel a street or area should be added to the list, why and when and also to tell them if you disagree with a designation currently on the list.