Chairman’s Annual Report 2022 – 2023
We have had another busy year and are still experiencing difficulties obtaining information and getting things done due to lots of people still working from home particularly at Newcastle City Council.
We still have a number of vacancies for new Parish Councillors and if anyone is interested in joining please contact the Parish Clerk.
Lady Litter Picker
We are very grateful to Sylvia, the lady who regularly litter picks the road verges between the village and Kingston Park and Brunswick. She does a sterling job and we felt it would be nice to mention her and thank her for her efforts on behalf of the residents.
Summer Front Garden Competition
We are once again going to hold a best front garden competition this year. This will be judged by a walk around the village during week commencing 17 July and a prize of £100 will be awarded to the winner, £50 for second place and £25 for third place.
Warm Zone
The weekly coffee morning and social get together has been a great success, so much so that the regulars have decided to carry on and continue to meet throughout the year. As it’s not really an energy saving event during the warmer months they have decided to adopt a new name for the continuing club and will be known as the “Community Coffee morning” from now on. They would encourage anyone who fancies a bit of company and a chat, with free tea and coffee, to come and join them in the Memorial Institute (next to the Village Hall) from 10.30 until 12.30 on a Wednesday morning, all welcome.
Dinnington Community Library - 10th Birthday Celebration
This Summer marks 10 years since the opening of Dinnington Community Library. To celebrate this achievement and the work of all their members, volunteers and supporters they plan to hold a celebration evening on Saturday 23rd September at 7pm. All are welcome. There will be free tickets available for collection in the Library from the start of September. Keep an eye out for their posters and flyers for more information.
The library is located in the Memorial Institute (next to the Village Hall). Open Wednesdays and Saturdays 10.30am - 12.30pm.
Recreation Ground Improvements
The park has been much improved by the addition of the new Parish Council funded tarmac path extending the existing path to the Sycamore Drive entrance. We have also seen the installation of a new bin near the Sheraton Park entrance and hopefully we will soon have a new bin near the Sycamore Avenue entrance. We have also seen the installation of new dog fouling signs, although sadly they are not being used by all dog walkers. The new children’s play area has now been designed and consulted on and will hopefully be installed in June.
Development of the field adjacent to the allotments known as the Pleasure Grounds to facilitate additional Allotments
NCC have been struggling with a lack of staff to keep this project on programme. Hopefully these difficulties are now resolved and planning permission should be applied for soon. This will provide 19 new allotments, a car park, a new fence and central water point. They will be managed by the existing Allotments Committee. The take up from local residents applying for the new allotments has been very good and all of the new allotments have now been applied for. Although some time has been lost, work
is still planned to start in the Summer.
Tree Planting in the Village
During the year we have been working with Newcastle City Council to obtain new trees in various locations around the village where they had died or new locations were identified. We have successfully managed to acquire 17 new trees for the village.
Persimmon Homes (Augusta Park)
They have 193 plots completed, 4 plots for sale and 9 plots reserved / exchanged.
They have now almost finished the whole estate, complete with a new playground at the entrance.
Driver Feedback Signs
Newcastle City Council are installing 2 additional Driver feedback signs on Front Street near the east end of Rede Place. One facing west and the other east towards the village centre. The one facing east will be funded by the Parish Council. There again have been delays to these being installed, principally in this case by manufacturing difficulties, however the signs have now been delivered and should be installed soon.
Further Projects we are pursuing, utilising S106 and CiL money.
Turn the area of the Old School Field remaining after construction of the Doctors into a small simple park for the enjoyment of the public, constructing traffic calming measures on Main Road and reducing the speed limit to 20mph, a new village map beside the Post Office to replace the out of date existing one, additional litterbins and possible additional grass cuts, if the need arises.
Neighbourhood Plan
The final “Submission” version of the NP was submitted to NCC on 1 Jan 23 and has been subject to a final round of consultation led this time by Newcastle City Council. This will be followed in time by an independent Examination to ensure the Plan meets statutory requirements. The final step of the Neighbourhood Plan process is for the Plan to proceed to a referendum, organised by NCC and open to all residents of Dinnington Parish. If this results in a majority support for the Plan, it will then be adopted and be used by Newcastle City Council as a statutory document in the determination of future planning applications in the Parish.
New Doctors Surgery
This is now moving forward again and the doctors have held public consultation events in the Memorial Hall to advise what the new surgery will be like. The Surgery will now also incorporate a Pharmacy. The new pharmacy will be operating in the Old Library within the existing doctors building from end May / early June, and will move into the new surgery when it is built.
The plan is to construct the new Doctors surgery immediately behind the current building and when complete decant from the current building into the new and then demolish the old building, level the area and construct a car park and entrance at the front. The programme is to progress to obtain planning permission in the next few months and hopefully complete the works by late summer 2024.
Dog Fouling
We are still receiving numerous complaints about the amount of dog fouling around the village, particularly in the Recreation Ground. The great majority of dog walkers do pick up after their dogs and there is no excuse for not picking up. If you have any information on those responsible for allowing dogs to foul without picking up you can contact the dog warden on 0191 211 6102 or online:
https://envirocall.newcastle.gov.uk/dogfouling or the Parish Clerk if that is easier. Please can we have the community’s support to stamp this out, stop this health hazard and improve the village?
Raymond Thompson,
Chairman
