SEASONS IN DARRAS Chairman s Report 2017. The work of your Committee, helping to make Darras Hall the place you want to live whatever the season. Seasons in Darras It was snowing in Darras Hall as I was writing this Report, knowing that I must complete this before an impending winter break to sunnier climes. Wherever I travel, the more places I see, I m always happy when I come home to Darras Hall, whatever the season. My desire to make Darras Hall the best possible place to live motivates me to serve as your Chairman. In this year s Report, you will hopefully see what I, the rest of the Committee, and staff have achieved towards this goal in the last 12 months.
WORKING WITH 3RD PARTIES Working with Third Parties To try and improve your seasons in Darras Hall the Committee work on your behalf with a number of third parties. These include Northumberland County Council, Ponteland Town Council, Darras Hall Primary School, Zara Commercial, Newcastle International Airport, Natural England among others.
Northumberland County Council At last year s AGM it was obvious that many of your questions and concerns were outside of the remit of the Committee and fell at the door of third parties, notably Northumberland County Council. In order to try and help, I arranged a meeting with the newly elected Leader of the Council, Peter Jackson with a view to improving communications between us. Relevant contacts were set up to expedite queries.
LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN At recent meetings the impact on Darras Hall was established, by both the Plan and ongoing road maintenance. Local Transport Plan Anticipating your questions regarding road conditions we ve had recent meetings to establish the impact of the LTP on Darras Hall, and ongoing road maintenance. LTP has 180K in the next financial year (out of the total 18.6M): 80k to be spent on Middle Drive resurfacing, 20k on kerbs in Ponteland, and 80k for a 200m footpath on Eastern Way between Hawthorn Way and Queensway. Pot hole repairs and patching work is on-going at a number of locations.
MIDDLE DRIVE RE-SURFACING Middle Drive Resurfacing This is scheduled for October/November 2018, after the completion of the school, and runs from Broadway to Western Way. Many of you will have observed on-going roadworks as well as white lines (patching) and red lines (potholes). This work comes from a separate budget. There s a link on our website to report potholes and details of an app if you prefer to use your phone.
DARRAS HALL PRIMARY SCHOOL Darras Hall Primary School Work is apparently going well, and on schedule. GallifordTry the contractors can be contacted via rachel.falcus@galifordtry.co.uk for details and input via a questionnaire.
BROADWAY SHOPPING CENTRE Broadway shops Unfortunately no meeting has been held with Zara Commercial despite attempts to do so, however, Zara have sent a report answering issues highlighted in last year s AGM which concludes that they are doing everything in their power to alleviate issues at Broadway.
LAND AND PROPERTY Land and Property We continue to administer and maintain land and property on the Estate.
GRASSLANDS IMPROVEMENTS Grasslands Improvements This is major asset of the Estate with approximately 10 acres of land for dog walkers, naturalists etc. Due to the wet conditions in certain areas of the Grasslands, we have identified that improvements need to be made to footpaths, for improved all season access. This has been budgeted for in 2018.
BRIDLEPATH Bridlepath The Bridlepath acts as an artery throughout the Estate for many forms of transport, and maintenance continues as usual. Further improvement is on the way thanks to the charitable help of school contractors GallifordTry. Hopefully we will see some improvements made to parts of the pathway in the near future.
DOGGY BUSINESS Doggy Business More waste bins and poo bag dispensers have been installed. These have been well received and are being put to extremely good use. A recent poll on our website shows overwhelming support for the installation of more dispensers. The cost is approximately 160 for purchase/installation and 175 pa for upkeep.
FRONT BOUNDARY TREATMENTS Front Boundary Treatments Further to your agreement at last year s AGM, Byelaw 13 was amended and has been implemented. Details of this addendum are available on the website as well as being available in printed form.
THE DAILY GRIND The Daily Grind This is the view most of you see when you visit the office. 90% of our work is in Planning applications, searches and administration.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS Planning Applications 163 applications were processed in 2017 compared with 168 in 2016. An increase discrepancies highlighted in the search process has led to an increase in retrospective planning applications.
MAJOR STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS Major Structural Inspections To reflect the scale of some building projects not submitted as new builds it was decided to implement inspections of such developments and increase fees accordingly.
Year Searches 2012 IJ 2013 95 20 r 4 109 2015 t24 2016 103 2017 122 SEARCHES Searches There has been an increase in searches from 103 in 2016 to 122 in 2017. This perhaps reflects the more buoyant nature of the housing market.
RENT ARREARS Rent Arrears The current situation is 125 in arrears this compares to 149 at this stage last year. There are 2 cases currently in Court.
GARDEN COMPETITION Garden Competition This was sponsored and judged by Dobbies. This year s competition was won by Joan Hillman of Greenacres. Joan also won in 2015 and has now decided not to enter in the future to give someone else a chance.
PONTELAND NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN. Ponteland Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group I acknowledged the work of the Steering Group at the last two AGM s. And, as most of you will now know, the Plan was adopted after a 96% vote in favour. For the first time in history, Northumberland CC must take into account some of the unique requirements of our Trust Deed when considering planning applications. This is a major achievement in the history of Darras Hall, and to mark the occasion I would like to present a commemorative plaque to the Steering Group. This will be displayed in Ponteland Town Council s offices.
SEASONS IN DARRAS Seasons in Darras That concludes my Report for 2017 and I hope you have, like me, enjoyed the seasons in Darras Hall last year and will continue to do so long into the future.