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More Consett news, --this from BBC Tyne and Wear, --


4 March 2011 Last updated at 08:47 Share this pageFacebookTwitter ShareEmail Print County Durham's Consett Academy sponsor announcedContinue reading the main story
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A further education college is to sponsor a new academy in County Durham.

Consett Academy will replace Moorside Community Technology College and Consett Community Sports College.

New Durham College is to be the lead sponsor, with Durham County Council as the co-sponsor, subject to the approval of the council's cabinet.

The £20.7m project, on a site in Belle Vue, had faced opposition from some residents, but it is now hoped that it will open in 2012.

It had been set to cost £31.7m, but government spending cuts enforced the reduction.

The proposal was then amended to fit the reduced budget, with £6m saved through a number of measures including lower relocation costs through retaining an on-site rugby club.


Read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wear-12644824
 
Barnard Castle news,--T

this from the Northern Echo, --




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Covering Teesdale, Startforth, Whorlton, Stainton, Cotherstone, Bowes, Westwick, Wycliffe, Boldron and other surrounding villages




Plans for £1.3m rope bridge over River Tees unveiled

6:23pm Sunday 16th October 2011
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AMBITIOUS plans to create the UK’s longest rope bridge across the River Tees are to go on show to the public.

Durham County Council is keen to build a £1.3m 265-metre suspension bridge over the river to the west of Barnard Castle.

Teesdale Marketing Ltd, the project’s sponsors, are applying for grants and funds to make the dream a reality.

The idea of a bridge was first suggested several year ago but councillors and residents criticised the initial plan.

A slimmed down redrafted version has since been designed and has met with a more favourable response.

The current scheme recently received a £300,000 funding boost from the council so it could carry out feasibility work.

The plans are to go on show to the public at Newgate Street Studios, Barnard Castle, on Tuesday, October 18.

Read more http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...___1_3m_rope_bridge_over_River_Tees_unveiled/
 
Discussion starter · #63 ·
Opinion split on demolition of Consett Civic Centre
by Neil McKay, The Journal, November 10th 2011



DEMOLITION work is to begin on a town’s former civic heart once Sunday’s Remembrance Day parade has concluded.

The work to bulldoze Consett Civic Centre – built in 1969 and closed in August this year – is expected to be completed by January and is the start of a controversial scheme hailed by one supporter as “the best thing for the town since the start of the last century” but as “another nail in the town’s coffin” by opponents.

In its place will be built an academy to house the students of two of the town’s schools, next to a new sports centre at a total cost of £43m.

The town’s War Memorial, next to the Civic Centre, is to remain in situ.

Locals had protested against plans to build the development on the site of the Civic Centre at Belle Vue, claiming it would lead to the loss of valuable green space and extra traffic in a residential area.

Part of the scheme also involves the relocation of Consett football club to a new stadium at Crookhall on the outskirts of the town


Read More - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-...tt-civic-centre-61634-29750774/#ixzz1dIb06Heg
 
Crook news, ----this from the Northern Echo, ---


Library move could free town site for supermarket

2:49pm Thursday 15th December 2011 in Crook & Weardale News

By Duncan Leatherdale »
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A SUPERMARKET will be coming to Crook, with plans due to be submitted in the next few months, councillors have confirmed.

At their meeting in Crook Civic Centre yesterday, Durham County Council's cabinet heard proposals for the future of the town - the priority being a supermarket in the town centre.

Rumours have been rife for several years about a foodstore replacing the library and council depot, next to Crook marketplace.

County council leader Simon Henig confirmed yesterday that it was planned to move the library into Crook Civic Centre, which would free up the town centre site for redevelopment.

Councillor Henig also said discussions were ongoing with a supermarket chain, rumoured locally to be Tesco, and plans are expected to be submitted to the council's planning department in the early part of next year.

Read more http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...ry_move_could_free_town_site_for_supermarket/
 
Stanley news, ----this from the Northern Echo, --




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Work underway on South Moor school

12:48pm Friday 24th February 2012 in Stanley News

A GROUNDBREAKING ceremony has taken place on the site of a £5.6m primary school in north Durham.

Work to create the new Greenland Community Primary School in South Moor, near Stanley, is now underway.

Councillor Dennis Morgan, the chairman of Durham County Council, Kevan Jones MP, councillors Claire Vasey, David Marshall and Janice Docherty joined headteacher Rose Bainbridge and representatives from Surgo Construction in cutting the first sod.

The new building will be a replacement for the current school and construction is starting on land opposite the war memorial.

Read more http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/stanley/9552895.Work_underway_on_South_Moor_school/
 
Chester-Le-Street news, --this from the Northern Echo, --




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Housing go head for Pelton Fell

1:45pm Sunday 26th February 2012 in Chester-le-Street News

RESIDENTS fear increased road dangers and a strain on facilities in their former pit village after councillors backed a housing development.

Durham County Council’s area planning committee said it was “minded’’ to give Bellway Homes planning permission to build 71 homes at Whitehill Farm, Fell Road, Pelton Fell, near Chester-le-Street.

Officers recommended the move even though residents sent a 170-name petition and 13 letters opposing th eplan.

Afterwards Tricia Ritchie, of Ferndene Avenue, said she had only learned of the planned development after the official consultation period had ended.

Read more http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/chesterlestreet/9554644.Housing_go_head_for_Pelton_Fell/
 
Discussion starter · #68 ·
Blaze at historic Seaham Park Cricket Club
by Kate Proctor, Sunday Sun, March 25th 2012


A BLAZE has ripped through the pavilion of a historic North cricket club - devastating the building. The fire at Seaham Park Cricket Club, in the town’s Byron Terrace, broke out at around 5am yesterday morning.

County Durham Fire and Rescue officer Ben Wilson, said it started at the side of the building before spreading across the entire roof in a matter of minutes.
He said: “The whole building has gone. The front part of it is water damaged and now structurally unsound. Police have retrieved camera footage from the premises and they will take evidence from there.”

It is believed the cricket pavilion - parts of which are 80 years old - was being redecorated in time for the new season, which next month. Dousing the flames with a jet, the fire raged for five hours before 15 officers brought it under control, but they were then called back out to the scene at 2pm yesterday to tend to another small break-out of flames.


Read More - http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/nor...oric-seaham-park-cricket-club-79310-30617687/
 
Discussion starter · #70 ·
Lottery cash to boost North East village revival scheme
by Michael Brown, The Journal, April 3rd 2012


VILLAGES in County Durham and Northumberland are among those benefiting from a lottery fund supporting the start-up of rural businesses.

The BIG Lottery Fund’s Village SOS scheme aims to kick-start a rural revival, particularly in isolated areas that are suffering due to an aging population and the closure of local shops and services. Lynemouth Community Trust, in Northumberland, has received £30,000 for its scheme that aims to “up-cycle” unwanted rubbish into new items people will want to buy.

The BIG grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 are available to help rural communities with less than 3,000 people develop plans for projects that answer a local need or improve services for local people.

Other recipients in the North East include . . .

Milfield Heavy Horse Association, in Northumberland, which has been offered £29,700 to hold an annual festival of working horses,

£25,000 for the Fontburn Internet Project in Ewesley, Northumberland, which is trying to bring broadband to the tiny hamlet.

£29,500 for the Middleton Plus Development Trust in Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, which will provide a range of family activities and courses for residents.

For more information about the BIG Lottery Fund’s Village SOS scheme, visit www.villagesos.org.uk


Read More - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-...-revival-scheme-61634-30679744/#ixzz1qy1LEYBW
 
Discussion starter · #71 ·
Worries grow over 'sea' of turbines in the North East
by Tom Rowley, The Journal, April 9th 2012



ALMOST 200 more wind turbines could soon be put up across the North East, The Journal can reveal. Applicants want to put another 194 of the turbines in Northumberland, Gateshead and County Durham, according to local councils. About 109 of these applications come in addition to farms that have already won planning permission, our survey discloses. The figures come days after a motion to slow down the rate of wind farm approvals in Northumberland was rejected by councillors. But they backed an alternative motion to consult more widely about the future of the farms. The applications range from a site of 18 turbines with the capacity to produce 75 megawatts of energy to several single turbines on farms.

In Northumberland, 19 turbines are under construction, 59 have been approved subject to a raft of different conditions and a further 33 have received planning permission. Durham County Council is currently reviewing two applications for five turbines each at Sheraton Hill, east of Durham, and at Hamsterley Forest. Planners in Gateshead are considering a single application for a turbine at Eighton Banks. A further two schemes have asked the council if they will require an environmental impact assessment before planning approval is given.

Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils have received no applications.

Coun Glen Sanderson, who brought the Northumberland motion calling for a halt to applications, said he was surprised by the number of potential turbines uncovered by our survey. He said the new figures were “even more disturbing” for opponents of wind farms. “The people that I represent are firmly of the view that Northumberland has already had its fair share of applications,” he said.

A spokesman for Renewable UK, a group which represents firms behind wind farms, said: “Our planning system already factors in the impact of existing wind farms when assessing planning applications and so putting arbitrary limits on wind farms is wrong. “We should continue to assess each wind farm on a case by case basis. Wind farms represent an investment of millions of pounds, of which about a third is retained in the region in the form of jobs, contracts and supplies.”


Read More (Two Pages) - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-...-the-north-east-61634-30721880/#ixzz1rX4qPIwP
 
I could accept their appearance if wind turbines were actually useful. Unfortunately, the high carbon footprint from manufacturing, maintenance, repair and replacement and the fact that traditional power plants must be retained on permanent standby due to low wind levels and unreliability renders windfarms pretty worthless (and very, very costly) in addressing sustainable energy needs. I suspect the only reason turbines have gained so much traction is that influential landowners and energy groups are set to profit substantially.

Sadly, I believe many tens of billions will be thrown into this wholly inadequate technology (with energy inevitably bills soaring) before panic sets in and the whole concept is abandoned.
 
The newest models are vastly more efficient and will continue to improve. Every technology takes time to get up to speed and wind will follow (IMHO).

Plus the issue of their intermittance will be largely negated once we have the European supergrid.
 
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