DROP-in sessions with Durham County Council neighbourhood wardens could be made a permanent fixture after initial events were hailed a success.
Three drop-in sessions for residents to meet and chat to Teesdale’s neighbourhood warden about a range of issues were held in recent weeks.
Organised by Barnard Castle town councillor Fiona Turnbull and Durham County Council’s neighbourhood team, the sessions aimed to make it easier for residents to report issues such as dog fouling and receive advice on how to tackle this and other issues.
After a slow start at the first session, held in November, last year, at the town council’s offices at Woodleigh when no members of the public dropped in, the remaining sessions were moved to more central locations.
The second session was held at Barnard Castle library in December with the last one at The Witham last week.
Emma Laighton, one of the county council’s neighbourhood wardens, said: “The second session was great at Barnard Castle’s library as everyone who came in was asked if they wanted to chat with me and it was a really good session.
“At our last session here at The Witham, I’ve had about six or seven people drop in and I’ve been chatting to people in the café as well.”
Neighbourhood wardens deal with many environmental problems – from dog fouling and graffiti to fly tipping – and have the powers to issue fixed penalty notices for environmental crimes.
There is a dedicated warden for Teesdale, who patrols Barnard Castle, along with villages across the dale.
Ms Laighton added: “If you are giving people advice and helping them, I class that as a win.
“I set this up with the town council and we held the first session at Woodleigh, but it’s a little off the beaten track so I suggested to them to have the sessions in a higher footfall area.”
As well as chatting about the menace of dog fouling, residents brought up concerns of anti-social behaviour and littering.
Ms Laighton added: “Dog fouling is probably the hardest to prosecute because we [wardens] have to see it happen.
“We were able to give someone a fixed penalty because a resident gave a statement detailing how she saw someone’s dog doing it and was able to help us identify the owner.”
“There has been a little bit of anti-social behaviour from youths in the town and problems with a little bit of littering.
“When people see us patrolling, they can and do approach us. We have a certain amount of powers, but with our radios we are able to keep in contact with the police as well.”
She now hopes the sessions will be given the go-ahead to become a permanent fixture to further build ties with the community and crack down on environmental issues.
She said: “It is good to have them regularly because people get used to knowing they can pop in and chat about issues and ask advice. My thought is they are a bit more social and people are more likely to approach us.
“I really hope they keep them going.”
