The county’s clean and green team descended on a dale village last week after parish councillors described it as a deteriorating mess.
Rotting leaves, crumbling roads, potholes, threadbare flags and fly-tipping were among the issues highlighted by members of Gainford Parish Council at their latest meeting.
Durham County Council, following an inspection, sent a fleet of large and small street sweepers to clean up.
Resident Patrick Orme complained about accumulating rotting leaves in the village, particularly around High Green. He said: “It is particularly narrow and the road sweeper can’t go there.”
Parish chairman Cllr Andrew Wilkinson confirmed the parish council had noticed the problem in its previous meeting and had employed a person to tidy up some areas.
Cllr Simon Platten added: “We have got someone that we are paying to keep the bus shelter at the Lord Nelson pub clear, the footpath along there to the surgery and the access routes up and down the bank at High Row to keep them clear.
“We are doing the key points to make it a bit better, but we can’t do the whole village.”
Cllr Sarah Hannon added that although the A67 through the village had been resurfaced, it was deteriorating, possibly because of extra heavy vehicles accessing the new housing development. She added that gravel was being kicked up onto the pavements. She also complained about mud and silt on roads, and potholes.
Cllr Hannon said: “The whole village is an absolute mess and they [DCC] are doing nothing about it. I am beginning to wonder what we pay council tax for.”
The chairman said the union and England flags that had been put up on the main street were “looking pretty sad”.
Cllr Hannon added: “The flags are hanging by thread. They are no longer flags – they are potential fly-tipping.”
After an inspection of the village the county council’s clean and green manager Jeff Talbot said sweepers were being deployed to the area.
He added: “We are committed to working with our partners and communities across the county to keep our towns and villages looking their best.
“At this time of year, fallen leaves can build up and, with more people working from home, our sweepers struggle to collect those under and around parked cars.
“On hearing of Gainford Parish Council’s concerns, we visited the village and, although we didn’t find many rotting leaves on this occasion, we did find chippings and dirt caused by recent roadworks and a nearby development site. This should have been removed by the developer; however, we arranged for small and large sweepers to cover the area to remove any remaining leaves and debris.
“The A67 was resurfaced last year and while the condition of the surfacing is of the required standard, there has been some chipping loss. This is normal for this type of surfacing in the current weather conditions, but our highways inspectors will continue to monitor the road and consider if repairs are needed.
“Wintry weather conditions also lead to the formation of potholes, and our highways teams are working hard to identify and repair defects across the county. We would encourage residents to report any issues that arise.
“When it comes to flags on streetlight columns, we adopt a risk-based approach and will only remove those that have the potential to harm road users or pedestrians. Having reviewed the flags in Gainford, we have not found any that pose an immediate risk, but we will continue to monitor the situation.”
While not a responsibility of the county council, parish councillors also complained about cars parked on the village green churning up the grass, and incidents of fly-tipping near the former St Peter’s site.
