Update on road maintenance and pavement issues on Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery.

Durham County Council Response

Dear Grahame

Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery

Thank you for your correspondence dated 29^th January 2024 which Alan Patrickson, Corporate Director – Neighbourhoods and Climate Change, has asked me to respond to.

Highway Safety Inspection Regime

The Council is committed to ensuring that the adopted highway is maintained in a safe condition as far as reasonably practicable. All adopted roads and footpaths in County Durham are inspected by our team of Highway Inspectors at a frequency appropriate to their usage. Defects are assessed against intervention criteria set out in our Highway Safety Inspection Manual and reactive repairs are undertaken to those defects which exceed the intervention criteria in accordance with the response times set out in our Highway Maintenance Plan which is available on our website at the following link:

http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/2378/Road-maintenance

Our Highway Safety Inspection Manual and Highway Maintenance Plan are aligned with the national code of practice.

The footway at Seaside Lane is inspected on a monthly frequency and the last inspection was completed on 9^th January 2024 which identified 1 actionable safety defect which has been repaired.   The next inspection is due on 6^th February 2024.

We will continue to undertake monthly safety inspections and repair any defects as necessary to keep the area safe.

The original paving stones and their replacements have been repeatedly damaged by a combination of vehicular overrun and heavy plant traffic used to demolish the old school.

The work carried out recently to replace the paving stones with tarmac is a temporary measure to remove hazardous trips until such time a permanent repair can be undertaken.

We also rely on reports from the public to identify highway defects that may arise in between scheduled safety inspections. These should be reported to our Customer Services team by one of the following routes:

• Website: https://doitonline.durham.gov.uk/
• Telephone: 03000 260000

Yours sincerely

Mark Readman

Head of Highways

Actions

I have written to the Council seeking three updates.

1.) Outcome of Highways Inspection due on 6th February

2.) When will the temporary ‘repair’ be replaced, and what materials will be used to replace the path

3) Update on the empty Former School Site