A Parish Council notice board has recently been installed adjacent to the pit wheel at the northern entrance to the village.  Look out for news items and matters of community interest.

Working with the Parish Council and colleagues at Durham County Council the Police our County Councillor, Councillor John Higgins, has introduced measures to help tackle anti-social behaviour on the former pit heaps at the rear of the North Road West Allotment Site.  The measures include installing a gate on the path/road at the rear of the former bookmakers on North Road West which will be locked.  There will be pedestrian access from the path/road but vehicles will only be able to gain access by opening the gate which will be locked at all other times.  Any allotment tenants on the North Road West site who require access to their allotment by passing through the gate will be given a key and they will be responsible for opening and locking it accordingly.

In addition to the gate, boulders have also been installed to help limit access to the former pit heaps area.  The works recently undertaken are seen by County Councillor Higgins as phase 1 of a number of potential other phases aimed at dealing with problems in that area.

Shotton Colts under 13s football have recently started using the park football facilities.  Their first game at their new facilities ended in a 3-3 draw against a high flying and unbeaten Consett team.  The Consett team manager described the pitch ‘the best in the league, a hidden gen and better than Wembley’.  The Shotton Colts manager described his team’s performance as ‘as good as they have played’ and put it down to the ‘quality of the pitch’.

A big thank you goes to our Park Keeper Lee Mason and his assistant, Nigel Wood.  Well done and keep up the great work!