News-Latest on potential disorder

A heightened police presence was deployed in these locations on Wednesday night, supported by our neighbourhood wardens and buildings and facilities maintenance staff. Police issued dispersal notices to 17 people yesterday and, as was the case with the dispersal order for Durham City on Tuesday night, received no reports of disorder or criminal damage. Our staff remain on standby to support police as and when needed.

Our clean and green teams also remain on standby for any clear-up needed. The teams have responded to concerning reports yesterday of a car being driven into a shop front in Coundon and bins having been set on fire at West Auckland, but thankfully have had no reports of incidents in the rest of the county.

While it was necessary to close some sites early in the areas of the dispersal orders in the interests of people's safety, all our buildings are open as normal as it stands. We expect to be able to operate as 'business as usual' in the coming days and will remain in close dialogue with police about this. We believe it is vitally important to adopt a 'business as usual' approach, as we cannot let the potential actions of a minority disrupt our way of life and the services County Durham residents rely on.

We are also keen to stress that our county is inclusive, and while we know some of our residents may be feeling worried at the moment, we will support our partners in striving to keep people safe and ensuring everyone is aware that they are welcome in County Durham.

We are holding twice daily multi-agency meetings to keep the situation under review including over the weekend and we will provide further updates if and when appropriate.