Your Community Gets a Voice — Introducing Our Local Issues Board
Something important just went live on the Darras Index, and we want every resident across in our local area to know about it.
You can now go to darrasindex.co.uk and post an issue to tell us what needs fixing where you live.
WHAT IS IT?
The Local Issues Board is a place where you — the people who actually live in Ponteland, Darras Hall, Medburn, Kirkley, Blagdon, Dalton and the surrounding villages — can flag the things that are bothering you. A pothole that's been there for months. A broken footpath. Poor street lighting. A safety concern at the school crossing. Whatever it is, if it affects life in the area, it belongs here. Oh and its all anonymous so no fear of speaking out.
Here's how it works:
1. Raise an issue — visit darrasindex.co.uk/issues and click "Raise an issue." Tell us what the problem is and where it is. It takes less than two minutes.
2. Vote for what matters most — once an issue is on the board, your neighbours can vote for it too. The more votes an issue gets, the louder the signal that it needs attention.
3. We escalate to your councillors, GP surgeries, environment agency, Northumbrian water etc, — the top issues get sent directly to the relevant bodies on your behalf. You shouldn't have to navigate bureaucracy to be heard. We do that bit for you.
4. See the response, publicly — when representatives reply, we publish their response right there on the board. No closed doors. If they take a while to come back to us, we say so. Transparency matters.
WHY DID WE BUILD THIS?
Because residents have been telling us — in person, online, and through our contact form — that they have genuine concerns but don't always know who to tell, or whether anyone is listening.
Darras Index was built to serve the whole local community. Businesses, residents, and local life across the entire postcode. A local issues board was always part of that vision and now it's real.
BUILT IN A WEEK — DESPITE EVERYTHING
Here's something we're proud of, and we think you should know.
This feature went from idea to live in under a week. That might not sound impressive until you hear the circumstances.
Our developer — the person who designed and built the system for our community — did almost all of it whilst in between taking well deserved time out on a weekend on a family camping trip at the beach. We hope this wasnt in between building sandcastles.
And our legal person, who reviewed everything to make sure what we collect and publish is done properly, had her wisdom teeth out during that same week.
They both showed up anyway. That's the kind of team behind this platform — people who genuinely care about what we're building for this community.
WE LISTEN — AND WE MOVE FAST
One of the things we committed to when we launched Darras Index is that we'd respond to what the community actually needs, not what we assume it needs.
This issues board didn't come from a strategy document. It came from listening to you. When we saw a real gap — somewhere for residents to raise concerns, have them taken seriously, and see what happens next — we built it. Fast.
COME AND FIND US THIS SATURDAY
If you'd like to ask questions, give us feedback, or just say hello, we'd love to meet you in person.
We'll be at Broadway on Saturday from 10am to 12pm — then moving to Merton Way from 12pm to 2pm. Just give us a minute to move between the two locations.
Come and have a chat. Tell us what's working, what isn't, and what you'd like to see next. Forecast says its 22 degrees so no rainy day excuses. That's exactly how the issues board came to exist in the first place.
In the meantime, head to darrasindex.co.uk/issues and raise the things that matter to you.
Your community deserves to be heard.
— The Darras Index Team