LARGE lorries may be banned from travelling through a dale village that has been campaigning for a bypass for the past three decades.
Durham County Council is considering imposing a weight limit in Toft Hill following a heated public meeting in the village on Thursday, April 19, when villagers accused county council transport boss Adrian White of having a defeatist attitude.
The meeting was called by Etherley Parish Council following months of frustration, and it seemed to be off to a bad start with Mr White saying he was not bringing good news and there was no “bag of money” for a bypass.
Several people marched out of the meeting in reaction.
He explained that while funding streams were available, Toft Hill did not meet the criteria. He said: “There are pots of money around. This government is investing in roads, but there is nothing that I can see that we can go for for Toft Hill.”
Mr White said government criteria mean there must be a major economic benefit to a scheme or a certain number of fatal or serious accidents must have happened.
“While cash had been made available for the country’s most dangerous roads, only the A67 through Barnard Castle had received cash because there had been a fatality and several serious collisions,” he added.
The transport chief added that only one accident had been recorded in Toft Hill over the past three years and it had resulted in only minor injury.
He said: “We have written to the Department of Transport saying we don’t think your criteria is fair to rural counties. We believe that it is inherently biased towards urban areas and areas of high population.”
A villager whose home was severely damaged when a van crashed into it in December 2016 asked Mr White if he had seen photographs showing the aftermath.
He said: “My house was near enough demolished. And it was only because my wife hit the snooze button that she wasn’t stood in the middle of that window at the time that went through.
“So does that not count on your score? Probably not, it is a minor accident isn’t it?
“Please give us a hand, fight our corner, that’s all we ask. We will go down with a fighting chance, but at least we tried. Someone in Barney died, my wife didn’t die, thank God for that, I would rather have it that than the other way. It is people like yourself – just saying that presentation that you said just there – you are defeated before we have started. That’s not the attitude.”
Calls were made for Teesdale MP Helen Goodman and transport minister Jo Johnson to attend a public gathering in Toft Hill. Mr White said: “As a response to that, I am quite happy to write to the Department of Transport and ask the transport minister if he would like to come up and speak. I don’t know what response we will get – it is unlikely.”
He told last week’s meeting that traffic would be redirected around the village while resurfacing of the A68 takes place later in the year, leading people to ask why this could not be made a permanent arrangement.
Mr White replied: “We can put a weight limit through the village. I am going to take it away and I am going to look at it and see if we can get the minister here in the meantime.” H said he would report back to people within six months about the potential of having a weight restriction.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
