VEHICLE charging points in Barnard Castle’s main pay and display Galgate car park are out of action again to allow more upgrade works to be carried out.
The scheme, to disconnect the original power supply to the two ECV points, installed by Durham County Council, is being carried out by Northern Powergrid and is expected to take about 12 days to complete.
A temporary closure of King’s Yard, which links King Street to the car park, is in operation.
A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said the works are part of a planned upgrade.
He added: “As part of the planned upgrade works on Kings Yard we needed to disconnect the original power supply.
“This is to allow the existing kiosk to be removed by the customer, and replaced with a larger kiosk capable of housing the new supply.
“We can confirm, that to safely perform the upgrade works, which involves excavating, locating and jointing new cable, there is not enough space to have the two kiosks in operation side-by-side.
“We aimed to complete the upgrade and energise the new supply on Monday, July 31. It will then be ready for the customers’ meter to be installed.
“Currently, we’re unable to confirm a date when the new supply will be in operation for the public, due to the planned meter installation.”
Alternative charging points for electric cars are in the Queen Street car park and at Teesdale Leisure Centre will still be in operation.
![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)
