In this week’s Mercury…
Plans have been submitted for 57 properties on the former St Peter’s School site in Gainford
A £1,000 is being offered to help catch the culprits who slaughtered geese at a dale animal centre
It may have rained overnight, but that has done little to dampen farmers’ fears of the challenges they face following the prolonged dry spell
We’ve three pages of pictures from last weekend’s Staindrop Carnival
Barnard Castle Town Council is looking at ways it can help cut the amount of plastic waste around the area
Find out what our reporter thought of Macbeth – this year’s Castle Players production
We report on the success of the dale’s farmers at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show
In sport, there was a blow for Raby Castle CC’s title hopes, plus a shake-up in the Sunday morning football league as the new season approaches. There’s also sailing, golf, martial arts, athletics, bowls and ladies rugby as well as all the usual tables and results
Plus… jobs and business, family notices, readers’ letters and the dale’s most extensive what’s on guide.
All this and more in this week’s Mercury
![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)
