AN upper dale village’s high altitude and late blooming spring bulbs may give it the edge in an environmental competition.
Middleton-in-Teesdale enjoyed success in the annual Northumbria-in-Bloom competition last year by winning gold, despite suffering in the spring judging because of late snowfalls.
However, this year conditions have been ideal and the spring bulbs were in full bloom when three judges rolled into the village last week.
And they were impressed.
Judge Sue Featherstone said: “It is fantastic and very pretty. The spring flowers are gorgeous.
“When I first drove in the daffs were incredible.”
In the week running up to the judging a litter-pick, which included members of the parish council, the local women’s institute and Middleton-in-Bloom organisers, was arranged to ensure the village was at its tidiest.
During the judging, organisers explained what had been done throughout the year, including planting additional daffodils on the village green and new areas that had been improved. They also explained their recycling habits.
A significant recent development had been the Friends of Middleton-in-Primary School group which had organised a “ground force” day to improve the school gardens.
Pam Phillips, of Middleton-in-Bloom, said: “We are going to try to help them with that.”
Following on from the spring judging, organisers will be back again for the summer judging later in the year.
![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)
