TOWN councillors are hoping a £10,000 revamp of the mini-golf course will attract even more visitors.
The services committee agreed that proposals for a refresh should include a lucky hole at the end of the game. Players would hit the ball up a ramp into the shed before it drops down an arcade-style wall and into a “winner” or “loser” pocket.
This will “add excitement, give opportunities to win freebies and ensure the ball is not taken by the players” .
Other changes include “extra decor” on the Egglestone Abbey, Witham and bridge holes. The total cost would be between £9,240 to £10,800 and the work carried out by Urban Crazy, which installed the course in 2014.
Town clerk Martin Clark said the mini-golf course paid for itself with profits being ploughed back into maintenance, staff and improvements.
In a review of the 2021 season, the town council reported the course had seen the highest average number of daily visitors since it was built – 78. This beat the previous high of 58 in 2014.
The season started on July 17 – later than usual due to Covid-19.
Overall rounds were recorded at 5,323. This was still higher than in 2018 and 2019 but not previous years.
The town council’s report said: “The usage of the course is dependent on the weather. For 2021, there were 68 operating days. The course did not experience any particular bad weather days and there was a mix up of attendants shifts on two occasions with a closure for one half-shift.”
The course made a profit of £6,788, excluding VAT. This was the highest since 2014.
Suggestions from town councillors in June that the authority considers outsourcing the mini-golf course have not been discussed since and were not included in the report.
![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)
