A WATER utility company has denied a faulty drain is to blame for foul water leaking onto Cockfield Fell.
Some residents think the seepage might contain sewage.
Esperley’s John Hartley, who walks his dog Alfie alongside the fell every day as he makes his way to the newsagent at Cockfield, said the problem had been ongoing since Northumbrian Water installed the drain a few years ago.
The drain runs parallel to the Cockfield to Evenwood road, with the leakages happening close to the Esperley Lane junction.
Mr Hartley said: “It just keeps getting worse and worse. The dog has run into it a few times, it absolutely stinks.”
The 68-year-old added: “It leaks all the time. I have rung the water board and they say it isn’t their fault.
“They deny it, but I can’t see how they can. They said they had a camera down. I said they didn’t need a camera, I can show them where it is leaking.”
Stock on the fell have trod through the muck prompting one unknown person to install fencing to steer cattle away.
A spokesperson for Northumbrian Water confirmed the company is aware of the leak but an investigation had found no sewage present.
He said: “We have used a camera to determine the cause and it appears to be coming from a highways gully on the adjacent road.”
He added that the information had been passed on to Durham County Council to investigate further.
![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)
