AN army of volunteers have turned an overgrown public space in Barnard Castle into a welcoming place for people to relax and children to play.
The open area at Bede Kirk became overgrown when police abandoned their nearby station to move to a new 999 centre in Wilson Street.
The plan had been to sell the station and the surrounding grounds for housing, but Barnard Castle Town Council and campaigners were successful in getting Durham County Council to have the open space declared a green.
Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg has since promised to gift the land to the people of the town.
The band of volunteers, under the guidance of Cllr Roger Peat, descended on the area on Tuesday, July 24, to cut back the overgrown green.
Sophie Ebling, who lives nearby and campaigned for village green status, was among those who helped clean up.
She said: “This is sort of like making hay in the old days and it is all so green. I think it was protected [from the heat] because it was so long. We sewed some wildflower seeds and although it was so hot we were amazed to see how they grew.”
She said people were now thinking of ideas about how best to use the land.
One idea is to turn the slopes into a hay meadow.
She added: “The rest could be mowed as usual and we could have some benches and make it more user friendly. The view is fantastic.”
Her partner, David Stacey, said the green and its trees were hugely important to the area. He added: “I think each mature tree cancels out 276 cars. It makes a huge difference to such a busy road.
“You need open spaces where children can play and older people can sit and chat. This is a spiritual place, where you can sit and contemplate the world. If it is all houses there is no place to sit down. It would be a sad place.”
Cllr Peat said the work had gone quicker than anticipated.
He added that after the volunteers’ work was done it would be up to town council contractors to keep the grass mowed and maintained under licence from the police until the land is transferred.
