HIGHWAYS officials have been condemned for refusing to meet campaigners in Barnard Castle to discuss traffic chaos in the town.
Representatives from the HGV Action group raised a number of concerns with Barnard Castle Town Council which were then brought to the attention of the county officers responsible.
The HGV group highlighted the significant increase in traffic since the construction of hundreds of houses in Startforth and called for the position of traffic lights on the north side of Abbey Bridge to be altered. The group also reiterated its call for a ban on HGVs travelling through the town and said details of vehicles illegally crossing the County Bridge should be made public. The HGV group also wished to discuss ongoing damage to the Market Cross and the possibility of delivery slots for town centre businesses.
However, highways officials said there had not been any significant changes to traffic volumes in the town and there was nothing new to discuss that would warrant a meeting.
The response from County Hall was described as “very dismissive in every respect” by Ros Evans, a member of the HGV Action group.
Former town and district councillor John Watson, now an honorary freeman of Barnard Castle, went further describing Durham County Council’s attitude as “woeful” .
Mr Watson had separately raised a number of concerns relating to traffic issues and called on the town council to convene a meeting with senior county councillors and highways officials to come up with an action plan.
Matters came to a head at the September town council meeting. Addressing the meeting, Mr Watson said: “It is essential we are not swept aside by the responses from Durham County Council’s highways department.
“Their attitude is woeful and a departure from how they have worked in the past. They have chosen to stay aloof from Barnard Castle affairs.”
Mr Watson pointed to congestion at the Harmire Road junction with the A67 and called for parking permits for town centre residents who were “under siege” .
He said: “Increasing instances of tailbacks of traffic through the town are occurring.
“Parked vehicles stretch from end-to-end of the town and into residential streets adjacent to its centre.
“The town centre is pedestrian unfriendly, especially for elderly people, those with disabilities and people with pushchairs and prams.”
Mr Watson added: “Pedestrians using the basic refuges in the centre of the road often experience lengthy waits before a considerate driver stops to allow completion of the crossing. Breaches of traffic orders are commonplace under an embedded offending with impunity culture.”
The meeting was told that unless Highways England was convinced to alter its plans for dualling the A66, the situation would become even worse, with more traffic funnelled through Starforth and across the County Bridge.
The meeting was told that in the worst instances this summer, it was taking as long as 45 minutes to get from one end of the town to the other.
Clerk Martin Clark said the town council was committed to getting all interested parties together to discuss the traffic situation.
But he added: “Durham County Council does not feel there is a need for a meeting.”
Mayor Cllr Rima Chatterjee described it as “a difficult process” .
