RENEWED pleas have been sounded for cables to be buried in a village beset by power cuts.
Bowes is still being powered by generators three weeks after a power line was damaged during recent cold weather. Homes in the village suffered several power cuts lasting more than 16 hours during the early March cold spell. Electricity was restored by four generators brought in at the eleventh hour by Northern Powergrid – but residents have had to endure intermittent cuts to their supplies since.
Farmer and Bowes parish councillor Phil Hughes told colleagues last week he feared the existing electric infrastructure was not enough to power the increasing number of homes due in the village. He said: “It may not be enough to supply new houses and does not appear to be enough now.
“Can we ask the Northern Powergrid about the shortage and what their plans are? And would they include in their plans the promise they made to the parish council 20 years ago to put all the lines in the village underground?”
Bowes parish chairman Cllr Dave Carlisle said he thought Northern Powergrid had done a “pretty good job” given the bad weather. But Cllr Chris Redfern disagreed.
“The electric was off for 15 or 16 hours and it’s been off twice since then,” he added.
Cllr Carlisle said the generators were brought in at the start of March because the lines were not being repaired quick enough.
He revealed he could run the fridge and a number of appliances in his home but couldn’t boil his kettle.
Cllr Carlisle added: “The problem is that the line down crosses the A66 and a road closure order would be required to reset it.
“If they had found it and done it first we would have been back on fully.
“But to be fair some of the weather they worked in when they were working on it was pretty grim and very windy.”
It is believed there are four generators keeping the village lit and councillors thought several farmers were powering their homes with their own machines.
Cllr Hughes said responsibility rested with Northern Powergrid.
He added: “They have got a responsibility to supply so they must have future plans.
“It has expanded by ten per cent already and there is sufficient capacity for another ten per cent and a high percentage of the new houses will have electrical heating.”
A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid confirmed that it has four generators connected to supply parts of Bowes after damage, caused by a road traffic accident on the A66.
The firm added: “We need to replace a pole and the power lines which cross the road. To enable the work to be completed safely we require significant road traffic management to be in place. We’re working with Highways England to agree appropriate management and timescales.
“At the moment we have no plans to underground the power network in that area.”
![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)
