Hitting the headlines this week:
A charity which has helped thousands of elderly and disabled people across the dale for more than 20 years is being wound up
Cockfield Parish Council may have to write off almost £5,000 it paid for work which was never carried out
Whorlton Parish Council faces a large bill after abandoning a legal battle with the owners of the village pub
A newly-opened artisan hub in Barnard Castle has seen a huge demand for space from local artists and makers
The use of Barnard Castle’s Richardson Hospital as a Covid-19 vaccine centre has raised its profile, according to the friends group
Post Office services at Gainford Village Hall are here to stay after a trial run exceeded expectations
MP Dehenna Davison is being asked to help solve the long-running saga of the dilapidated St Peter’s site, in Gainford
In sport, there’s a full cricket round-up plus details of how to get on the water with Teesdale Sailing and Watersports Club
Plus… Bob Garton’s weekly brainteasers; four pages of farming and rural news; another fascinating look behind the scenes at The Bowes Museum with Dorothy Blundell; Ed Cole tackles the Q&A feature; all your letters; family announcements and more
All in this week’s Mercury, out now in the shops and available in digiutal format
![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)
