Parish councillors in Gainford voted unanimously to oppose plans by Raby Estates to build 79 homes in the village
Discover how the dale embraced a further easing of Covid-19 restrictions with the opening of hair salons, pubs and leisure/tourism businesses
The Bowes Museum hopes to reopen next month – but officials warn it’s not an easy process
A group of volunteers in Barningham have received a grant of £38,400 to look options for renewable energy in the village
Walkers trekked a combined 1,300 miles in an ongoing bid to raise money in memory of little Maia Baum
The Milbank estate hopes to tap into the UK ‘staycation’ market
Barnard Castle’s arts centre will remain closed due to the government veto on live entertainment
Farmers across the dale are being urged to have their say on new agricultural legislation
We catch up with Peter Dixon – the dale’s comedy Mr Fixit
Dale MP Dehenna Davison looks back on a busy six months since she was elected
We’ve another look at locked down life for the dale’s younger folk with the Quaranteens
In sport, there’s good news for sharp shooters with the reopening of Teesdale Gun Club and also for Middleton-in-Teesdale’s footballers, who have bagged a new sponsor
Plus… all your letters, family notices, announcements, motors, Bob Garton’s fun quiz and much more… all in this week’s Mercury
![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)
