In this week’s Mercury.
A dale headteacher has outlined the difficulites faced in keeping his school open during the Covid-19 alert
Well-wishers contributed to an online appeal to buy a new mitre saw for retired joiner Ken Jordan, whose bird boxes are raising cash for a cancer charity
Crime has fallen due to the “Covid factor”, according to the dale’s police inspector
Updated proposals for the dualling of the A66 have been published
A vitural high street, created to help Barnard castle businesses affected by the latest lockdown, has proved popular
Volunteers in West Auckland have been hailed for their efforts in sprucing up the village
TV antiques expert David Harper says he is ready for a new challenge after calling time on Bargain Hunt after 15 years
We’ve had a look around the revamped and expanded Mainsgill farm shop
The dale’s former arts officer Rosie Cross takes part in this week’s Q&A feature
Included with this week’s paper is a useful wallplanner for 2021
Plus… Bob Garton’s weekly quiz; Remember When imagines what might happen if Norman Cornish met John Bowes over a pint; in farming we report on bumper prices for Mule sheep breeders plus Richard Warren introduces us to another fascinating plant; family notices, motors, sales and classified ads… only in this week’s Mercury, out in the shops now..
![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)
