QUESTIONS have been raised as to why senior officers at Durham Police have entered the debate over the future of green space outside the former station, in Bede Kirk, Barnard Castle.
The force is hoping to sell both the station building and adjacent area for housing development, while Barnard Castle Town Council is leading a campaign to protect the space as a designated green.
The tactics of the police came under scrutiny at this month’s town council meeting after firstly chief constable Mike Barton warned residents it was a choice between “cops or a copse” if he did not get his way and then assistant chief officer Gary Ridley accused those campaigning for the green of “appearing to be nimbies” .
At this month’s town council meeting, Cllr Richard Child said he was surprised by the police officers’ comments on the issue, adding that they were “ill-advised” .
He also questioned why serving officers had waded into the debate.
“If anybody was going to do that, it would be the police and crime commissioner, not police officers,” he said.
Mayor Cllr Sandra Moorhouse added: “It has not been handled well by the police.”
A decision on whether to designate Bede Kirk as a town green was put on hold by Durham County Council’s highways committee after further evidence of its use as a leisure area was submitted by the town council the day before the meeting.
A decision will now be made on Friday, May 11. In the meantime the highways committee said no more evidence could be submitted.
Cllr Moorhouse said attempts were being made for the May 11 meeting to be held in Barnard Castle and for members of the highways committee to visit Bede Kirk.
“It would be a really good idea for them to see the site. A lot of them had no idea of what it is like at all,” she said.
![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)
