A PUBLIC meeting will be held next month to gauge support for a permit scheme to cut the number of HGVs travelling through the centre of Barnard Castle.
The proposal – based on a similar system which operates successfully at Kirkby Stephen – has been put forward by the Barnard Castle HGV Action Group.
Under the permit scheme, only those lorries with business in the town would be allowed in.
Others would have to use the A66, Al and A68 to circumvent the town when heading to and from the Bishop Auckland area.
The action group’s proposals were outlined to Barnard Castle town councillors last week.
Group member Ros Evans said while the ideal solution was a new Tees crossing and a relief road around the town, the group felt this was a “long shot”.
She said action was needed now as surveys had shown how HGV traffic through Barnard Castle had doubled between 2013 and 2017.
“Doing nothing is not helping anybody. We need to take some action,” she said.
Cllr Judi Sutherland – who is also a member of the action group – said the Kirkby Stephen scheme had solved its problem with HGV drivers complying with rules which mean they stay on the A66 between Penrith and Brough rather than cutting through on the A685.
“What Kirkby Stephen have managed to do is cut the amount of HGV traffic through the town by 80 per cent.”
She said the idea of a public meeting was to give anyone interested the chance to comment and “see if we can come up with something that suits the majority of people”.
Town councillors agreed that a relief road was some way off – if one was ever to be built at all.
Cllr John Blissett said: “I came to Barnard Castle in 1981 and we have been asking for a relief road since then.”
Cllr George Hallimond said some problems were caused by overseas drivers who did not know their way around the town.
“A lot of them are foreigners and can’t read the signs. They should not be allowed in if they can’t read the signs in the first place.”
Cllr Richard Child said he thought many HGVs came through the town because that was the route plotted on their sat-navs.
Cllr Surtherland suggested if a weight limit was applied to Barnard Castle, sat-navs would take that into account and alter the route.
Cllr Ian Kirkbride said he supported the action group’s arguments, adding that the safety of pedestrians when wagons go round the Market Cross should also be taken into consideration.
“I have been party to incidents where I have had to stand up against the wall of Saks as a HGV turns right.”
Cllr Sutherland added: “I think we should meet with Highways England because the A66 does not have a proper plan if something goes wrong. We want to emphasise to Highways England not to send all this traffic through Barnard Castle while doing all this dualling which is planned.”
Town councillors agreed to support the action group’s call for a relief road to be included in the latest draft of the County Durham Plan.
Members also supported the group’s efforts to lobby for a permit system to ban non-essential HGVs from the town centre.
Details of the date, time and venue of the public meeting will released once arrangements are confirmed.
