Traffic plan ‘might make things worse’, Teesdale Mercury

Traffic plan ‘might make things worse’

Feb 26, 2003

THERE is growing concern in Barnard Castle that if a draft report into managing the town’s traffic is ever implemented, it could make matters worse, a straw poll by the Mercury has found.

Some see the report, published last week, as a curate’s egg – good in parts but decidedly off in others. Others have wrung their hands in disbelief, and some doubt if anything will ever come of it.

Similar concern was voiced by councillors at Middleton-in-Teesdale, which also features in the report (see page 7).

Barnard Castle mayor, Coun Margaret Hamilton, was on Tuesday night hosting a special meeting of the town council, called at short notice to thrash out their views – with just two days to go of the public consultation period, which ends at noon this Thursday.

“Whilst it is pleasing, at long last, to have something on the table in respect of such important matters for Barnard Castle, at first sight it is regrettable that the report is wide of the mark on some of the key issues, does not fully address a number of the major concerns of the town’s residents, and lacks both local knowledge and an overall integrated approach,” said Coun Hamilton. “It is also disappointing that the extremely short consultation period allows little time for considered thinking.”

Ken Coates represents Barnard Castle East on Teesdale Council, and doubts the £25,000 report is value for money. “Teesdale Council has talked about parking as long as I have been a councillor, 24 years, and not much of an improvement has taken place,” he said. “In fact, since there is no traffic warden, it has become worse. I have tried to introduce resident street parking, a new car park, greater police involvement and a new traffic warden, to no avail. All this report is telling us, at great expense to the ratepayers, is what we already know. I hope I am proved wrong.”

The report was unveiled last Monday to members of the Market Towns Partnership and Barnard Castle traffic mini-package group, none of whom had prior knowledge of its contents, said Coun John Watson. The three Barnard Castle members on the Market Towns Partnership – himself, Coun Eric Fell and Coun David Blackie, are equally aghast.

Coun Watson felt members were given a fait accompli. The disc parking idea was encouraging but the rest of the report had a number of complications. The impact of the bigger Safeway supermarket development was not explored, leaving the pay and display car park as multi-use between supermarket shoppers, visitors to the town and council employees. The town council opposed parking at Smith’s Grove Works and no environmental impact study was proposed. Charging at the free car park might shift drivers on to the streets; if it went ahead all proceeds should be invested in local traffic management “and must not be a general fund-raiser for Teesdale Council as the other car park has become,” he said.

More parking at the Demesnes was a non-starter; it was a protected green area. Town centre residents might be exempt from disc parking but their streets would still be chock-a-block with other people’s cars.

There was no mention of one-way systems for Queen St, Birch Road and Victoria Road; no detail about traffic calming in Harmire Road nor Galgate; park and ride was mooted but much more detail was needed, and the report didn’t cover improvements for pedestrians (who were crucial to the well-being of the town as a shopping centre), apart from dropped kerbs. The one plus was the town council and Middleton parish council had places on the steering group working towards a final report.

Coun David Blackie said: “Having read the report in depth, I am dismayed at the apparent lack of vision and lateral thought which it contained. It does not address the real needs, fears and expectations of the people of Barnard Castle. For example, it states there is only a “perceived” HGV problem in Barnard Castle. What of the very real damage and danger in the vicinity of both the Market Cross and County Bridge, which has been evident over the last few years?”

Coun Eric Fell, who could not be at Tuesday’s special meeting, commented: “My initial observations are that whilst there are some good things in the report, it is fundamentally flawed.” It didn’t deal sufficiently with on and off-street parking; tackling on-street parking in isolation would simply shift the cars elsewhere. There was a false assumption that the parking charges in the car park were correct, “which is not what people using the car park tell me,” he said. Traffic flow needed to be considered, especially at Ware Street, George Street and Hall Street, which could have potential for one-way. “I do not feel that the whole of the report is flawed but in essence they have failed to address the fundamental problem of the terrific shortage of off street car parking,” he said.