AFTER months of wrangling, county council officers have agreed a major footpath along a busy road is overgrown and is potentially dangerous for pedestrians to use.
But they stopped short of saying the route along the A688 between Staindrop and the entrance to Raby Castle is unsafe.
Staindrop Parish Council members maintain it is dangerous and say not doing something about it flies in the face of the county council’s commitment to promoting cycling and walking.
Parish councillors and highways officers jointly inspected the footpath last week, after which strategic highways manager for the county Paul Watson said the surface is in good nick.
He added: “We identified areas where there was vegetation encroachment and we will be reporting back to the parish council on this. A number of traffic related issues were also discussed, which we will be looking to review.”
Parish councillors discussed the situation when they met the day after the inspection.
Chairman Cllr Ian Royston told members that a number of people had met the officers at the village tea shop to express their concerns but declined to join the inspection out of fear for their safety.
Of the inspection he said: “At two or three points I noted that more than half the width was overgrown, so less than half was available. I pointed out that various cars were actually going over the central double white line to give the pedestrians a wider berth.”
Cllr Jonothan Raper added: “We also had a discussion about bus stops which they did laugh at – the one at the other side of the road where you are virtually in a ditch when you stand [waiting]. Crossing that road, they agreed, was dangerous at that point.”
Cllr Dilys Caygill said her husband, who coaches at Raby Castle Cricket Club, had twice cycled up to the castle but would no longer do so.
She added: “He said, ‘if I go over a twig, or a nut, and I go off that bike, I’ll fall on the road and I will, at best, be hit by a car, at worst, hit by an articulated vehicle’.
“I did point out to the [county officer] I like to come up here to meet with friends from Durham, but I get into my gas-guzzling car to come the mile up here. It doesn’t really fit with our green agenda for Durham.”
Cllr Raper said that while he thought the officers “got it” he did not think much more than cutting back vegetation would be done.
In an ironic twist, only hours after the inspection took place, parish clerk Judith Mashiter said she received an email from a county traffic chief saying that an on-site meeting was unnecessary as there was nothing wrong with the route.
The clerk said the anomaly came about because she had written to both Durham’s traffic manager Dave Wafer and cabinet member for highways Cllr John Shuttleworth, requesting a site meeting.
While Cllr Shuttleworth agreed and organised the inspection, Mr Wafer had responded there wasn’t a problem, nothing could be done and “given the above I am not convinced a site meeting will be of benefit”.
Ms Mashiter added that a problem exists when three different county council departments are involved – traffic, highways and the clean and green team. The parish council agreed to continue to pursue the matter though Cllr Shuttleworth because “he seemed to do something, he sent out a letter and two people jumped”.
