A KIND-HEARTED parish clerk is helping his village “go green” by offering neighbours a lift.
Barningham’s Robin Brooks offering his spare seats to passengers heading in the same direction to try to make a difference to congestion in Barnard Castle.
He aired the idea at Barningham Parish Meeting last month and hoped a few other villagers might pick up on the car-sharing spirit too.
Mr Brooks said: “I see it primarily as a local initiative in Barningham – a lot of people go individually to town, Richmond or the Memorial Hospital, in Darlington.
“If other people going to the same place it makes sense and it’s greener to try to share transport.”
Although only in its early stages, Mr Brooks said he’d offer dale folk a hand if half a dozen villagers showed some interest. The former planning inspector has lived in Barningham for 25 years and has noticed how people had changed their approach to taking the car out.
“People sort of take their cars out on spur of the moment,” he said. “Maybe this will revive the art of conversation – who knows?”
His lift plan was given a fairly good reception at Barningham’s annual meeting. Mr Brooks said: “I was asked the perfectly reasonable question of ‘how would it work?’ – I suggested it might be done through the village website or through Facebook. I don’t know how it will go but everyone seemed to think it had some mileage in it.”
The 69-year-old was also keen not to tread on the toes of the village bus service which he said did a “very valuable” and “much appreciated” job in Barningham.
Complaints about the state of roads in the village were also aired at the annual parish meeting and it was thought keeping one or two cars on driveways could help ease the strain on the winter-beaten roads slightly. He added: “I think it might take some cars off the road if we double up on transport.
“I know there are schemes like this in other areas – the next step is probably to do some research on them.”
To find out more, or register an interest in the car share idea, send a message to parish chairman Jon Smith at jonxxsmith@gmail.com.
