Police promise probe into upper dale speeding complaints

POLICE have vowed to look into speeding in the upper dale following complaints.
Parish councillors from Newbiggin, Middleton-in-Teesdale and Eggleston are worried about the risk to lives because of dangerous driving and are calling for speed limits in the villages to be reduced. Following a meeting with the south Durham neighbourhood operations manager, Chief Insp Stephen Ball, a promise has been made to look into the problem.
Cllr John Boocock said commercial vehicles were mostly to blame for speeding at the entrance to Middleton from Eggleston.
He added: “It is not just people coming into the village down the hill, it’s whoever thinks they are going to have to get some kind of speed up to go up the hill.”
He asked that police have a presence at the spot, adding that although there have not been any incidents in recent times, it doesn’t mean there won’t be soon.
“It is particularly the way they approach the hill going up,” he said. “In the main it is commercial vehicles and that means usually it is someone who has been delivering things here or alternatively someone who is passing through. The speed people come around the corner, it is just something waiting to happen.”
Cllr Wendy Greenfield, who represents both Eggleston and Middleton parish councils, added that large vehicles speeding on the narrow lanes between the two villages were a constant danger.
Despite persistent requests for a reduced speed limit in Newbiggin, councillors said they had been “fobbed off”.
Responding to the complaints, the chief inspector said: “I will see what we can do with our traffic management department to see what we can do to measure the issue and look at what reasonable approaches we can do in terms of community speed watch. If it is challenging the speed limit, absolutely fine once we have gone down that route.” He added that while Teesdale had two “fantastic” community speedwatch volunteers, more people were needed to take part.