MP calls for 20mph limit through Toft Hill

TEESDALE’S MP, Helen Goodman, has joined a growing chorus calling for a 20mph speed limit to be imposed on the A68 through Toft Hill.
People also want a bypass around the village after a van crashed into a home on the highway in December last year. Toft Hill Primary School has twice been left off a list of schools earmarked for the lower speed limit.
Etherley Parish Council is now in a row with Durham County Council and the MP over who is doing enough to improve road safety.
This is after Mrs Goodman wrote to the parish council wondering why they had not asked for a bypass to be included in the County Durham Plan. The MP, who had been contacted by the family whose home was damaged by the van, also wrote to the county council wanting answers. The county council responded to Mrs Goodman with a list of measures it claimed to have taken.
But parish councillors, who discussed the issue in a meeting in January, say the county is taking credit for work they have done.
This includes the formation of a community speedwatch group and the installation of  speed warning signs.
Parish clerk Alison Overfield said: “We have had meeting after meeting, and in the last one we had with Durham County Council we were told the bypass had been elevated to a major scheme from a minor scheme. The scheme has been priced so why didn’t they include it as a matter of course in their plan?
“Now very conveniently, it is the parish council that
hasn’t put the A68 bypass in the Durham Plan.”
Parish chairman Cllr Paul Ryman added: “The last meeting we had with the upper echelons of highways people, we were number three from the top of the list on the minor schemes list. So it went from a minor scheme to a major scheme, and then we were number 19 on the major schemes list.”
Cllr Peter Ray said the bypass became even less of a priority when the A68 was downgraded from a trunk road to an A road.
For its part, the county council says it takes road safety in the village seriously. Head of technical services John Reed said: “We are committed to working with partners to improve road safety wherever possible.
“We were contacted by MP Helen Goodman on behalf of her constituents and updated her on work we have done and are continuing to do with partners including Durham Constabulary, Etherley Parish Council and Toft Hill Primary School to improve road safety in the area. We are grateful for the contributions made in this important area by the parish council.”
Parish councillors are now asking for a new meeting with highways bosses.
Their upset with Teesdale’s MP, however, relates to a meeting they had with her about five years ago.
Ms Overfield said: “She was very supportive of the parish council and pledged to take our concerns to the local authority. To date we have not received any feedback whatsoever despite asking time and time again for a response. This, as you can imagine, it is very disappointing.”
The MP says she was in touch with Durham County Council about the issues.
She said: “Traffic in Toft Hill is a serious problem. I met with Etherley Parish Council five years ago and followed up with Durham County Council in exactly the way I promised to do. I have kept in touch with Etherley Parish Council, recently consulting them over the correspondence I have had with the Department for Transport following the horrendous crash.
“I have asked Etherley Parish Council for their input before I write to the North East LEP and North East Combined Authority.
“To set this in context, the current Government is spending £2,000 on transport investment in the south for every £5 they spend in the north. In the meantime I hope that Durham County Council and the police will reconsider the need for a 20mph speed limit through Toft Hill.”