Barnard Castle Market Cross repairs to be carried out

REPAIRS are to be carried out to Barnard Castle’s battered Market Cross this weekend.

The iconic structure has suffered repeated damage as a result of HGVs being diverted through the town – mainly at night – during the A1 upgrade.

Durham County Council has organised a day of maintenance to the Market Cross roof on Sunday, January 28.

Three-way traffic lights will be in force at the junction of Newgate, The Bank and Market Place.

The repairs are the first phase of work to safeguard the Market Cross and which are due to be completed by summer 2019.

Paul Burr, Durham County Council’s buildings and facilities maintenance manager, said: “We have planned work to repair damaged roof slates, replace stone tiles and renew a section of the copper gutter.

“We are carrying out this work to repair damage caused to the building in recent months by high-sided vehicles and will do our best to minimise disruption for motorists and pedestrians while it is taking place.

“We would ask all drivers of high-sided vehicles to exercise great care when passing this important structure, to minimise further damage.”

The repairs come in the wake of a £10,000 specialist structural survey into the state of the building which was carried out in February last year.

The study, which was funded by Teesdale Action Partnership, found that “immediate” repairs costing £13,100 were needed and that a further £57,200 would need to be spent in the longer term bringing the building back up to scratch.

Durham County Council has pledged to fund the repairs, which it hopes will be completed by next summer.

However, since the structural survey was carried

out, there has been more damage to the Market

Cross, most recently last November when another HGV bumped into it – despite new road markings and changes to the paving layout which force trucks to take a wider curve.

Meanwhile, members of the Barnard Castle HGV Action group were due to meet representatives of the county council’s highways department this week.

They are hoping to discuss the results of a traffic survey in the town centre carried out last October.