A1 builders make up for HGV re-route woes through Barnard Castle

THE team working on a project to upgrade the A1 motorway has given something back to Barnard Castle after the town had to cope with late-night HGV road diversions during the project.
The Carillion and Morgan Sindall joint venture is working on Highways England’s A1 Leeming to Barton (A1L2B) scheme. It has lent a hand to community group Veg Out Barney – a gardening group that grows free fruit and veg around the town.
Veg Out is also supporting people with dementia by creating a garden for people living with the illness.
The garden at The Hub will offer a place where they can go with their carers and families to relax, reminisce and enjoy the outdoors.
This space not only creates a safe zone to garden, it helps with rehabilitation and therapy while providing a chance for children and people living with dementia to engage and learn from each other. Deerbolt Prison also supports the charity by sowing seeds and producing plants, which helps to rehabilitate the prisoners while providing help with the germination process.
The A1L2B team provided funding for new drainage at the community garden.
Now called The People’s Garden, the area had long suffered from flooding, rendering it unusable due to safety concerns. The A1L2B team also provided Veg Out with raised planters to allow children and the people affected by dementia to be able to sit side by side and plant.
To supply Veg Out with their planters, A1L2B worked with charity Chopsticks, which uses untreated timber to provide adults with learning difficulties and disabilities a workshop to create wood products and kindling.
Dr Ann Barmby, from Veg Out, said: “The A1 Leeming to Barton project team has changed our community group dramatically. Our community garden had suffered terribly from flooding – we had even closed the garden off to ensure people’s safety, but the A1L2B changed that.
“They have created an area with fantastic drainage that everyone can use.
“They went above and beyond our expectations by also providing us with tree felling, recycled bird boxes and tentage planters – from another local charity that use recycled wood, that they have kindly connected us with – to create more space for us to plant at a height that is suitable for wheelchair users.”