Town council presses on with take-over of Barnard Castle beauty spots

TOWN councillors are pressing ahead with plans to take over a number of Barnard Castle’s green areas after a broadly positive response from residents.
Two consultation events were organised by the town council, which is seeking the transfer of areas such as the Demesnes, Scar Top, Galgate Greens, the grassed areas on Bridgegate and Amen Corner from Durham County Council. In all, 29 responses were received and while there was unanimity in the importance of the areas to the town, not everyone was in favour of the town council levying extra tax to pay for their upkeep, pointing out that residents would be charged extra for something already paid for through their council tax.
Asked how they would like to see the green areas managed, should the town council take over, ideas included staging more public events, strict adherence to the removal of vehicles, more dog mess bins, better litter picking and improved planting and flower beds.
The town council was planning to add £4,400 to its budget for 2017/18 to cover the extra cost of maintaining the green areas.
However, members of the resources committee, which met last week, suggested this amount would not be needed given the slow speed at which Durham County Council worked.
Cllr Sandra Moorhouse said: “Knowing the speed at which Durham County Council works, would you think that it will actually be a full year that we will have these greens under town control? Would we actually need £4,400?”
Town mayor Cllr John Blissett agreed adding that describing the speed at which Durham County Council worked as “snail’s pace” might be over-estimating things.
He said if the transfer was completed in a more timely fashion than expected, the town council could always dip into its reserves.
Cllr Moorhouse also suggested the transfer of green areas was more likely to happen piecemeal rather than all in one go. Asked whether any agreements had been drawn up to date, town clerk Michael King told members: “All I have seen so far is a draft of one lease – and that’s not the Demesnes. That is the largest area and most complex.”
He said there was “a less than 50 per cent chance” of agreements on any of the areas being drawn up for the full 12 months of the next financial year. The committee agreed to go ahead with the transfer of green areas but that the proposed additional £4,400 earmarked for their maintenance be cut by half.