RESIDENTS in a rural market town have given mixed views on plans to reduce the number of HGVs passing through their streets.

More than 60 Barnard Castle residents attended a public meeting held by the Barnard Castle HGV Action Group to discuss different options at St Mary's Parish Hall, on July 25.

The meeting follows decades of complaints by residents of HGVs passing through the town and causing damage to landmarks such as the Market Cross, which currently acts as a roundabout.

Led by action group member Ros Evans, the group discussed options for a HGV permit scheme as well as plans for a relief road as part of the County Durham Plan.

The relief road would connect the A688 and A67 mean the HGVs, weighing up to 18 tonnes, would use a new route and cross the River Tees using Abbey Bridge.

However, members pointed out that because there was no funding for the relief road, it could be 2035 before one is built.

In the meantime, members suggested a permit scheme meaning non-essential HGVs travelling between West Auckland and Bowes, would be banned from the town and have to use the A68, A1(M) and A66 instead.

A petition was passed round the meeting and concluded that the majority of people were in favour of the scheme.

Action group member, Judi Sutherland, said residents were also asked to leave comments in response to the County Durham Plan and the group had found that 95 per cent of respondents were in favour of the HGV ban while 78 per cent in favour of the relief road, with the proviso that a new Tees crossing is included and drivers were not reliant on Abbey Bridge.

One resident said: "I fully support a ban on all unnecessary HGV access to Barnard Castle. Damage to ancient property, pollution (both noise and air) and reduced pedestrian enjoyment of our town must all be addressed."

Another said: "I am in favour of a ban on HGVs which have no actual business in Barnard Castle - a similar scheme to Kirkby Stephen. Also an alternative route should be found when there are problems on the A66. We had months of very heavy lorries thundering through the town all during the night - very damaging for buildings / bridges. Yes to a relief road, but ideally Abbey Bridge should be excluded as part of the route."

Ms Sutherland said: "It's massively disappointing that nothing is planned with the relief road until the next Durham plan after 2035. We note that other towns with historic centres have had help. Bedale, for example, had a £40 million bypass recently and we don't think their traffic problem was as dire as ours is - but they are under North Yorks Council and not Durham, and Durham doesn't seem very responsive."

Ms Sutherland said the next step will be to raise the issue with County Councillors on the Highways Committee, and talk to local hauliers about how the plans would affect them.

There are also plans for a petition in September.

However, some residents felt that a relief road would be detrimental to passing trade through the town.

Durham County Councillor for Barnard Castle East, George Richardson, also attended the meeting and said he was torn as he thought a permit scheme would be difficult for local traders while a bypass could solve the problem but also damage trade in the process.

He said: "There's two ways to look at it. I think it might be fine to get the lorries out of the town but how long before people are travelling somewhere and miss out Barnard Castle altogether?

"I go back to what happened in Bishop Auckland. Yes a large part of that was building an out-of-town shopping centre but prior to building a bypass, vehicles went right through the town centre and I still get a picture in my mind of footpaths being absolutely packed with people shopping and now Bishop Auckland town centre is dead."

Dave Wafer, the county council's strategic traffic manager, said: “We want to encourage people to provide their comments or feedback on the potential relief road as part of our current consultation on the County Durham Plan."

The last day for comments on the latest draft of the County Durham Plan is today, August 3. Visit durham.gov.uk/Future to submit comments.