Barnard Castle's market cross 'being hit by lorries'

Campaigners are calling for a town centre lorry ban to halt HGVs clipping an historic market cross.

Barnard Castle's octagonal cross was built in 1747 and was where butter and dairy products were sold. It is now at the centre of a roundabout.

Campaigners said the cross was being "hit" by vehicles at least once a week and are calling for a town centre lorry ban or a "bypass" road for HGVs.

But Durham County Council said another road would not be "cost effective".

Phil Hunt, of Barningham, who is a member of the Teesdale Labour Party, said: "The simple solution would be to have a short road less than a mile long to take HGVs to the road to Darlington.

"Then we could ban HGVs from our medieval town centre, apart from the very few that need access to the shops. At least once a week lorries are colliding with the market cross."

But Dave Wafer, spokesman for the county council, said building a road for just a few vehicles could not be justified in the "current financial climate".

"We have considered the idea of a relief road, but the difficulty for us is the current financial climate," he added.

"If we put in a relief road together with a ban we could move a lot of the heavy good vehicles from the town. But the issue is funding - very few people would use it.

"It would be beneficial to the town, but in terms of traffic it would have a small effect."