Monday 8 November 2021

B1281 Speed Visor at Castle Eden

For some time we’ve been working alongside the clerk and members of Castle Eden Parish Council to have a speed visor installed on the B1281 between Hesleden and Castle Eden (please see post dated Wednesday 5 May 2021 for background details). 


This followed a series of complaints and concerns expressed by motorists and residents alike about the high incidence of reported speeding vehicles on the B1281, especially near the Z-bend at Hallow Hill.

Earlier this year the speed visor was installed at a location agreed by residents, the police traffic management office and members of the parish council. For some reason however, the visor was never properly connected to the electricity supply, so following many weeks of phone calls and emails between the responsible authorities, I'm pleased to report that I’ve finally received confirmation that the connection is scheduled to be completed within the next few days and weeks - depending on the availability of engineers from Northern Power Grid.

Please see confirmation details below, received last week from the highways office:

Just a quick note to confirm that street lighting colleagues have programmed to completion the duct and cabling for the sign next week.

Unfortunately, as this is a new connection, we are governed by NPG carrying out the connection and currently they have advised the delay could be up to 35 days however we will endeavour to push for an early resolution.

I'll continue to monitor progress and I'll update on developments as soon as I have more information from NPG.

In addition we’ve received a number of messages from residents reporting speeding vehicles on the stretch of road between the A19 Wellfield Interchange and the A181/B1281 junction at the Castle Eden memorial.

We’ve passed these concerns to Durham police and the traffic assets management team for their attention. I’ll report back on developments as soon as I have a complete response from both services, but in the meantime please continue to report any incidents of speeding to the police for their attention.