Durham County Council is delaying the start of the latest stage of the regeneration of Bishop Auckland, after a plea from residents and businesses.
Members of the public were invited to have their say on a programme of environmental improvements for the town during a consultation last month.
The overriding concern was that this latest stage may encroach on the town’s festive programme, so the council will now wait until the New Year to commence the work.
“During last month’s consultation period it became clear a number of people had real concerns that the festive events may suffer should there be town centre works underway at the same time,” said town centre development manager, Chris Myers.
“As a result we will move the start of this programme of works in to January and hope this will attract many more people to join in the Christmas fun on offer.”
Cabinet member for regeneration and economic development, Councillor Neil Foster, said, “Bishop Auckland is going from strength to strength.
“Physically it has improved enormously thanks to the extensive regeneration already completed, and I know the events staged in the town centre always attract a lot of interest.”
Planned events are:
• November 20th – Town Centre Fashion Show in the Newgate Centre
• December 2nd – Christmas Tree lights switch-on event in the Market Place
• December 4th, 11th and 18th – Saturday Christmas street entertainment
• Market days every Thursday and Saturday, with additional dates in the lead up to Christmas.
The next phase of the proposed works will now start on Tuesday January 4th, 2011. This stage of the works is likely to continue until July 2011.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
