I HAVE asked Durham County Council (DCC) to improve the pedestrian crossings located along Oxford Road, Spennymoor.

I pointed out that the pedestrian crossing near the Kingfisher pub is probably in the wrong place because the long-awaited re-development of the eyesore Festival Walk shopping centre – which is still awaited – means that the main footfall is along the Valley Burn onto the Home Bargains store, where I understand there was a recent accident.

The reply by DCC highways management was that the worst crossing is the one adjacent to King Street and I would agree that it needs relocating further away from this junction.

However, it would need £50,000 of capital to fund such a project.

Can I ask what is the present cost of running the area action partnerships, which I consider are a duplication of the role of Spennymoor Town Council?

I understand that local campaigner Dean Ranyard raised the Oxford Road safety issue recently.

I am sure the public will find plenty of ways of saving monies from our very high Council Tax bills. It would be interesting to hear from Hear All Sides readers on any DCC monies that have been wasted?

Surely public safety should be paramount and £50,000 should be found.

The Oxford Road central crossing near Ox Close Crescent, is in very poor repair, I did ask for this section of the road to be re-surfaced approximately five years ago.

Ben Ord, Spennymoor.