The committee of Great Aycliffe Residents’ Association met this week and an item on the agenda focussed on the derelict land next to the Cubby – left in that condition, unused, for over 28 years.
When it was suggested the Town Centre market could go there each Tuesday the owners Durham County Council issued a flat refusal stating it was land for development and could not be used.
How bureaucratically obtuse and mean is that? This land can lay ugly and dormant for 28 years and yet cannot be used on a temporary basis, pending development, for the good of the community.
This shows how inflexible officials can be and indicates how badly out of touch they are with the people who employ them!
Unbelievably some of the County Councillors we elect and whom we expect to represent our views, seem to lay down and accept what these officers say.
However one County Councillor, Eddy Adam, has persisted and we believe may be successful in getting the land in question for the market until such time as the town centre market is resolved.
Cllr Arun Chandran said: “Eddy Adam and I firmly believe the County Council should allow free use for the existing market traders on that site until such time as the land is actually sold or the new market is set up in the Town Centre following the final phase of development.”
