New streetscape plans unveiled

The right-hand junction from Front Street onto Church Street would be closed off, leaving just the one on the left, which would be widened.

But Northumberland County Council’s scheme, which would see formal parking bays introduced, more double-yellow lines and major changes to key junctions, has split opinion.

It is part of a £250,000 programme of works, which has already seen the public car park opposite the castle extended and resurfaced as well as rumble strips installed along the B1340 on the way into the village from the south.

The priority would be changed at the Front Street/Lucker Road junction to try to prevent traffic using Front Street.

A public exhibition on the proposed changes, which would also see the introduction of formalised pedestrian crossing points and new heritage-style signs, took place on Tuesday.

Villagers could examine the plans, ask questions and, upon leaving, were asked to mark whether they supported the scheme or not.

In terms of the three main junctions in the heart of the village, all three would be revamped, with the aim that traffic avoids Front Street where possible.

The county councillor for the Bamburgh ward, Guy Renner-Thompson, said that ‘what the community wants, the community gets’.

The Lucker Road/Radcliffe Road junction would be visually reduced using paving, but with overruns for larger vehicles.

“It’s whatever the people of Bamburgh want, that’s why we are having this final presentation,” he continued.

“We have consulted with people through the parish council for the past four years and we have already changed the scheme considerably by taking away the one-way system, the timed parking and speed bumps through the village.”

But it seems that there are still concerns among villagers as those in support of and those opposed to the scheme seemed to be about even at Tuesday’s exhibition.

One resident, Harry Lumsden, who lives in the village centre, described it as ‘a waste of money’.

“They are blocking the road off outside the Copper Kettle when it could be used for parking,” he said. “They are grassing it over when they could still block it off but use it for parking.

“Something needs to be done, but they are spending money on things which won’t make any difference like the different blocks of paving outside the Victoria Hotel.”