AYCLIFFE TODAY PEOPLE | 13
@AYCLIFFETODAY
MAYOR'S CONCERN
WITH A167 BLACKOUT
GOING... GOING... GONE!
By Martin Walker
Aycliffe Police Station SOLD as demolition
makes way for care home
A new care home is expected to be
built on the site of the former Newton
Aycliffe police station, which has now
been reduced to rubble after it was
sold by Durham Constabulary.
The demolition of the three-storey
structure on Central Avenue, built in
the 1960s, cost £86,000 and was
completed at the end of March.
The 1.1-acre site had been on the
market with commercial property
agents GVA since last September.
And Aycliffe Today understands the
land has been sold to a care home
provider, although there hasd been no
official confirmation.
A police spokesperson told Aycliffe
Today: “We have marketed the site
and identified a preferred purchaser.
However, legal contracts are not
signed yet.
“We hope to complete after
demolition after which we can
announce the purchaser with some
certainty.”
Police had said the high cost of
the demolition was due to asbestos
removal, but that the sale of the
site would generate “much needed
resources” for the force.
The Newton Aycliffe Neighbourhood
Police Team moved out of the Central
Avenue station in February 2011 after
the building was deemed unfit for
purpose.
Plans to build a new station had to
be scrapped after budget cuts and
the Aycliffe officers spent more than
two years at the HUB Workspace on
Aycliffe Business Park, which proved
unpopular with residents, before
moving into the town’s fire station in
November 2013.
Watch the demolition of the police
station by downloading the Aurasma
App on your smartphone, search for
Aycliffe Today and follow us, then
use the viewfinder to scan the image
and watch it come to life!
Newton Aycliffe's Mayor has hit
out at Durham County Council's
decision to cut street lighting along
the A167 after it emerged three sets
of lights were off when a serious
accident happened in March.
As reported on www.aycliffetoday.
co.uk, a taxi and a van were involved
in a serious collision on the busy
road at a spot in between the Gretna
Green pub and the Central Avenue
junction in Aycliffe at about 8pm on
Friday 27th March.
One man was air-lifted to James
Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough
with serious injuries while another
man was taken by road to Darlington
Memorial Hospital.
Cash-strapped Durham Council
recently announced cost-cutting
plans to remove lighting along the
A167 from the A1 to Durham.
The move has been met with angry
protests from Aycliffe businesses
and residents.
But it has also emerged that the
area in which the accident happened
was in complete darkness due to
three lights not working.
Aycliffe Mayor, town councillor
Wendy Hillary, who lives near
the A167, says it's proof of how
dangerous the road can be without
lighting.
In a Video Interview with Aycliffe
Today, Cllr Hillary told us: "For a few
weeks now three street lights have
been out here.
"I just think it's so, so dangerous.
Us as residents here, it's the mental
thing of seeing that and worrying
about the people involved in the
accident."
The full story is on www.
aycliffetoday.co.uk
You can view our interview with
Mayor Hillary through the Aurasma
App (see left for instructions).