Residents living close to a notorious County Durham junction reacted positively to news that a revised traffic order will be imposed on the road within weeks.

Following a devastating two-car collision at the Kinninvie crossroads, near Barnard Castle, in February that ended with a car smashing into a house, plans were drawn up by Durham County Council that would have meant a portion of the C140 northbound road being closed off permanently. 

However, the proposals drew a backlash from residents last month after they received just a week's warning of the plans, forcing highways bosses into a re-think - leading to what will now be a “revised” experimental order to be imposed in October.

Read more: Kinninvie Crossroads: Safety works pushed back to October

Marwood Parish Council and Woodland Parish Council hosted a public meeting at Marwood Community Centre last month, to discuss the previous “experimental order” that was due to be imposed. About 80 people attended to raise their objections.

Now, temporary traffic lights will remain in place at the crossroads until October to control traffic, in an effort to prevent any further collisions.

Chairman of Marwood Parish Council, Adrian Mairs, has praised the latest update - even though the councillors were supposedly not told of the news and found out online.

He said: “It is good news for all concerned, and it’s great that they have listened to our thoughts.

“We hope they are willing to work with us to make the crossroads a safer place for everyone who uses it.”

For Simon Land, clerk of Woodland Parish Council, this approach is “good news” for residents after he called the previous plans “draconian”.

He said: “It is good news that they are now opening a better consultation process and the fact it is not until October so that process can take place.

“If they had consulted us properly in the first place, we would not have had to go down this route.”

Mr Land stressed that safety will still be up to motorists themselves, no matter what work takes place.

He said: “You can only do so much, and at the end of the day, it is down to drivers who have been choosing to ignore the things in place.

“There has also been a lot of discussion about how the SatNav doesn’t show it is a junction.

“If they get it right, this certainly should make it a safer junction.”

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Details of the new order by the council are not yet known, but the previous plans were slammed by residents who claimed it would disrupt motorists and bus users.

The scrapped measures detailed intentions to remove the current temporary traffic lights to allow for the installation of a kerbed island and no entry signs on the C41 road just north of its Marwood/Stainton turn-off. 

This would have prohibited northbound drivers travelling from the B6278 from continuing past the turn-off to reach the B6279 Kinninvie crossroads, instead diverting them to the B6279 via the C43 and Dent Gate Lane.