BARRIERS which were installed along a stretch of road in a County Durham town have helped cut the number of traveller-related problems.

Last week police in Barnard Castle installed water-filled barriers along a 250-metre stretch of Bridgegate in the town in a move to prevent travellers from using the area as a stopover on the way back from the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria.

Residents complained of congestion problems and litter as travellers used the street, which is the main entrance to Barnard Castle from the A66, on their way to the fair.

As well as the barriers, which were removed yesterday (TUE), police also parked a mobile unit and a CCTV van on Bridgegate.

Police in Teesdale received just four-traveller related calls between June 4 and June 12 - none of which concerned the Bridgegate area.

Between May 25 and June 4, when travellers were passing through the dale on their way to Appleby, police received 45 calls from the public, 12 of which were centred on Bridgegate.

Inspector Kevin Tuck, from Barnard Castle police, said: From a statistics point of view the operation was a success.

We would like to thank residents for their patience and support during the process.

About 90 per cent were in favour of some sort of action but we acknowledge that we cant please everybody.

The important thing was that we didnt have a trespass causing people the same concerns as we had with travellers on the way to Appleby.

We now need to work with the Teesdale Traveller Working Group to look at how we can minimise the impact of Bridgegate next year.

We may need to consider partial target hardening which would have to be in keeping with the historical aspect of the gateway to the town.