IT isn’t popular to speak up on behalf of councils, even though they have a tough job.

Darlington council, with a limited budget, is grappling with the future of its town centre. During the pandemic, something strange happened: even in a place not renowned for its Mediterranean climate, people discovered that they liked eating and drinking outdoors. The council erected hideous barriers in Coniscliffe Road as a temporary means of creating a space for them, and now, as the scheme has been successful, is planning on making this “café culture” a permanent feature of the road.

This does effectively mean extending the town centre away from its High Row hub at a time when most town centres are contracting (Stockton has demolished much of its town centre because it was too large), and the £940,000 initial cost of the scheme does seem expensive. Access issues also need to be thought through.

And so the council is being criticised.

The council, though, must feel that it is damned if it sits on its hands and does nothing, and then it is damned when it gets up and tries to do something.

Town centres have to be welcoming places if people are going to use them.

People are no longer using them for the old fashioned shopping model or for doing their banking, so they have to be refashioned so that they become places where people want to gather socially and where, eventually, they want to live permanently.

This scheme, of putting people in an attractive environment and reclaiming the streets from vehicles, is a good concept.