• Can we get broadband into Hamsterley Forest? Mountain bikers and holiday-makers would use it.
• Olly, Hamsterley Trailblazer
• I would like to see an M&S food hall (like the one in Morpeth) as that will attract shoppers. I'd also like to see an all-weather family social facility e.g. bowling or a truly child -focussed restaurant with activities.
• Yvonne
• Barnard Castle Vision,
  Teesdale House,
  Galgate,
  Barnard Castle,
  DL12 9EL

  Text VISION and your message to 07781474422, email us, or fill out this form.

Meet the Team

William Weston

My vision is to make Barnard Castle the most attractive and vibrant town in the North East.

Born in Sheringham, Norfolk in 1949, William Weston has worked in landscape management, local government, commercial television (including ‘The Bill’), as well as a senior manager in all the performing arts. As Executive Director, he created and built the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds which opened as perhaps the most successful repertory theatre in the north of England in 1990. He was General Manager and Executive Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company from 1995 until 2000 running the world’s largest international theatre company with six performing venues in London and Stratford, touring throughout the UK and world-wide. As Chief Executive of The Royal Parks, a government agency, he was responsible for 5000 acres of green space within central London, visited by 60 million visitors each year. At the beginning of 2005 he decided, with his family, that he wanted to live in rural northern England. He is a Member of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, and a Non Executive Director of The Forestry Commission England. He is very interested in landscape, sustainability, the countryside, horticulture, heritage and creativity.