HAYDON Bridge residents should have been better informed before parking restrictions were introduced in the centre of the village, a parish councillor has claimed.

Double yellow lines were painted at the junction where Church Street meets Ratcliffe Road and the new bridge, two weeks ago.

But while Northumberland County Council chose to place a public notice in the Alnwick-based Northumberland Gazette, no such notice was published in the Hexham Courant.

The notice, published in last week’s Gazette, stated that the order would come into force this coming Monday, for an experimental period of 12 months.

Coun. Eileen Charlton told last Thursday’s meeting of Haydon Parish Council: “These public notices are important because they let everybody know what is happening, and they give people the chance to make representations.

“It’s not appropriate for public notices affecting Haydon Bridge to be published in a newspaper based in Alnwick.

“This is vital information which should be published in the Courant, which is where people in Tynedale expect to see it.”

Coun. Charlton said the parish council was now receiving information about all traffic regulation matters in Northumberland.

But she added: “I think the county council is doing this to compensate for them not being published in the Hexham Courant.

“But how can we as a parish council go around telling everyone about road closures and other traffic regulation matters?”

Northumberland County Council said notices of the order had been placed in the vicinity of the junction.