On Bedlington.uk Now...

I’ve been asked to give a rundown on what was discussed at last night’s meeting about the new Local Plan and housing numbers. It’s more difficult than what you might think! We had a brief presentation off Rob about the structure around this, notably the new Government dictates around housing numbers, which took around 20 mins. We then had about an hour of questions off the people who were there and to give credit none were dodged! I think it’s fair to say questions fell into a few similar categories, where will these new sites be, how did we get to the numbers and what new infrastructure will accompany them? The only thing we can be sure of since the new NCC Local Plan is currently being worked on, and I’m on the working group that is doing that work, is that the government have said we have to go from 650 new house starts per year in Northumberland to something like 1750, or nearly triple! Bedlington will inevitably get its share of that increase! 34,500 houses across the life of the new NCC Local Plan. Suffice it to say that the HELAA map which I have put up on an earlier thread is the total of the sites which have been identified by developers and landowners and NCC will be using that to list the sites which can be developed, providing they hit the target numbers. Next year, March/April, a new map will be issued listing these agreed sites and then follows a consultation for councillors, Town and Parish councils, businesses and more importantly residents. I will be posting links to sites where the information is available as soon as I get them. I think seeing 1000’s of new houses around our town will inevitably change it, bound to, and in more ways than what might be immediately thought. Just one aspect vehicle traffic. It’s already becoming a problem, certainly at certain times of the day, but add in 4, 6,8,10 thousand new vehicles into the mix and its gridlock. That’s before we assess the problems around doctors, dentists, school places even leisure provision! So it demands careful considerations as we progress this! My closing remarks were about Government making policy up on the hoof because it might appeal to a certain demographic, always, always, always a mistake. All very well a Government Minister getting up on her high horse to announce new policy but Government don’t build quantity housing, developers do. Developers build for profit with relevance to customer needs. We see inflation rising, interest rates rising, the probability of wholesale white collar workers being replaced with AI, all the while in a cost of living crisis which squeezes salaries already. If the Government don’t get the economy right all of this is just pie in the sky because there will be fewer and fewer buyers capable of getting mortgages and then the realities of life hit home in the ivory towers in London and we see the ‘Emperor’ has no clothes on!

@Canny lass 👌- I searched this group for the whole name - "William H Gibosn" ang got nowt. Should have just searched for - Gibson. 😁

Search no further, Alan! Consult my topic on the Gibson family 'The Last of the Nailers'. William Henry Gibson, born 1886, was the son of William James Gibson and his wife Sarah (nee Mostyn). He was a draper’s assistant at the Bedlington branch of Hedley Young in his younger days but aspired to the dizzy heights of ‘draper’ later in life. This is him outside of his shop on Front Street East: It’s easily recognisable from its arched windows as the former Dunns drapers - run by his aunt, Mary Ellen (his father’s sister) and her husband Lewis Dunn – just a few doors away from the Gibson family home. You can just see a glimpse of those windows above the charabanc in the picture you posted above.

I'm getting dafter Mal - I just checked the 2nd one

Alan the first one had the wrong day............

The date is right @Vic Patterson - Thursday is the 12th - I can't see anything wrong

Thursday November 11th.

I like the charabanc, they are all dressed up for Sunday trip !

I'll have to keep searching

Remembrance day 2026.mp4

Im presuming its the hardware shop Alan?

Spot the undeliberate mistake.........blooming AI!

@Mal have you put those images together? There is one I can't remember seeing before and I can't find anything about WH Gibson

With the new national guidelines for housing targets and the fact that Northumberland annual targets have been nearly tripled and that the South East of the county is seen as the area that can support most of them...................... People need to be informed before we see every blade of grass around the town disappearing under concrete! So I've called a public meeting and invited the head of NCC Planning to come and give a presentation.

Bit of a mash up................... Wor toon.mp4

Beddrs Chrisp.mp4

Just having a play with AI...............

I think it's an age thing! Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

@Donna Clark forgot to sat sorry for taking over your post with a different subject😇. We often get sidetracked but hopefully your qustions were answered before we went off on a tangent🤞

@Canny lass this is the clearest (for me) info I can get on Google for avif files. Google says the avif format was introduced in 2019 and the software is embedded into web sites to save space by converting jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and png (Portable Network Graphics) files into avif to save space. So I an guessing that avif file of yours must have been created on the site/group/platform you found the image on. But i could be wrong😇

It says "avif". I don't know how old it is or where I got it from but I see that I've got exactly the same photo with the extension png. It may as well be in Chinese for me!

@Canny lass your avif file downloaded and converted to a file with a jpeg file extension and uploaded. I havn't managed to upload any file, jpeg or png, that this site has converted to a an avif file so at the moment I haven't got an explanation for what happened to yours. What file extension does the image have on your phone or PC/Laptop?

I'll have to have a clart when I have a jpeg photo to upload to this group. I tried opening your avif file and it was download to my PC rather then displaying it on the screen. Google says avif files are more efficient than jpeg & png files to transport arround. Could Admin be attermpting to save space