Facebook fracas

[Malcolm Robinson]

Seems I am in the middle of something not of my doing! One of our County Councillors has posted this to the Leader of NCC about me and the meeting I chaired last week!

[Maggie/915]

So very many questions come to mind.

Why can these people not see Bedlington is a real case for consideration.

Working together is not so very hard..

Regardless of politics.

Again is attack their means of defence.

If we were to analyse the figures for say 'Pegswood', I think we would get a different story.

Bedlington, surely! has a larger population .

In the past our town population supported many shops,

Ok! habits have changed but given the shops , leisure facilities, toilets and more I think people would stay local.

Why travel to fight for a parking space?.

Why catch a bus?

Why not walk to the local shops and keep fit?

It could work.

Morpeth's Neighbourhood Plan was encouraged a few years ago.

Did that mean extra funding?

Did our councillors let us down by not even trying to go down that line.!

The Core Strategy encourages local involvement and yet we have not developed a plan..

I hope it is not to late.

Let's all work together.

All for one and one for all..

[mercuryg]

Mrs Tylers ill-thought out Facebook post has certainly stirred up the hornets nest, Malcolm!

[Merlin]

Hello Malcolm, long time!

Malcolm V Tyler seems to be showing a very vindictive side, and I think that the green monster has reared its ugly head here. She has hidden agendas here, what? I know not. Maybe questions will reveal the truth about her and her cohorts in previous cooncils. Truths that she may not want revealed. Usually these truths involve money! Where it has gone and into which back pockets it has disappeared into. Though you and every one on here know my views on that!

Malcolm through here and the occasions I have met you whether out and about or at Cooncil meetings you have always talked of one thing and that is to get things done for Bedlington without consideration for yourself and I applaud you for that. You are the one guy I would trust to fight for the Town that is Bedlington. So watch your back and keep up the good work, the truth will always come out in the end. Good luck lad!

[Malcolm Robinson]

First I have to say the whole tone of this smacks of the school sneak running back to teacher to tell on classmates! For someone who I have tried to work with over a number of years on Bedlington projects and just recently got a group she chairs a £10K grant I feel a real sense of betrayal. 

 

To take the content next I have to say I am presuming it was "Junior” (The ex-Mayor) who went scurrying back to Mammy and gave her this very jaundiced view of what went on. But then Simon Tyler does seem to have a particular problem with the written word! From his recent public remarks about how he feels about residents to the lack of written reports he himself insisted upon for other councillors in the Town Council. 

 

So let's look at what has been said and there were plenty of people at that meeting, I will allow them to judge who's synopsis is the more factual! 

 

"Disappointed it was quite quiet”, is that to say someone hoped for a melee or was he comparing this meeting to the last one he put on, where a handful of people, about 10, turned up and a questionnaire he put out got 2 replies back from residents? The very same meeting where he cancelled any public questions! I would imagine the attendance was nearer 100 this time, standing room only, and I gave everyone the chance to ask as varied and as many questions as they wanted. 

 

"MR is negotiating…….I have certainly asked for a meeting with the Leader of NCC with a view to inviting him and colleagues to a proper public meeting where the whole "Bedlington question” can be aired and questions put. What I said was that I had been to a NCC Area Meeting the previous week and was shocked when the Leader of NCC, in a reply to a question about Bedlington, said he had been invited to the next Town Council meeting? I am supposed to agree the agendas for council meetings with my deputy and clerk, neither of whom knew anything about this 'invite'. I suggested phoning the Leader's office but actually they were frantically trying to get in touch with us because they knew nothing about this invite neither! So who had thought she could still write Town Council agendas and dictate meetings……none other than NCC councillor Val Tyler! That might of happened under her son's time as Mayor, it ain't happening now! 

 

As a matter of interest the ONLY Town Council meeting which was held on the 21st May was the extraordinary one I called so I could put back the council's working structures the last mayor had destroyed. I think it lasted about 10 minutes, was that enough time to do any sort of justice to a Q&A with the Leader of NCC about Bedlington? The second meeting which lasted 2 hours was the Annual Meeting of the Town and the agenda for that had been decided by residents who attended the council meetings weeks if not months ago. 

 

Yes I do believe questions need to be asked and answered about a whole range of things concerning the way Bedlington has had its needs ignored by successive councils, firstly WDC and latterly NCC. Yes the Golf Club monies, yes the Tesco deal, yes why don't we have any open public conveniences, yes why are we the only town not to have some sort of leisure facility and a whole range more. Fact was it was the residents who asked those questions at this meeting but guess what, I am 100% backing them and I will do whatever I can to get then answers they are looking for. 

 

I certainly never said I would be bringing anyone to book, that's little more than a cynical attempt to inflame the situation! 

 

Yes the meeting needs to be on a Wednesday so we can use the larger room in the Community Centre. I said it holds about 300 people and I would expect it to be full. Again not quite the nuance in Val's letter and I am sure Simon would be regurgitating half-truths and innuendos all day if asked, seems a particular skill he has. 

 

Yes I did ask Town Councillors to stand up and introduce themselves to residents, shock horror residents might actually start to recognise their elected councillors! All the councillors there stood up and gave a quick resume of who they were, what ward they had responsibility for and the Bedlington based voluntary groups they worked on. All that is except Simon who stood up gave his name and said he would talk to people in private afterwards then promptly sat down. 

 

As for the comment about MANFB, not sure how Val knows each and every member of that group, I might worry about my human rights if she somehow did! 

So not only is this missive an attempted character assassination of me personally and the Town Council collectively, it is also including what we can clearly see as an elected county councillor's misguided view of her constituents. 

If this is typical of how the system works, the back stabbing and the Machiavellian politics involved then the system stinks and needs to be flushed out! 

I believe Val needs to seriously consider her position in light of this disgusting and crass attempt at colouring and prejudging a relationship between two elected bodies, namely the Town Council and the County Council.

[Canny lass]

... and you're the very men to do the flushing Malcolm! Give em Hell!

[Maggie/915]

Exactly right Canny Lass.

'Fight the good fight with all your might'

[Malcolm Robinson]

Thanks for the support, I don't walk on water but I have never ran away from a fight in my life and I won't start now! There is more of this type of message coming out, it only strengthens my resolve.

[Maggie/915]

I hope the people who are causing problems pull out all the stops to help and not hinder you Malcolm.

I cannot see why they would seek to stop progress.

They should seek salvation by working to save our town.

Party politics should be forgotten.

The common good.

[John Fox (foxy)]

The people causing the trouble will not respond to you on this website Maggie, they pretend they don't use it.

[mercuryg]

The people causing the trouble will not respond to you on this website Maggie, they pretend they don't use it.

I've come to notice this, foxy, and wonder why that is.....

[Maggie/915]

Sadly Forum meetings show how many people do not contribute but are involved.

Maybe the same with the West Bedlington Council !