Bedders.........

[Mal]

First one:

 

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/fury-northumberland-line-station-delay-32011486?fbclid=IwY2xjawLZ-UBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBVRDlnYnl0NVZWekc1Y3NkAR7Dd-pkV5BoAwCDM8In2oJ-nZLVQwqdJn42ln4AuB9nl9nZgnDxcCOarlsbug_aem_pxynPYlhOs_k1bJAbfj1fg

 

Follow up:

 

So I’m getting a bit of flack about the comments I made in the press about the rail station situation here in Bedlington and the fact that this town has been overlooked for decades!

Let’s just put it in perspective:

Starting with the station, about 6-7 years ago I stood on the old platform with the then Government minister when the reopening of the lines was being discussed and he said with what we already had this was going to be the easiest station to get reopened!

I was at one of the original presentations about reopening the rail line and we were told in no uncertain terms that if the costs couldn’t be brought down to around the £100M mark then it wouldn’t go ahead. They were currently about £160M at the time. The Bedlington station project was estimated at around £20M

One of the reasons this was wanted, as stated, was it could open up about 10,000 new housing units. Also it would kick-start economic regeneration around these new stations.

I’ve asked about this fantastic economic regeneration, which I think is a no brainer, and was told oh yes you are getting a café.

Fast forward a few years and the cost is around £300M, so someone somewhere made that decision! Shades of HS2 here?

The new station at Newsham goes £20M+ over budget and the Bedlington station gets moth balled for a year. Coincidence?

We hear about structural problems and unexpected anomalies here is Bedlington, wasn’t there a comprehensive engineering assessment done when the contract was awarded? Are there penalty clauses in the contract?

We now see further delays due to……………..errm we haven’t been told but I can guess!

Parking is going to be an issue but the main car park which was envisioned at the planning application stage has been ‘put on hold’ for up to 10 years to assess the need for it. In my opinion it’s as if even when we get a new station they don’t want people to come and use it? Other places get 200+ new parking places, we get something like 20 odd including electric and disabled ones.

Even just this quick overview, is anyone really going to say we have been treated in the same way other places have?

And that’s before we get onto the Town centre debacle and the other multitude of examples………..