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Hello! My name is Debra. I'm 44 and me and my partner have two children - a daughter aged 14 and a son aged 9. I have lived in Bedlington all my life. 5 generations of my family have. I recently joined Bedlington.co.uk after starting up a Save Bedlington facebook page. Basically, I love our wonderful community and feel we have been continually let down with lack of facilities to meet our needs and wanted to do something about it!

I don't think that anyone need feel inhibited from posting any issues/concerns. However, with the new Parish/Town Councils there has been a layer of local democracy introduced. For me personally, localism is the ticket on which I stood for election and because councillors at this level are unpaid the flow of ideas should come from the local residents "up over". This should work fine in principle (and I think posts on here show that it can and does work) but, the County Council structure has not been replaced and is still intact. This layer of Goverment does not work in the same way (although it should) because it is more political and therefore more liable to be dominated by National or Regional Policy. In addition, many of the councillors at Parish/Town level are also County Councillors and therefore have a least one eye on the "bigger picture". I believe that this inhibits localism from being as effective as it might otherwise be. However, because Parish/Town Councillors live locally in the communities they serve they are in a better position to understand and represent local people, whether or not they personnally agree with a particular issue. Anyone who wishes is free to contact me in this regard. After all, I was elected to serve my local community and it is my intention to do so to the best of my ability.

I have been following a thread on here 'A Rant about Bedlington' which has been very interesting and provoked some great debate. It has made me reflect on who's accountable and responsible for sorting out all of the challenges we face as a community- Us or the people in power? My reflections have brought me to the conclusion that while we all share the responsibility to make any improvements work, the ACCOUNTIBILIY to deliver those improvements should sit fairly and squarely with the people who take their salaries from our hard earned wages via taxes! We hold down jobs and take accountability for delivering to our customers, why shouldn't they!? The point of the post is that I don't even know who these people are never mind whether or not they care... Lets see if anyone even knows the names or whereabouts of our councillors – the people who should be representing our views and fighting the fight to improve our town... any sightings of these mythical beasts should be posted on here! We could always get that bloke from 'Monster Hunter' to track one of them down or at least prove or disprove their existence!! If there are any councillors reading this... please post a response and let us know your thoughts too... after all there are two sides to every argument!

I agree with Toffo.....The market place is a disgrace. A few days ago they cleaned the tyre marks off and they're on again!(you'd expect more wearability from expensive stones!!!!). It looks a mess. And I know it's cold, but more folk sat on the seats the way the old market place was! All that money...and for what? And as I have said, surrounded by empty eyesores, it makes it look a joke! I think the questionnaire is an excellent idea! But I doubt the councillors will go for it. We can ask I suppose! Like Jim, I have lived in Bedlington all my life, and I am disgusted that our wonderful community is being so let down by all those that run the show. However, there is unrest amongst us and I feel the more we stick together and complain, the more noise we will create... surely they will have to listen to us? Just wait til the buggers knock on our doors for votes...

I think some people might be reading a little bit too much into it and perhaps making a little bit of an issue out of nothing. I don't see any disruption since it's been reintroduced and it certainly hasn't affected the level of discussion. Just don't make an issue of it and it'll be fine. That being said if most users want it removed so be it but no need to get so worked up about it. It's only a very minor aspect of the site

As an airplane is about to crash, a female passenger jumps up frantically and announces, "If I'm going to die, I want to die feeling like a woman." She removes all her clothing and asks, "Is there someone on this plane who is man enough to make me feel like a woman?" A man stands up, removes his shirt and says, "Here, iron this!".

just had a problem with windows seven, basically at start up it wouldn't connect to the internet. it would just give me a yellow excalmation mark and would say unidentified network. (it is possible to disable then enable the connection which would work but was a pain!) The fix is check your sevices in admin tool in the control panel, if you find: ##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762## then disable it! its a bonjour service for adobe and microsoft apps like cs3, office etc. problem solved! just thought it may come in useful!

Place is rapidly becoming a hazard area!!! and for those who do "bag" it, why can't you take it home rather than throwing it in a bush or overflowing a litter bin to the point of it being on view as you walk past!!

Oh Dear, Oh dear, Oh Dear ... shock, horror, scandal! Adolf loved dogs (& fit young men in leather shorts) but, apart from the terrified millions under his heal, countless more millions were violenly opposed to his views. I think we can draw together our current situation with the one I've just outlined. Most of what Monsta® has posted I disagree with (I think that most of 'polite society' would share my view) but I am with him (and have posted support)on two absolutely, and fundamentally, critical issues. Namely, the right of dogs to crap and their turds to be left to add goodness to the environment, but even more important than that ... our support for the Toon. Records will also show that I defended Monsta®'s right to post here when many wanted to ban/censor him for his [add your own adjective here] opinions. I have a solution to sizsell's horse apple problem ... let the dogs gobble it up. My dog has been known to tuck-in to a steaming pile; recycling in it's purest form

I agree with the comments about throwing stones. There are a lot of targets if you ever get to see them. It was a good idea to improve the Market Square, and it did look nice for a while, but that is just a small part of the jigsaw. Yes the kids and some adults are a problem, and those in positions of responsibility, both at the local level and higher should be praised for what they have done. But just doing the square without doing anything else is a piecemeal attitude. The kids and adults need somewhere to congregate and have fun, and wear off some energy, so why not give us all a leisure centre. There is plenty of spare land that could be used. Get the police to take a more proactive stance. Dare I say "bodies on the street". No offence to them but all they seem to do is firefight, and fill useless forms for government statistics, to make the London mob look good.

Happy Birthday Brian!

You`re making it sound like the people that voted are bullies and manipulators (me included) and the people that didn`t vote have no brains! Shocking! I know who the manipulator is on this board and it isn`t any of the ones your pointing the finger at. End of the day, if the Admins want to use the neg option, then reinstate it! It`ll keep a certain member happy if no-one else.

erm... just to let you know Jim - my other half's a bin man and they don't get a decent salary!!

After recieving my Council Tax bill last night, I have changed my mind! ALL of the responsibility sits with the council!!! We have a population of some 15,500 people in Bedlington lets say that the average household is 2 that is almost 8,000 council tax bills collected. If the average is £100 per month (which I think is probably less that the true average). That means the council is collecting £800k a month or c£10m per year from households. Thats before you take business rates, government budgets and all of the other sources of income into consideration. Now I know the bin men get a decent salary but........

Deb, First let me say I support your initiative 100% the more we can get people talking and discussing what concerns they have, where they want the town to go and how they suggest we get there the better in my book. As for your comments about the Market Place, the whole tilt of your tirade is aimed at the ubiquitous 'they'. The problem is that the 'they' in this case represents council and our tax money! We paid to get that area done, oh 'they' might say it came from grant monies and yes it did but who put the dosh in to start with, and now we are paying again and again to keep it clean. Every quid spent going back to clean up or repair comes out of our tax and the real problem at this moment is that every quid spent there is a quid less spent in other, probably more worthy, areas. Look at the swingeing cut in voluntary sector funding county have just put through! Getting to the old chestnut about the kids not having anywhere go or do, I recognise that but I don't accept it as an argument to justify this type of behaviour. I certainly won't be giving out any 'get out of jail' free cards because of it. I would be fining them for the costs of any clean up necessary and if below the age of responsibility their parents!

Who is going to pay for the landscaping... I got my council tax bill last night and if that is anything to go by, judging by the increase in houses in Bedlington in the last 15 years they should have plenty of cash! The council always pleads poverty in our area but we are paying as much council tax as some of the best served boroughs in the area!! So cash is a convenient excuse and not one that washes with me! If we could get the email address of the MEP or similar I would suggest that every one of us separately email her and give our views and point her to bedlington.co.uk. I think it was Deb who said you need to make a nuisance of our selves and she is right. If we fill her inbox with emails every day for a month, she will have to listen!! Does anyone have the email address and should we agree on the topics to highlight as it is no use just whinging at her... we need to be constructive, specific and consistent!

These are a few videos from an garage band called Relic that released a demo and played some gigs round bedlington on 1993-6.. you might see yourself on the vids from the Sun Inn,

Malcolm... I agreed with a post regarding the market place being a mess..but I've suggested nothing about the council keeping it clean and tidy?I know it's the kids to blame but think about it... if they had places to go here they wouldn't have to hang around the market place in the first place!! Yes I made a comment about us being let down as a whole community.That had nothing to do with the market place! Hey, if we care about this place, we shouldn't be nit picking between ourselves!We should be united

Here is the full list of county councillors; you might want to go to the bottom of the list for our 'local' ones. http://www3.northumberland.gov.uk/Councillor/CouncillorList.asp Here are the results of the last parish council election for Bedlington West. http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=4631 This is fairly basic stuff people, you should know it, you are paying for it!!!!!!! Deb, I have to take issue to your comments about the market place. You seem to be suggesting that somehow the council have sole right to keep the place clean and tidy, isn't that a collective responsibility? Maybe if the kids that are leaving these tyre marks on that paved area were 'dissuaded' from doing so, by whatever means necessary, it might in fact turn the Market Place into what was hoped for. Also the seats have already been vandalised. If we are going to play a blame game lets pick the right targets!

It is certainly the elected officials duty to listen to the public who elected them, then act as they see fit, (but not always necessarily the way the electors feel they should.) there are often many legal or financial considerations that are not known to the public. How well do you know your councilors? have you been to any council meetings or talked or e-mailed them to tell them of your concerns? (not only you but all of the readers) Living here in a small community it is very easy to for us to all that, as we work, live and play very closely, my point is they are elected but only if you vote for them! At work yesterday a good friend of mine said he is being asked to run for Mayor or at least for council, he sees the core of the council being local businessmen with their own agendas! a few years ago my plumber was almost elected as Mayor!!! (failed by less than 20 votes.) We have our council minutes posted on a web site, I read them and often follow up by going to a meeting or sending an e-mail, our local newspaper is a good means of telling the council what the people really think! I think we have many capable readers here who should get involved with the council and the community in general, great ideas and enthusiasm but only lack the formal skills, I'm sure the council read this web site, use it to tell them what you think! Respectively submitted, Sorry for the rant!

Our options as far as I can see are ... Anarchy, Petition, Move Away, Put up with it or my personal favourite ritual stake burning of all senior council members! I've lived in Bedders all my life and have never been as disappointed as I currently am. Someone mentioned that we will ultimately drive people away and I couldn't agree more - we will all suffer as house prices dip through low demand and this will drive us further down. If I could afford it and the market was better I would move like a shot! The state that that front street is in, is an absolute disgrace and it depresses me to drive down it... It looks like the opening scene of 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!" We'd be better off levelling the old Elliot's Garage that having that building determinate the way it is. Is it just me or does the new market place look worse that it did before!??? By the way I am normally a very positive person!!... For goodness sake Wansbeck ( or whatever the hell you are calling yourselves these days)... DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE Rant over!

The problem is no one seems to be advised what is happening with regards to new developments, and they are carried out poorly when they are built with no foresight, it seems as if the local planners sit down and throw ideas around then choose something they think will appease the local populace! Just look at the recent "development" of the market place, it is already looking tatty with tyre marks all over it, rubbish being left to gather on the stairs not to mention the old closed up shops that were purchased by Tesco and the site fencing to keep people off the grassed area! Why doesn't the local councillors send out a questionnaire asking everyone what they honestly think of the Town and the re-generation that was promised but never appeared?? AS for the old Red Lion why not have a decent "branded Coffee Shop" like the one that has been put in the Sanderson Arcade, heaven knows we could do with one!

What we need is a council and community as strong as that in Sherringham, where they have stood up to the likes of Tesco. Soon it will not just be where you shop, but what you can buy. I have noticed this in particular at Asda, where certain well known brands are no longer on the shelves. Instead you have Asda's own brand, or nothing at all. What happened to freedom of choice. We are told that they only stock what we want to buy. I rather think it is the other way round. They stock what they want us to buy!!!!!

So the EU have come out now and criticised the UK and in particular the Brown/Darling deficit reduction plans. This from an organisation which cannot even sort out its own house.........the problem is they are right: its just we never like 'Johnny Foreigner' telling us where we are going wrong! The reason for this statement is that we have breached EU stability rules, exactly the same as France and Germany!!!!!!! So the B/D plan is to half the deficit in the next four years, possible, maybe, probable no, they are now hooked on a huge PSBR which has been inbuilt into the system. This deficit figure doesn't even take in the real position as the likes of PFI, public sector pensions, etc are not included. If we look at public sector pensions and take our own county as an example of this particular black hole country wide, we find 50% of the total combined overall budget for county is the same as their pension deficit, over £400 million and being reassessed (upwards) as we speak! When I questioned county about this, after being told we (ratepayers) will just have to keep paying into it, I was then told as it was a countrywide problem it was almost being ignored. Sound financial planning indeed and conveying a high sense of confidence in abilities to actually manage a billion pound a year business! If we then think about the fact that almost 50% of all jobs in our county are in the public sector I hope we can all start to see the very real problems we are about to face, its called reality! The forthcoming election (only concentrating on the two major parties sorry Stephen) now seems to have some blue water between the parties, fiscally anyway. We have a choice of either paying more and more into an ever increasing black hole of debt or seeing policies implemented which could result in 10,000 plus redundancies locally, and that's just public sector ones. Neither would seem particularly appetising but sometimes that's politics! I think it boils down to 'Do we take the medicine now or put it off for a while?'

The reality is that Bedlington is now becoming a large "commuter" town with people working outside of the local area, lack of investment coupled with poor facilities will eventually drive people away to area's better suited to modern demands, for a town that has such great links to major road networks this is unnecessary, the lack of foresight by local representatives is incredible, as for the "Front Street" it beggars belief that business can't invest because they might spoil the look of the place, look at the old Ford Showroom / Red Lion / and all the other properties that have suffered becasue of the lack of upkeep over the years, it's about time we had some modern investment that attracts more Business and better facilities ie: public sports/gym facility, decent coffee shops, better variety of shops, just look at the new Sanderson Arcade in Morpeth!!!

I think that is Monsta's point Mr D, this is not a Citizen's Advice board where questions and answers have broader repercussions. Of course some questions can be answered in an authorative manner given the expertise of members in certain areas but by and large this is a general discussion board where people post their opinions on the topic subject matter.

Sometimes the behaviour is best left without reply, as in the past it just escalates. Theres no definite line between someones honest opinion on a subject, and personal abuse. its just too grey to decide sometimes, and as we've seen, the people who post this get touchy when its deleted. People are entitled to their opinion, even if it is a little childish. This way everyone gets a say, and a general feel can be gained about the post from the community in general. If its a general discussion, and people have an opinion outside whats been said already, then of course they should post. However, i think, like the option in the voting system, you should have a choice of displaying who voted what. but thats just me. Perhapt that would be taking it a little too far It works on another forum i frequent, whereby an answer given can be "approved" by another respected member, and therefore the advice taken as a little more credible. Then again, here, it may just create personal issues.

the reputation system, if there at all, is there to be as a guide to the 'reputation' of the poster. if someone can only get a 'positive' reputation then every post they post is backed up by this reputation. the fact a post has no rep points is no indication of its quality, it just means no-one felt compelled to 'agree' or 'disagree' with the post. If theres no negative to the positive, theres no 'general feel' to the boards attitude on certain posts, and no reason not to be downright nasty one day and post some good posts the next. there are some posts on the board people just think are there for a negative reason, and may not warrant removal. these posts should be flagged by the other members as negative. This *should* make anyone who cares about their rep on the site, think twice before posting something unnessarily negative. the way i see it: a post with a positive count is a post with which most people who read it agree with. a post with a neutral count is something people neither agree nor disagree with a post with a negative count is something people mostly disagree with. therefore the way it should work is people who have a positive rep have a posting attitude most people agree with, whereas a negative one points to someone who is someone with a negative attitude towards the board in general (by abusing it and the people on it) or is someone with a legitamate view, but one the majority do noty agree with. Of course, family and friends on the board, and generally not liking/ganging up on a user will happen. this is why i ask if the admins can monitor who gives + - reps, and can suspend the ability if it is deemed to be being abused. Thats my opinion. i respect yours. i actually wouldnt mind hearing others views too.