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I'm honestly not a paranoid cynic or political axe grinder but this is really getting beyond a joke. I would love to believe all will turn out great but I just can't help feeling that things will stall for 6 months and then we'll be told that its all going to be turned into housing. Planning permission was granted in early 2017 and we are now into 2019 with not a stone laid for the new town centre. The "Investing in Bedlington" website which is supposed to keep us up to date only seems to be updated when I e-mail them asking for an update. It's latest news is 3 months old and has been superceded by this latest update in the local press. I really hope I am proven wrong. I moved here from out of the area 9 years ago and have seen the town gain a huge number of additional residents and seen either static provision or a decline, for retail, entertainment, schools and healthcare. If we've lost our anchor food retailer then can we not stop flogging a dead horse (after all Lidl kind of replaced Tesco) and go for something that will attract visitors to the town like a cinema, leisure centre, arts venue etc. Just please not a derelict building site or 300 new homes. I'm sure those in charge of the development have already thought of all of this but faith is wearing thin.