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I'm all for preserving old buildings and such, but what concerns me more is the fact that there are buildings in Bedlington that are standing empty and which could be used to enhance our town - namely the old Co-op (Milne House), Johnson's shoe shop, which seems to have come to a sudden stop where renovation is concerned. Town planners, etc, should be concentrating on these not, as someone said above, buildings that no longer serve a function. Preserve them by all means, but turn them into viable concerns where the towns folk can benefit from them.

The Old Vicarage is actually Grade II listed. To quote from the English Heritage guy who surveyed it: "If I have to see yet another Grade II listed building I will scream." He meant, of course, that they were going through a phase when everything that was old enough was being listed without any consideration of merit. Not that there's anything wrong with the Old Vicarage; it's a fine building that was built without much consideration of the cost - because the church at that time was flush with funds from the sale of the Glebe Lands. It will certainly be standing long after the New Vicarage is bulldozed. But it's not representative of the town in the past, and indeed not even that old. Nor is it in any way unique in itself. That's recognised in the Grade II; preservation on the cheap, as no public money is available. There's no doubt that Grade II listings need to be reviewed. Either they should be marked as worthy of public money, or be released from most of the restrictions. Like the Old Vicarage most will survive anyway, because they still serve a purpose into the 21st century and beyond. The entire conservation area is a bit of a joke anyway, because just about everything that was worth conserving was vandalised by none other than the very people who should have at least preserved some of the better examples. Some of these had been flagged up in surveys paid for with public money before the vandalisation, yet these were ignored when politically convenient. Bedlington is still a working town, and a working town that has had the raw-end of many political stitch ups. It isn't a twee village in the stockbroker belt with sky high property values, and almost all of the historical treasures have gone for good. It now needs to be able to regenerate with as few shackles as possible. Getting rid of the odd derelict and decrepit building that has long had its day should be just a start. We've got an enviable central position and should be screaming out for this to recognised in regional government decisions, not squabbling over the odd pile of nondescript stones.