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Further to my post above these are our paid representatives on the NCC. Terry Johnstone West Bedlington (He got a mention on the comedy night / Kai Humphries and School) Valerie Tyler East Bedlington Alyson Wallace Central Bedlington John James Gobin Sleeknurn David Ledger Choppington Julie Foster Stakeford. Lots of people but what have they ever done for us in Bedlington. ( to quote Monty Python) Do they bother to turn up for meetings. What expenses do they claim? Basically why do we suffer from such a lack of facilities. To move forward we may , sadly, have to look back. What is needed is an independent audit of all years from the 70's onward. The figures quoted about the five million are misleading. We need transparency. Central Goverment are scrutinised , the time has come for Local Scrutiny!. Surely If everything has been done correctly then these people will be proved to be above and beyond reproach. This is not about party politics and individuals. It is about a town with nothing and nothing to loose. Not even a toilet. 'Pot to p**s in'

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.