Malcolm Robinson

Happy New Year to everyone.......... 

Well I wouldn't mind being hit with this Storm.......

GGG,

see your pin up has been found guilty at last...............

She might be looking for an away from it all holiday, not in France!   

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/745197/IMF-Christine-Lagarde-guilty-Tapie-payment-French-court

Happy Birthday Pete..........hope you are not going to get too.......

You should have had a table at our Xmas Market too Tez..................

Arch actually came about with the dissolution of Wansbeck Life............you might want to look into that can of worms!  

Its also got Wansbeck Life mentioned in its company information.  

17 hours ago, Bedlingtonian said:

I am not one of the disciples however could anyone explain what influence WBTC has in relation to NCC and ARCH.

No one has any influence with Arch........thats the way it looks anyway!  

Mow, like the rest of your comments I'm afraid, if I agreed with you then we would both be wrong!  

I too respect your opinion mo but it still seems you have this thing where we are looking to spend your money on vanity projects?  

Its my money too and nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact if you take a look at the reformation WBTC has gone through over the last two years you will see that financial propriety has been uppermost in that restructuring.  

And BTW, I have a full time job as well as a lot of other voluntary commitments!  

Mow when I am attacked I respond in kind .......simples.  

Ok Mow I'll carry on getting off my backside and trying to get things moving you carry on criticising from your armchair!  

Excellent videos Damian.  

Foxy.......I see Davey was selling his stuff even then!  

·        We would be restoring it to its former glory that’s the point!

·        Saving would be made in ‘other’ areas.  It’s a difficult concept but with NCC cutting back on its service delivery and local councils having to increase what they charge so they can pay to keep these services,  if we can keep the services we want for no extra charge, that’s a saving to me.   Also there are enhanced service deliveries we are looking at, such as for the War Memorial maintenance and setting.  Again if there is no charge then that would be a saving to me……and residents!  Everything carries a charge these days.

·        I agree with your take on the cultural vandalism which is taking place but like I said get over to our Council meetings once a month and you will see the time and efforts we are putting into trying to head off the worst excess and even, like this project if I may say, enhance the Town’s heritage lineage even further.   

·        Its takes time and effort Mow but the system will become clear.  I know just about everyone who attends our meetings and I certainly know the people from Bedlington who stand together and  fight against daft planning dictates up at County Hall because in a very short time they understand that these days we are actually trying to do our best to represent and promote the Town. 

Make no mistake there are huge changes coming, as I said in the Newsletter, how these are dealt with will be up to the people we vote in to do that.   Irrespective of the hundreds of millions of pounds NCC seem to be able to find for the likes of Arch and their own projects, like enhancing the social and commercial  infrastructure of Ashington,  they are cutting £58M out of what are really essential local services.  How the Town and its hinterland survives is going to be up to how the likes of these cuts are managed and the ability of the people we elect. 

Just now, moe19 said:

Malome Malcome Malcome .I think you are digging a deeper hole for yourself here, are you seriously telling us that the entire flower beds and grass on the large red lion roundabout would be done away with to site a monument that can be no more than a few foot square ? I very much hope not the displays on the red lion roundabout is one of the towns finest assets.

Mow, mow, mow, No they most certainly are not, even our Bedlington in Bloom group wants them abolished!  Also the fact that they are our NCC 'Gateway' feature just adds insult to injury!   

If you mean just clearing a patch in the middle of the roundabout thus  having a  three or four feet square of less ground to tend to   I doubt this would make virtually no difference to its maintenance requirements at all, and personally I would rather see those 6 workers employed goodness knows we have enough poor folk out of work .

Did I say make them unemployed..........redeployed into more productive areas would be my suggestion.  

Our Valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations: are something to be proud of and cherish. moving them around like chess pieces on a board will not one jot of difference make  to our heritage, would moving the market cross to a more conspicuous location   make Bedlington more  impressive to visitors ? or  how about taking the blue plaques off our listed  buildings and displaying them in more prominent place for travellers to see , I don't think so.

Of course displaying the likes of these monuments would be of interest to visitors.......they would get to see it anyway!  Also i presume you therefore disagree with the initial cultural vandalism which took place in the 70's and see the memorial moved in the first place.  What's being suggested is actually reinstating its original position.    

And don't get me started on Blue Plaques............we seem to have lost one!!!!!!!!!

Personally I would have liked to have seen something done about the large number of multi coloured  steel shutters that blight the street , and the plastic windows and modern doors that seem to be appearing in growing numbers aircon units and satellite dishes and great big banners on the roundabouts, derilict bits of land that are overgrown and full of rubbish but no one seems interested in such things    

Again mow so far out of touch its untrue.  Why not toddle over the road once a month and attend a Town Council meeting then you would know just how much effort we have put into trying to hold the NCC planners to account over their lack of interest in Bedlington and its planning guidelines!      I have been at county hall three times over the last few months fighting planning applications and incursions on behalf of residents.  Must have missed you or are you really one of these uninterested people you speak of?  

I would rather have things done and money spent for the benefit of Bedlington residents, not the occasional visitor who may be passing through on the top deck of the 400 on his or hers way to buy some shoes or socks at a town that has some shops, but as you said earlier you are sick of folk complaining  about that.

You don't need to paraphrase me mow, or take what i say out of context but you do need to do just a little research and get a basic understanding of what you are talking about.  

I think the topic has been exhausted.                 

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

Where to start mow......

At the end as usual......you have every right to say how and where your taxes are spent and you should exercise that right next May!  

Putting Bedlington in the front of things instead of the back burner is the intention and with very little by way of budget or legal remit!  

Yes there are many things which need to be done in the town but 99% of them are NCC's remit, one of the main things a Town Council can do is try and promote the place with whatever they have to work with, in our case an enviable line of heritage which should be on show for any visitor or traveller passing through the Town.  

As for the costs question the savings to be made by not employing up to 6 workers every month or so to look after those grasses in the middle of the roundabout far far outweighs any costs that this project may or may not be costing!   So to answer your question I'm proposing to still spend nowt on the monument but reduce the costs of the  upkeep of the roundabout by using the monument .................. 

Right back from work so I can respond:

Bayardm…..why don’t we put it all in the middle of Millfield or Westlea…….oh yes it’s called gateway features for a reason.

Mow………Your strapline is actually in the design of the lamp post banners we want up along Front Street but because of NCC’s sheer incompetence we don’t as yet have permission!  I did want them up for the Street Fair as is reported in the newsletter!  I thanked you for allowing us to use it and I still do. 

Also the costings of this memorial transfer suggestion…….you are only looking at one side of the equation! 

As for you not knowing where you live………we are clearly talking about the Council boundary not the physical geography…………..

"Now you ask me if I am a a resident of West Bedlington Malcome and I will tell you now that I am not, I am a resident of Bedlington Central the same area that the Trotter Memorial resides in, so the one hundred dollar question has to be what has the Trotter Memorial got to do with West Bedlington Town Council Malcome"

I'll get back about the rest when I have some time but your last sentence says it all really.

You are not a resident in West Bedlington Town Council area....................if you live in Bedlington Central especially the same area as the Trotter Memorial you do live in the West Bedlington Council area and that monument is certainly within our remit as its slap bang in the middle of our patch!   Send your hundred dollars to the "Jail Hillary" campaign.  

Where to start……..

First moving the memorial back would actually be wise on account of us promoting the Town on the back of its heritage. 

Secondly it would actually save money if done correctly and who said our council would be paying for it? 

Thirdly it would give any visitor an immediate impression of a place proud of its heritage.

Lastly most people will pass it daily and never see it, or understand its significance, where it is. 

As for toilets………and before this subject turns into the usual can’t buy socks and nickers in Bedlington……..the toilets near the top end car parks, across the road from the library, all the pipework etc has substantial root damage and has been assessed as totally unviable to reopen, we tried!  

The next ones at the rear of the marketplace have been demolished as part of the Tesco/Arch redevelopment.  We should see an accessible public toilet on the site as part of a new library building when it gets done……if it ever gets done.  That’s obviously out of our control.

Last one down in Attlee Park we have just been trying to reopen that but the funding we had in place was taken away at the last minute and justifying the large amount of council tax needed to do the refurb is impossible when considered against usage.    

All this has been reported and discussed at Town Council meetings over the last couple of years.  

Now then Moe as far as not knowing what we are doing or doing something for the sake of it, and I’m going to presume you actually live in West Bedlington and going out further on a limb I’ll assume you have some understanding of what you are a actually taking about, I think if you take the time and read through the newsletters we have been putting out for the last 2 years you will see a defined progression, financial propriety and a determination to carry ambitious projects out on behalf of residents, all within our pretty restrictive legal remit.

Well lets just throw the towel in entirely then moe.........

One question.........with so much information contained in that newsletter, more than has ever been put in front of the Bedlington public about they way their public finances are managed and the way the council are looking to promote the Town etc, why is the only comment kinda negative in nature?  

Or about three lecterns Merc at places where pedestrians can stop and read them.  

NB, please read the first sentence in the article.........this is testing the water!  

If we are getting so het up with being able to read the inscriptions/blue plaque then why has no one but me asked about our missing one!!!!!!!! 

Personally I'm with GGG........... for the last paragraph in the article!  

Only appertaining to the West really but thats the Town so..........

http://www.westbedlington.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-41092_WBPC-newsletter-issue-3-2.pdf

We should have taken the bust! 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/01/its-not-just-deutsche-european-banking-is-utterly-broken/