Malcolm Robinson

Exactly one of my points….are we just supposed to accept this figure for what is in reality a community owned asset? It might only take one person on film star's wages somewhere in the system to distort the costings. Again I agree with this and there are other options to be considered as well, as has already been pointed out on this thread.

Stephen, Not trying to be too pedantic but the figure you mentioned of 78K is supposed to represent the SUBSIDY cost not running costs. I presume that is what must be put into the pot once any contributions from the centre itself are eaten up? I would therefore assume we are being told even your figures are not the true running costs? Without an independent audit or the figures released to the public at large I don't see why we should just accept what looks like arbitrary calculations?

I think Stephen has a good point, use the building to incorporate other service deliveries into, the library being an excellent suggestion! I really don't think we can afford to loose the community centre as I have already said its position alone deserves serious consideration. Tentative enquires have already been made about the library, as a possible venue for youth provision if it did close, but we were told the land belongs to the Area Health Authority and the doctors practice there would like to expand.

I am thinking more into the future as it happens but I guess there are plenty of community groups now who will be holding events, bring and buy, dances, little fundraisers and the like who could benefit from being able to get 'posters' out to a wider audience. People who might not get the originals could be putting downloaded copies up in workplaces, surgeries, supermarkets etc…… I have just been asked today what will be on in the market place over the next 2 weeks. I know there is a poster for these events, if it could be downloaded, with a Bed.co.uk tag line, two birds one stone?

That's your 'warn status' in the red!

That was the Lord Barrington Brian..........

Ok then we will leave it up to the people such as you mention. Oh that's right we have done that, been there, got the t-shirt…….. 30 years of oblivion rolled up in a sentence!

I couldn't agree more Camille and I think this is just the sort of lateral thinking needed to promote our town culturally if not economically. We have over 1000 years of recorded history and even the major part Bedlington played in the industrial revolution has never been exploited. This is why I keep saying we need something like a town manager, someone who can bring all these ideas, and probably the more off the wall the better, together and develop them. Until we do that we will just be a very very small part of Northumberland which no one notices.

I agree Merlin and there is other stuff which could be looked at as well, such as maybe it could be split with the community retaining say the ground floor. That would certainly reduce this subsidy figure and mean we get to keep a central and viable community centre? Maybe it could be taken over for us by a charitable trust? Lots of questions not many answers!

I would imagine that would depend on what the 'event' entailed? The old summer fairs ran the length of Front Street, a dog show would need much less space....or possiblt not.....

I too agree, handled properly it should deliver a lot of international coverage. I can't for the life of me see why the dog breeders don't have this anyway? A quick word of caution, we know from past experiences once you get the coverage you have to have something in place which can exploit as well as sustain that interest and perhaps more work would need to be done there?

GGGG, What about a dedicated page or whatever, you know how much of a luddite I am, where community groups can put up a poster which can then be downloaded and printed off. We could soon have a band of flyposters of course but maybe some might like to take it around their particuler areas and ask shops, offices etc to put them up? I know a lot of people who still don't know what is going on in the Market Place in the run up to Xmas. Would it be too much trouble to get a clear A4 size image? If it was done responsibly you could always tag Bed.co.uk on the bottom?

Sleeping with Bob The guys were all at a deer camp. No one wanted to room with Bob, because he snored so badly.. They decided it wasn't fair to make one of them stay with him the whole time, so they voted to take turns. The first guy slept with Bob and comes to breakfast the next morning with his hair a mess and his eyes all bloodshot. They said, "Man, what happened to you? He said, "Bob snored so loudly, I just sat up and watched him all night." The next night it was a different guy's turn. In the morning, same thing, hair all standing up, eyes all bloodshot. They said, "Man, what happened to you? You look awful! He said, 'Man, that Bob shakes the roof with his snoring. I watched him all night." The third night was Fred's turn. Fred was a tanned, older cowboy, a man's man. The next morning he came to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. "Good morning!" he said. They couldn't believe it. They said, "Man, what happened?" He said, "Well, we got ready for bed. I went and tucked Bob into bed, patted him on the butt, and kissed him good night. Bob sat up and watched me all night.."

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart only good for so many beats, and that it...don't waste on exercise.. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiency. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So steak is nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef also good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And pork chop can give you 100% of recommended daily allowance of vegetable product. Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Bottom up! Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio two to one, etc. Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can't think of single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No pain...good! Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food are fried these day in vegetable oil. In fact, they permeated by it. How could getting more vegetable be bad for you?!? Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach. Q: Is chocolate bad for me? A: Are you crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around! Q: Is swimming good for your figure? A: If swimming good for your figure, explain whale to me.. Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! 'Round' a shape! Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. And remember: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!" AND..... For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies. 1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. 5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

I have just read this and I am still laughing about it! The county with its host of professional IT experts cannot maintain its own web site and the G's have put blooming snow controls on ours………. Hats off to you gentlemen!

I think to answer the original question we would need to have far more information. Of course people are shooting from the hip saying this facility should remain within their community, its only natural, because clearly once this building is lost to us there isn't another one which could replace it. Its position alone deserves genuine consideration. If we blindly accept the figures quoted, and I have heard the subsidy figure as between 76-100k per year, then for this facility to remain within community ownership I would imagine the Town Council would have to take it over and impose an extra charge of around £50 per year per household, increasing annually, to subsidise it. Thing is long gone are the days when I will accept such randomised figures from any authority so before I could answer your question GGGG here are a few of my own which I think need answering and which I hope the county have asked themselves before they took the decision to offload this building. An accurate true net worth of the building, in the current poor commercial market! Structural integrity, does it need any remedial works now or in the near future? A competent inspection of accounts, income and expenditure, can any savings be made there or new income flows generated? Could new investment produce the required return? Could a change of direction be cost effective and produce a return? Does the building meet current and proposed public usage legislation? These are just some of the more commercial questions which need to have been asked but because we are talking about a community asset here we also need to be asking other more politicised questions such as does this community have a need for such a building, does the authority have a duty of care to retain the cost and provide this service, etc, etc, etc. I would think it will boil down to hard economics at the end of the day and maybe in its current guise the figures will not stack up, but then maybe there is no one with any entrepreneurial flair on the payroll who could provide the innovative style needed to save it? I think we all have a duty to be asking questions of our elected leaders and officers especially at this time of financial trouble. They have to justify the decisions they make on our behalf and we for our part have to be open minded and sensible about things. We can just sit back and watch as one of the last of our community owned assets is flogged off and the money swallowed by county or we can behave in a responsible manner and apply a rigorous stress test to each step of the process.

I wouldn't take that bet Merlin…………. However it is worth pointing out that one reason that WDC was so keen to have new housing was that it got a bigger grant from central government, or in reality it was allowed to keep more of the business rates it collected. I wonder if the county have the same carrot?

I don't think it is quite that black and white Merc. I understand what you are saying and in a lot of ways agree but I still think there are options. If this whole development goes ahead, and its going to be early next year when we finally find out, I think it will inevitable adversely effect a lot of businesses in the town not to mention anyone thinking of opening a retail shop one here. The simple fact that as a large national Tesco monitors it's through sale per square footage closely and therefore will cheery pick only those goods which sell well and they can make a profit on. Course the rest of the independents do much the same thing but cannot hope to compete with either the costings or attraction a unit like a large Tesco will have. On the plus side if it does become a superstore people will be able to buy things which until then haven't been available in the town. That has got to be good news and might address the question of the large numbers of potentially local shoppers who never use Front Street. An increase of footfall should stimulate interest by other shops and offices bidding to exploit that potential, as long as the whole thing is managed properly. I think Jim's posting illustrates the way things could develop if left to drift as they always have done here. Without a clear and ambitious programme for future commercial development of the town as a whole we will certainly run the risk of seeing the piecemeal and ad hoc 'improvements' we have been used to for the last 30 years continue and even that could be drawing to a close given current market and budgetary tends.

Deffo.....what do you think happened to HP

As long as something happens it will make a nice change. If there was ever a reply to the doubters who think Bedders isn't worth investing in this could be it. Once again we see the restrictions attached to the tag 'Conservation area' being used to stifle progress and investment into the commercial infrastructure of our town, maybe its time to relinquish that particular title? (On the flip side without it we probably wouldn't have the new market place.) We will soon know if it is a goer this time I think the planning meeting is next week, let's hope some people come to their senses and accept the very minor tweaks needed! GGG, looks a bit of a do for a boilin the bag pasta seller!

I think it shows the down side of what is going to be done there with some people all for the Tesco development and others against the idea. Hard to see why any competent manager couldn't make that figure back with some careful in store promotions, seasonal and impulse, especially as the most used walkway from a car park will be right through his store! It should be a flagship development for the town and it should be used to springboard commercial development for the rest of the town or we run the risk of becoming Tescoville. At the moment I am afraid my money is on the latter rather than the former!

If we can't even hang on to pre-padded govt jobs then that's ghastly! Even more so when you consider 40% of all jobs in the county are public sector ones, in my view far too weighted but jobs nevertheless. We have now lost the presupposed coziness of Och and Ich running the county and if Bootsie and Smudge take over not hard to see where they will be making their much heralded cuts in public spends! Course we will be hit with a double whammy soon as not only national frontline services will be effected local ones delivered by the County are to be drastically cut as well. There does seem to be a pattern developing….cut the service and change more for less! As for the original question, I can't see how or why a dedicated building like the courts is, can be discarded? It was built for a purpose and is delivering that purpose or am I missing something? It would make a cracking leisure centre though or even a business addendum to the Tesco development.

There is one at the Plessy roundabout as well. They don't look too official to me but if Bedders had a 30 odd million pound development I think most of us would be shouting it from the rooftops as well!

Not to be too pedantic GGGG but it is now drifting in the opposite direction to the way it used to fall? Its coming straight off the sea now and its cold!

Just shows the emotive nature of the topic Sym…… (Did you use that pronoun deliberately?) I'm with Merc on this one with the proviso we actually talk and listen to the kids first. Hopefully there will soon be somewhere for them to go and occupy themselves but once there is……..no excuses!