Malcolm Robinson

Perhaps there should be some kind of aptitude or IQ test for councillors and politicians. My experience is that most couldn't arrange a piss up in a brewery, ask them a question and they resort to the party line which of course they have memorised. Just like one of the budgie's I had as a youngster, vote Labour and support a mouthpiece.

Apathy

Actually there was supposed to be a basic test for councillors and some councils actually took them, I asked the question but WDC seems impervious to such things!

Threegee,

I take your point about the councillor make up of WDC and the fact that the power base is across the water, isn't it time for none political ballot papers for local elections? This should ensure the electorate at least finds out who they going elect! In fact to tackle the much heralded "apethy" question I would include a box marked, "None of the above" as I do not necessarilly belive not voting is truely apethy it may just be a protest.

I do believe for some strange quasi political reason the Bedlington councillors are obviously ineffective, and have been for some years, maybe it is time to impose passport controls on Stakeford Bridge and reimpose the old boundaries of Bedlingtonshire declaring a seperate state!

A little redecorating isn't going to change very much, without an anchor store Bedlington is doomed to retail mediocrity at best. Considering our geographical location I find it amazing that Bedlington hasn't 'taken off'.

I quite agree Swalnalla and the fact that Bedlington is in the middle of Ash,Mor,Bly and Cram is something the Home Office(cop shop) didn't miss! In the end every little helps and having a Front Street which everyone can see is a conservation area for its own worth will only help attract the type of business you describe. It is now up to the people who want to see Bedlington develop to make sure that money is spent wisely, at least question and hold to account every decision made!

Must have heard all the disenfranchised voices on this board, about the town, in the ivory tower across the water as 1.5 million squid coming Bedlington's way.........wow! Of course seeing might be believing.

I watched the show and while I was happy to see anything on national TV about the old homestead why do they always equate pits and pitmen with brass bands when there is and was so much more. I know they followed a theme in the original but it does reinforce the "cloth cap and whippet" image the rest of the country if not world has of the area.

What happened to those days Joe, someone decided to initiate a system of greed and avarice into society for political gains and thereby destroyed community cultures!

Joe,

Don't know if I would agree with that. I was just back in Bedlington last month after a number of years away and there still looks to be a lot to do. Of course it is a subjective view as I am really comparing with what I am used to now.

Still looks like the forgotton backwater of Wansbeck to me which is a shame as Front Street is the only conservation area of its type in the whole of WDC!

I know there are moves afoot to change its appearance but there were when I lived there over 5 years ago.

Last week the PO was fined 11 million squid but who pays? Not only that who gets paid and what happens to the money. If it is the as yet unprivatised section of the PO will the Gov be fining itself and then giving the cash back in grant form?

i

what are they talking about? of course theres land in bedlington for a youth centre/sports centre/leisure centre or whatever to be built! bedlington is basically surrounded by fields and land. there were talks of a leisure centre being built, but no, they had to build another police station. what was wrong with the one we already had?

A few years ago some Bedlington Forum members and others tried to get something done for the youngsters in the town. Our idea was a purpose built unit, sort of youth club, but with some sporting facilities thrown in. (Tried to kill two birds with one stone!) We identified several parcels of council owned land in the town and also found funding. The snag was that WDC would not countenance a new build. The reason, they had to cover any shortfall in running expenses, not withstanding construction costs, and with a limited budget I could see their point. Another snag was that we wanted the land for a quid or equal partnership. Council have to, by law, get best value for any land sales etc and our argument was that our idea represented best value for the land even with no money changing hands as pure financial gain was never mentioned as being the criteria. Of course the resulting stalemate was plain for anyone to see! It was also suggested at the time, by WDC, Bedlington might be getting a small multi use sports facility which we could adopt into and possibly have a section for youth use. I guess that never got off the ground reading current comments!

So if anyone expects WDC to build a dedicated facility you are dreaming, the only way to do it is to do it yourselves. A good starting point would be to go along to a Forum meeting and get it back on the agenda. It isn’t easy but it isn’t impossible!

Bedlington is overlooked because it is part of Wansbeck. Count up how many councillors Ashington has - more than enough to out number the rest of the Wansbeck councillors, so they get their own way over everything.

Bedlington councillors don't stand a chance of getting anything through, even if they wanted to.

That might not be quite as simple as it sounds. When I lived in Bedlignton if you took the old Bedlingtonshire area there was enough political muscle in councillor numbers to get things changed. The fact that they never did may well be another thread! It seemed to me towing a single party line was much more important than representing their electorate! Something to ask about next time there is a knock at the door off anyone begging votes!