_pauls

Hello - just checking in for the first time in a year or so to see how people feel it is going? From my hideout in West Bedlington I can see that we have invested in a wonderful set of traffic lights and cones while we widen footpaths that will result in approximately 0 additional pedestrian and cyclist journeys to the station that we haven't got yet. Entrance to the memorial garden looks nice*. In a couple of weeks I will cast my vote for my local independent candidate because at least I know he actually cares, but in a sense I wonder how the electoral comission can keep a straight face when offering elections for Bedlington when I suspect that NCC hasn't even heard of the place. Although to be fair they got it spot on when they decided what we needed was half a dozen empty flats and 4 empty retail units. *for real... not sarcasm in case anyone wondered

Good Christmas and a merry new year to all. I have abstained from the group for some time to accommodate the glacial progress of work on Bedlington. Now that things are moving at such pace I thought I would drop in and say Hi!

Sounds good to me

And all of those millions of pounds from levelling up funds and town centre development programmes amounts to a carbon copy supermarket, four shops and 6 flats. Oh and a footpath. Not exactly what I'd call a "comprehensive redevelopment"

The website was up and running for at least three years, run by Advance Northumberland. It used to get updated about once every nine months with exciting developments such as "we're really starting now, honestly. Will be finished by January" kind of thing. It's a shame it has gone - was a perfect record of the years of broken promises and missed opportunities. I can see how they eventually realised that it was an embarrassment to them and took it down though.

I think that nicely encapsulates the situation. Seems like nobody much cares so no point flogging a dead horse. www.investinginbedlington.co.uk. Thank you so much Northumberland County Council.

Happy Christmas and lets hope 2023 brings good things to all!

I don't disagree about shops. In general the only shops with a future in town centres are those where shopping or services in-person is essential or advantageous, hence why we have a plethora of hairdressers, tattoo shops and dog grooming parlours. Thats why I'd much rather see a leisure offering than shops.

I don't think that Bedlington needs more dwelling places... the country probably does, the county may even need them but not so sure about Bedlington. If you keep building homes in places with no amenities then all you do is create logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to work, to school, to shop, for leisure etc.

Ah thanks Eggy - that was the article that I saw initially and I thought that I'd missed both the West and East Bedlington sessions - I will be able to make the one next Saturday so I will go along.

Was anyone able to attend either of the sessions from last weekend? I was out of the country so I couldn't go but I would be interested to know what was presented or asked.

I used the email address that appears at the foot of each page rather than the webform on the contact us page.

It is perhaps symbolic that emailing the "contact us" address on Investing in Bedlington results in a bounce with a "No Such User Here" 9 months since the last update on there. I wonder why they don't take the site down and save themselves the embarrassment of a monument to 7 years of broken promises. I wonder how many of the benefits of the scheme can now be safely ticked off the list?

"Further investment of just over £2 million to ensure the project is completed." Part of the problem is nobody seems to know what the project is any more. I'm assuming that what is referred to here is the four new retail units and associated flats, rather than any of the other plans.

Good to see it looking so smart. I haven't been in the cemetery for a while as my fitness regime lapsed but when I walked through the other day it looked great.