Chris88

Vote Communist.

The last thing the street needs is more houses rammed into it. The parking is utterly appalling at the best of times with The Red Lion and the traffic is even worse at school time.

Wasn't there a proposal for housing there a couple of years back that culminated in the stone wall being knocked down along near the church and school?

It would make a perfect car park for the Red Lion!

Is this of any use in the guessing game: http://endb-consolidated.aihit.com/017A3C6D/people.htm#KHUSHNINDER SINGH GHURA Or am I completely missing something?!

I heard a rumour that Toby Carvery had been advertising for jobs in Bedlington with the further rumour being that the Ridge Farm was reopening. Can anyone throw any light on this?

It would be utterly insane to pull down a house just to let the buses in. A wider road at that location would be horrible to cross whilst keeping an eye out for traffic. The buses should be able to go into the school via the bottom exit, turn around in there and head back out the same way. Unfortunately, since I left they've built all over the bottom area. They've been managing for years anyway. Tough luck that the Council let the school get so vast in such a poorly accessible location!

So when does the 5 years run out for the school site? Is there literally nothing that can be done to prevent its demolition? Those flats that are planned for the site are huge. The view of the wonderful church tower and clock will be completely lost. They will dominate the area. I seem to remember that the developers initially just wanted to convert the old school into houses but got turned down. That somehow seems a much more preferable solution now. I may be wrong there though.

Is it too late to do anything about the Old School site? Or is there still legal wrangling going on? I remember signing a petition maybe a couple of years ago but I've never heard anything since. Also, what's the issue with the development of the gap site? Or is it because Tesco haven't done anything to improve it? Sorry, as you can probably tell, I'm out of the loop here.

Whilst, it would be good news for this application to have been withdrawn, I do not hold my breath. With travesties such as the Old School and the now since long gone barn on the Hartford Road, it seems that heritage loss is an ongoing thing in Bedlington. I have often thought that the Old School would have made a perfect site for a Bedlington museum or information centre. In case anyone hasn't seen, then the page on the Nicholas Nairn Architects page for what they intend to do on the Old School site is interesting, if not an eyesore. The magnificent clock tower of the church will be completely blocked out from the Front Street. What they are proposing doesn't even have chimneys! How can it fit in?! If you go through places like Morpeth and Rothbury, most new developments that are in Conservation areas have chimneys as they fit in amongst the old buildings but that never seems to happen in Bedlington. Good luck with the plans for the Smithy/Stable though. It seems like an interesting little building that in a more valued town you can imagine being converted into an old curiosity/brick-a-brack/ book shop.