Sunday, 14 April 2013

The local papers (4)


The main item of interest for me was the excellent article about Sylvia Harris’s 106th birthday: Sylvia is an incredible advert for NE life and also for her home at Abbeyfield Bamburgh - which in the same week celebrated being awarded the Abbeyfield gold star rating.

The discussion at the North Sunderland parish council about the proposed development next to Kingsfield at Seahouses was also interesting. The county planning team was supportive, although it contained atypical houses at the entry to the village and it is not clear the development matches the village’s needs. The parish council did not support the development. This is yet another example – and there’s been quite a few during the campaign alone – why we need to set a planning framework that’s suitable for our area.

The poor state of our roads and the risk of the County walking away from some of them was reported, I’m pleased to say with a brief quote from me.

The Bamburgh Research Project has over the last 17 years carried out fascinating digs at Bamburgh Castle and a variety of nearby sites to learn more about the archaeological heritage of Bamburgh – they are starting a fundraising exercise to support the work in 2013.

The previous week’s papers reported on the possible allocation of funding for dualling the A1. I remain optimistic that it will happen; apart from wind farms the need for dualling is the commonest comment when I’ve knocked on doors and spoken to people. Anne-Marie Trevelyan is generally acknowledged as having kick started the campaign to have it done and I hope for some reflected glory.

Speaking of wind farms: there was a report of David Cameron’s meeting that I described earlier, referring in particular to concern about wind farms.

And lastly, relevant to the planning policy approach I noted above, the periodic occurrence of letters about coastal development at Beadnell started again.

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