HERE in Weardale I am sure we are all delighted at the news that Durham County Council is considering spending £500,000 of taxpayers money and another Lumiere light show for Durham City (Echo, July 12).
We are told there is a “clear public demand” for another and it is of “considerable” importance to the community and economy. Well not up here it isn’t!.
What did we see for it last time?
Nothing. Where is our share? And why should we pay for another?
Let the Durham City businessmen who profited put their hands in their pockets. And if the figures are correct, the 1,358 per cent return on the council’s “investment” on the 2013 event (£400,000) adds up to £5,432,000.
Nice work.
So what did we get up here? How did all this benefit us? Is Weardale firmly on the world map? I don’t think so.
All we got up here was the closing of Newton House, our only residential care home, on the grounds that the county council could not afford to run it, along with the county’s other local authority owned care homes.
And then the director of Adult Care receives an OBE. It beggars belief.
Perhaps another successful Lumiere will get council leader Simon Henig an OBE? Or perhaps a knighthood? Well deserved, I’m sure.
So finally in an amendment to the proposal to have the event – let’s have it in Weardale. The Weardale Lumiere sounds good to me. Then perhaps we’ll all get something out of it.
Brian Thompson, Rookhope, Weardale.
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