Marks and Spencer

Shame on Rob Yorke, the county councillor for West Auckland, who must ultimately bear the responsibility if our town centre dies the death that has befallen so many others due to out of town retail complexes.

Coun Yorke originally drummed up a petition of 300 signatures in favour of a new out of town store.

In response, a second petition against the idea contained 1,800 signatures.

Of course, Coun Yorke ignored the plea of the larger vote and the advice of the county planners who said such a move would be to the detriment of the town.

Now, even after a petition of more than 6,000 signatures asking Marks and Spencer to stay in the town, Coun Yorke believes he knows best.

He claims that an out of town complex will be good for Bishop Auckland.

He also believes that Marks and Spencer would have closed its town centre store regardless.

Wishful thinking?

His comment to The Northern Echo – “We have to stop this ‘them and us’ mentality and realise that all this development is great for Bishop Auckland as a whole” – proves he is not listening to the majority.

His talk of “them and us” is really him versus the residents and retailers of Bishop Auckland.

BM Atkinson, Bishop Auckland.

I HAVE read with interest the recent letters from readers about the out of town developments in Bishop Auckland and the concerns of the good folk of the town.

The key to all of this is a balance between town and out of town trading.

At the time of writing my last letter I did not think the situation would arrive where we would see a total disregard and neglect of the town centre, which should be the focal point of Bishop Auckland. If I may explain to Councillor Rob Yorke, who seems to be like a runaway train with no destination, we are living in a rural area of great beauty.

Bishop is not Manchester, Liverpool or anywhere else that does not share such lovely countryside, so great care has to be considered when building anything.

The further development of the Weardale Railway will play a big part in a tourism drive and success of the town centre.

Therefore it is important we have the infrastructure to support all of this in the town centre and not on the outskirts.

People visiting will not all want to visit a trading estate.

They will be looking for specialist shops, pubs and restaurant etc I understand the job situation only too well. However, there is a bigger picture here and priority should be given to the town centre as an imbalance is now imminent.

We have already seen the socalled regeneration of Bondgate and what a mess that is. What is being erected in the town centre at the moment is a joke.

Durham County Council is wasting our money. I think certain members of the council should stand down as they have failed in their duty to the people of Bishop Auckland.

John Gasston, Bishop Auckland.