Dear Sir,

There have been five large mature trees removed and two ‘sticks’ planted in the last week to replace them!

I am not some eco nutter – or a Mister Angry who raves on about any old nonsense – I was born and have lived in Aycliffe all my life and I am just frustrated at the state of the place!

The town centre is still a joke and our Council are clueless. Answer this – why do we need a Town Council? What do they do for our town? A firework display and ‘Aycliffe Show’. . .

Do they really think a few seats and new paving is going to make people want to sit in the town centre and look at charity shops? We should buy back the town centre for the town – and get rid of the absent landlords before the damage is permanent– M&Co have now gone and more to come – why is this allowed to happen?

What does this town have? No cinema, no Costa or other decent shops – what shops do we have worth visiting the town for? We have nothing – look at what has just been built around Tindale Crescent. There are loads of people from Aycliffe going there to shop – M+S, Costa, Next, etc.

Why wasn’t this done in Aycliffe? When people ask where you are from I bet you aren’t proud to say ‘Newton Aycliffe’. I don’t know anyone who is proud to say that – most say Darlington or Woodham as if that is not in Aycliffe.

We are looking to move off the town before it gets any worse. Yes – we are giving up!

Anonymous &

disgruntled resident.

Name & address supplied