Things that go bump in the night!

Strange noises can be heard in Gateshead's pathfinder district after dark. The council's leafleting team seem to have gone all shy on residents and only come out at night. Residents are now reporting late-night leaflets popping through the letterbox.

The pressure and persistance of Saltwell and Bensham Residents Association seems to be having the effect of spurring the council into a campaign of leaflets to explain why it is demolishing 440 homes in the middle of a homeless crisis in Gateshead. The leaflet "Your Area, Your News" explains all the "property improvements" in Saltwell and Bensham. A map, neatly divided into phases, is included.

However before popping the champagne corks many residents will already have noticed the small print which says: "there is no guarantee that we will be able to deliver the full programme of improvements set out in the plan."

Later on it says: "Due to the uncertainty of funding we will have to regularly review the improvement plan with local people".

Residents, who were once told that pathfinder was 95% about renovation, will be surprised at these admissions. To demolish 440 homes the cost will be close to £40 million yet the low cost improvements that would revitalise the area are subject to uncertainty of funding.

Trying to explain to people how vital repairs and renovation is delayed in order to fund unnecessary demolition is part of the surreal world in which Gateshead Council and the pathfinder programme finds itself. It perhaps also explains why the council prefers to deliver the message at the dead of night.