I can't believe it's not Benidorm

But it isn't. Seaham beach is an unassuming stretch of sand and shingle and coloured glass. It's our local beach. The town has been developed significantly in recent years and they are now reaping the dividends. Today the seats outside the cafes were full, the ice cream van was non-stop licking and it was a pleasure to be there.

Just down the coast at Hartlepool, the council like Seaham, used imagination and redeveloped their natural assets for the benefit of their rate and rent payers.

Sunderland (the city that I pay my taxes to) has a plan - another plan. We did get a morrisons on the seafront and an amusement arcade and a railway coach to dine in. Nice? They dismantled an earlier plan a few years ago, a fountain. It froze in winter and made the road a skidpan. In the summer the kids threw bubble bath into it. Hmmm.... they went away and had a rethink.

Newcastle and Gateshead developed their riverside to provide theatres and promenades. Sunderland provided student accommodation and a glass centre which is neither nowt or summat. Once the biggest shipbuilding town in the world and on the site of the shipyards they built a glass centre.