New and Exciting - FOR WHO??

It appears that much is being hailed about the R.I.O.T.T trial at the needle centre on Corporation Road. What exactly is good about it for the residents of Corporation Road, Elmfield Terrace or in fact any resident of Northgate. There has been no consultation from the Elmfield Centre about what appears to be extended opening hours of this facility. Why should my family have to run the gammit of bad language at a weekend as we do now during the week, why should my children have to hear lurid details of these peoples lives.

At what point, if at all, were the opinions of residents to be taken into account, at any point has it been thought that perhaps a residential area would not be suitable for a facility such as the Elmfield Centre especially now that their remit is being extended. The NHS should have perhaps incorporated this facility into Doctor Piper House when that was being developed or indeed Darlington could have followed Middlesboroughs admirable lead and incorporated this service into the Town Hall facility to completely remove the problem from an already disadvantaged residential area.

One thing should be remembered, these people were not forced to take drugs, they were not forced to become addicts, they had a choice, the residents of Northgate it seems do not. Our Councillors are their usual quiet selves, is it political correctness and new Labour policy of not listening that stops them from speaking out?

This is not an exciting new project for us residents. How would the leader of Darlington Borough Council like it and how would Alan Milburn like it if "UK's first 'shooting gallery' for addicts" was on their doorstep? I can tell you they wouldn't be excited (which is how the R.I.O.T.T publicity describes the project), and neither am I, I am horrified.