Transport officials in Northumberland are hoping to meet regional partners and Network Rail soon in a bid to make progress on long-awaited plans to restore passenger train services on an axed line.

The meeting is being sought to review work carried out to date on the planned reopening of the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne railway line, and try to shunt the scheme out of the sidings.

The latest moves were revealed yesterday after a new report by the influential Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) included the ABT scheme in a list of 14 railway lines it wants to see opened to passenger trains.

More meetings are to be held in Northumberland to allow people to have their say on £200m proposals for new and improved hospitals in the county.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has drawn up plans for a new specialist emergency care centre near Cramlington, plus improvements to Wansbeck General and the rebuilding of community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.

But the changes would see the closure of emergency departments at Wansbeck and Hexham General, moves which have caused some concern with patients.

Finance chiefs at Northumberland's cash-strapped super council are trying to recover almost £9m in unpaid council tax inherited from the county's former district authorities.

The huge debt has been revealed following the abolition of Berwick, Alnwick, Castle Morpeth, Tynedale, Wansbeck and Blyth Valley councils on April 1 - and their replacement by the all-purpose unitary council.

Budding entrepreneurs from 12 Northumberland schools are preparing to pitch their ideas to judges in a contest which combines Dragons' Den with The Apprentice.

The high school students will be competing at the Alnwick Garden Pavilion tomorrow evening in the final of the Northumberland Enterprise Learning Network challenge for school-based companies.

The teams will champion their individual business ventures in a range of categories to a judging panel including Garden managing director Mike Dukes and County Durham estate agent and recent Apprentice contestant, Philip Taylor.

Bids are being lodged for a Prince Charles-signed book being sold for Seaton Delaval Hall.

The National Trust is leading the drive to buy the stately home for the nation. And as the trust's president, Prince Charles has wished the charity every success in securing the Northumberland hall and has autographed a book to auction on behalf of the appeal.

Royal collectors are being urged to place a bid in an online auction.

Older people in Northumberland are threatening a revolt against new charges for day centre care which are being brought in by the county's cash-strapped super council.

Apart from meal and transport costs, attendance at day centres has been free for elderly and disabled people until now. But means-tested fees are being introduced to help County Hall bosses make savings on their adult care budget.

Day centre clients are being assessed and told how much they will have to contribute to their care each week, based on their income and savings.

Anger has erupted after people in Northumberland were sent warning letters and court summonses by their new super council wrongly stating they had not paid their council tax.

The 'intimidating' letters have been sent out to some householders who had already paid their monthly council tax bills because of problems which have been affecting the unitary authority's revenues and benefits section since April 1.

The controversy over MPs' expenses was today reignited when Parliament released details of their claims.

Over a million original documents have been scanned and uploaded to the UK Parliament website during the past year, where they can be viewed for current Members of Parliament.

Below are the details of Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell's claims, covering claims between 2004/05 and 2007/08, with links to the forms filled in for the various kinds of allowances. Some information has been blacked out for reasons of privacy.

Northumberland County Council leader Jeff Reid has been selected as the Liberal Democrats' prospective parliamentary candidate in Blyth Valley.

Coun Reid lost the election to Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell in 2001 and 2005 but the Liberal Democrats have been buoyed by recent results in county council and parish council elections.

He said: "I am very proud to have been selected as the PPC again. Labour have failed in this area and people in Blyth Valley are ready for a change, as they demonstrated only too clearly in the town and parish councils in the three areas of the constituency."

A North East play that brings alive war memories is coming to Seaton Delaval.

Funded by £10,000 from Awards for All, Badapple Theatre has gathered together the memories of women who served with the Women's Land Army in the North East and turned them into a new comedy.

'The Land Girls of Yorkshire' will be touring the North East and coming to Seaton Delaval Arts Centre on June 18. Contact Badapple Theatre on 01423 339168 or via www.badapple.freeserve.co.uk.