What do we know?
“You’re on mute” is a phrase that will be all too familiar to those of us who have taken part in Teams or Zoom video meetings. The evidence of this week would suggest it’s so much better to be reminded of that than suffer the consequences of the exact opposite - having everyone hear what you say when you don’t realise your mic is turned on.
Yes, we’re back to Newcastle City Council, and things are not getting any easier for them after last week’s report that opposition councillors were angered by an independent review which recommended big changes to the way the council operates.
The review, by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), suggested banning opposition councillors from asking questions at cabinet meetings, reducing the number of scrutiny hearings and scrapping committees devoted to investigating the council’s finances and climate change commitments.
An online governance review meeting has since been held. After independent councillor Marc Donnelly said residents should be consulted on any changes, someone was heard to say "F*** right off, the residents know s****."
My eyes and ears are already receiving, and the Local Democracy Reporting Service has spoken to various people who were present at the meeting and confirmed that they heard the comment, which is thought to have been made by someone without realising their microphone was switched on.
There’s more to come on this.
Powering on
North East mayor Kim McGuinness has never hidden her desire to get more devolved powers more quickly - and she demonstrated that this week.
Speaking at a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing, she criticised the "ridiculous" bidding wars that force regions to compete for funding, and she called for greater control over train services and for large areas of land to be taken out of Network Rail’s ownership.
“Devolve those train stations because we would treat them as incubators,” she said. “They are absolutely huge assets, they are gateways to our region.”
Ms McGuinness also said mayors should have more control over funding, including money currently distributed by Arts Council England and Homes England.
Her comments were part of a broader discussion on Labour’s proposed industrial strategy, alongside Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who argued that the North has been treated as being in "managed decline" for too long.
Pact agenda
There’s little point in talking about the council elections in this edition given the timings of the various counts and the winners being announced.
Interesting though that Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, four days before the polls opened, said the Tories may need to form a coalition with Reform UK at the next General Election to defeat Labour.
Minority rule
There were no council elections in Newcastle this week but next year is shaping up to be very interesting (as if things weren’t ‘interesting’ enough). Former leader Nick Kemp and five colleagues who quit Labour in November, have announced that they have formed a group called East End and Associates Independents.
Another Newcastle councillor quit Labour to go independent on Sunday, with Jane Byrne claiming it was “no longer the party of ordinary people”. Her decision leaves Labour with only 38 of the authority’s 78 seats.
On the fly
Council leader Glen Sanderson took exception to Northumberland being singled out on their fly-tipping record by Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
The PM said incidents of fly-tipping in the county had increased by 76% since 2017 but Councillor Sanderson said: “I would like to know why he has picked on Northumberland, which is one of the best performers in the North East.”
Under the Government's new laws, so-called ‘waste cowboys' will face up to five years in prison for operating illegally.
A quick word
Arriva is planning to run Grand Central trains five times a day between Newcastle and Brighton from December next year with stops including Oxford and Gatwick. Maggie's Centre in the grounds of the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle has officially opened a new annexe which will give them more space to support people living with cancer from across the North East. Newcastle-based Malhotra Group has launched the Malhotra Family Foundation. Their first major project is a £1.5 million community-based charity hub in Darras Hall near Newcastle. Police are looking for a man who drove a JCB into seven new-build council houses in Hurworth Moor near Darlington on Sunday night. Fenwick have released images of their new pop-up, The Botanical Garden by Fentimans, which will be available for drinking and dining in their flagship Newcastle store until the end of June. Gentoo has received permission to build 294 low-carbon homes in Pennywell, Sunderland. The mix of houses, bungalows and apartments will all be available for rent or shared ownership. Beamish is one of the nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year, with all five finalists located outside of London. The winner will be announced on June 26 at the Museum of Liverpool - the first time the event has ever been held outside of the capital. The door problem on the new Metro trains has been identified and they are gradually being reintroduced back into service. Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth told the Commons this week that he was “deeply concerned” that academy trust, Advance Learning Partnership, was giving its CEO a pay increase while making four teaching assistants at Howden-le-Wear Primary redundant.
Brand new idea
The Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland has launched a new strategy… and a new name.
The strategy is focused on increasing funding for the core activities of local charities and community organisations and will prioritise five impact areas: tackling poverty; widening access to opportunity; improving health and community safety; strengthening culture and community life; sustaining the environment.
Chief executive Rob Williamson OBE, said: “The Community Foundation model has been more successful here in the North East than anywhere else in the UK, but we see huge potential for growth. Our new identity will help us engage even more donors and community organisations as we aim to meet the significant needs we see across the region.”
Piece of cake
A family-run Teesside recycling company is using waste materials to reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector.
The production of the traditional binding agent Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) accounts for approximately 5-8% of global CO₂ emissions. Stockton-based Scott Bros has developed 'activated filter cake’, a sustainable fine-grained clay by-product, which reduces the amount of OPC needed in concrete by 25%.
Scott Bros director Peter Scott said: “Achieving a 25 per cent reduction in OPC is a significant milestone in our mission to create more sustainable construction materials. We're continuing our work with Teesside University to explore further opportunities for innovative, low-carbon alternatives using recycled waste.”
Building for the future
Structural works at Newcastle Building Society's new six-storey home in the heart of the city beside Grey’s Monument have now been completed.
Paul Wharton, director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, said: "This will breathe new life into an iconic building, with more than a third of the space being brought back into public use for the first time in decades. The end result is going to be a standout flagship location for the whole community to be proud of."
Stuart Miller, chief commercial officer at the society, said: "We hope our new Monument home will be a place for the whole community to connect, with a range of spaces for local groups, charities, civic organisations and our partners.
Easy for Ryder
Newcastle-based Ryder Architecture yesterday became an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), with a newly formed board of trustees now representing 350 staff across its UK and international teams.
Managing partner Mark Thompson said: “We are securing the future of the company and importantly maintaining all the elements that have made us so successful to date – our strong culture and identity, our reputation for excellence, and an unwavering commitment to develop, retain and reward our people who are at the very heart of our business.”
It’s not rocket science…
Northumbria University and the International Centre for Life, which celebrates its 25th birthday this month, have agreed a new strategic partnership to boost science education and engagement across the region.
Under the new agreement, signed by Northumbria University’s VC Andy Long and Life chief executive Linda Conlon, the two organisations will work more closely to co-create opportunities for research and public engagement to promote awareness of, and access to, STEM-based education and careers.
Centre of things
Sunderland University are moving their twice yearly graduation ceremonies to The Fire Station from next year.
Vice-Chancellor and chief executive Sir David Bell said: "We have enjoyed an excellent partnership with Sunderland AFC and the Stadium of Light. As Sunderland is being transformed, this is the time to be in the city centre so that we can utilise the wonderful facilities at the iconic The Fire Station.”
Business bites
Nissan has revised its outlook for its 2024 financial year and now expects net losses to be around £3.7bn - more than nine times what it previously set out. IT company Synergi has been sold to Brightsolid, part of the DC Thomson group, in an undisclosed deal. The Gateshead-based company will continue to trade under its own name. Shield Therapeutics, the Gateshead-based company known for its iron deficiency treatment Accrufer, has warned investors about potential risks and uncertainties stemming from the US tariffs. Former Unilever CEO Paul Polman officially opened Durham University Business School’s new Waterside building in the city centre which has achieved a Gold SKA rating for sustainability. PD Ports is looking to engage with the offshore renewables sector to explore the potential of developing one of the UK's largest offshore wind manufacturing and installation hubs in Teesside. Thales, which provides safety assurance for navigation systems and radars at Ministry of Defence sites all over the world, has signed a five-year deal to extend its stay at Teesside International Airport.
THE WIDER VIEW
Boomtime - for some
The latest official figures suggest the UK advertising market is booming. It grew to a record £42.6bn last year.
Spare a thought, however, for traditional media companies. It’s easy to say their newspapers are not what they used to be. And that their websites provide an irritating experience that you would rather avoid.
But this advertising bonanza is not reaching them, says Dominic Ponsford, editor in chief of Press Gazette. If you count up everything spent with national and regional newsbrands, plus the magazine industry (in print and online), you come up with a total publisher ad-spend of £1.6bn - just 3.8% of the market. That compares with a 39% market share they enjoyed in 2007.
Their share of the advertising pie is disappearing fast. Most of the money is going to just two US companies: Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp). Their total share of ad spend in the UK, he estimates, to be around the 60% mark.
“If these figures are in the right ballpark, it is very hard to see how legislators can do anything else except tackle these vast monopolies,” he said.
Thought for the day
1974 ad break
No tobacco products or alcohol this week. The classic Smash TV advert from the 1970s is one of the most iconic British commercials of all time. It featured robotic aliens laughing at humans for peeling potatoes instead of using Smash instant mashed potatoes. It was voted TV advert of the century by Campaign magazine and ranked second-best TV advert of all time in a poll by The Sunday Times and Channel 4
Roll with it
Swagger, nostalgia, and a whole lot of indie chaos is booked in at Newcastle Theatre Royal next year as a new show remembers one of the most headline-grabbing chart battles of all time - Blur v Oasis in 1995.
The iconic indie showdown is being reimagined for the stage in The Battle, a new comedy which will come to the Tyneside venue from July 7-11, 2026.
Penned by Kill Your Friends author John Niven in his first venture into theatre, The Battle dives headlong into a moment that was about far more than record sales. It was North vs South. Working class grit vs art-school cool. A culture clash that spilled out of the NME and Top of the Pops and into every pub, living room and playground in the country. Let David Whetstone take you there…