What a week. The North East’s green energy revolution is well under way and the next offshore wind leasing round could see the creation of 10,000 jobs in the region.
Then there’s solar power. Seaham-based start-up Power Roll have produced a solar panel that isn’t a panel it’s on a roll - and their flexible innovation has secured a development agreement with a Japanese utility giant.
There’s the prospect of 500 jobs in County Durham - if the Government want to chip in to support plans by an aerospace company. And the mothballed bioethanol plant in Teesside is opening up again because of the Iran war.
New research has revealed high rates of ‘deaths of despair’ in former mining communities: “Coal may be gone, but the consequences remain.”
A Durham professor has a disturbing report on how AI chatbots are normalising violence against women and girls. Meanwhile, a South Tyneside woman has launched an online community to break down taboos about women’s health and to dispel false and inaccurate information that surfaces online.
Good news on the Moor Farm roundabout - and did Reform really have to cancel this week’s full council meeting in Durham?
This week’s nostalgic TV ad is not scary, by the way. A few people were spooked by the grim reaper last week.
Powering on
Thousands of jobs are expected to be created after a major announcement by the Crown Estate yesterday that will result in the installation of more than 450 wind turbines off the North East coastline - generating enough power for a quarter of the homes in England and Wales.
The launch of a new leasing round in the first half of 2027 will place the region at the heart of the UK’s next phase of offshore wind growth, with the ports at Blyth, Sunderland and on the Tyne in prime position to support new wind farms.
The new sites will drive multi-billion-pound private investment by global energy firms and create thousands of skilled jobs across ports, supply chains, construction, engineering and operations.
The announcement was made by Energy Minister Michael Shanks during a visit to the Port of Blyth’s Energy Central Learning Hub for the launch of Mayor Kim McGuinness’ Plan for Green Jobs.
John McCabe, chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: “The combination of the mayor’s Plan for Green Jobs and the Crown Estate’s offshore wind leasing announcement provides the long-term certainty businesses need to invest, grow and create jobs.
“For businesses, the opportunity is clear. Offshore wind is not just about energy generation at sea, but about the strength of our ports, supply chains and skilled workforce onshore. From engineering and construction to operations and maintenance, this has the potential to support high-quality, long-term employment across the region.”
On a Roll
I did say in Eyes & Ears 21.11.25 that there would be dividends from North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’ trade mission to Japan. And this week it was announced that Seaham-based start-up Power Roll has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Japanese utility giant Tokyo Gas.
The landmark partnership will support the County Durham firm to scale-up to become a global exporter, building a supply chain to enable future large-scale production for the Japanese market.
What do Power Roll do? Well, you know solar panels? They produce them, except they aren’t panels. They are ultra-light, much cheaper to produce, and printed like wallpaper on a roll. That flexibility means they can be installed on surfaces where traditional panels can’t reach (If Heineken made solar panels…).
That flexibility was demonstrated at the trade mission when a member of the North East team whipped the product out of his briefcase to demonstrate to the hosts - not something you could do on Teams call.
Neil Spann, Chief Executive of Power Roll, said: “By combining Power Roll’s cutting-edge solar technology with Tokyo Gas’s market leadership, ability to scale and infrastructure, we are laying the groundwork for a new era in solar power that will redefine how and where solar energy is deployed.”
£100m deal to reopen plant
The Ensus bioethanol plant at Wilton is reopening after the Government approved up to £100m to restore production at the mothballed plant.
Ministers say the move is essential to protect the UK’s supply of domestically produced, food‑grade CO2 - a byproduct of bioethanol production - which is threatened by the Iran conflict.
The Teesside plant closed in September after a trade deal with the US removed a 19% tariff on American bioethanol imports. The reopening is good news for farmers who stand to regain a significant market for maize and feed wheat.
Happy New Financial Year
A new financial year starts next week and it’s a significant one for the North East Combined Authority because it becomes an ‘established’ mayoral authority with an ‘integrated settlement’ of more than £1.7bn from Government - giving greater flexibility on how funds are spent in the region.
It’s to the North East’s credit that it is being given the status of a top-tier authority after only two years in existence. Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire are also joining Greater Manchester in this illustrious category.
But Northern-based economist JP Spencer points out that there is limited flexibility as to how authorities can move the money between six themed areas: Economic development and regeneration; Transport and local infrastructure; Adult skills and employment support; Housing and strategic planning; Environment and climate change; Health, wellbeing and public service reform.
And, an ‘outcomes framework’ has to be agreed meaning “accountability for value for money still sits with civil servants in Whitehall”.
“Integrated settlements are therefore a good start,” he writes in his Substack column Happy New Financial Year. “But we need to go further. Until this centralised accountability link is broken - as has been done in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - places will not have the flexibility they need to get on with delivering.”
He will, no doubt, have been heartened by what Chancellor Rachel Reeves said last week about drawing up a roadmap for further fiscal devolution - and also the relatively quiet launch of the Northern Growth Strategy a couple of days later.
Satellite factory plan
US aerospace company Lockheed Martin has announced a plan to build an £85m manufacturing facility at NETPark in County Durham which would create 500 jobs - provided the Government supports it.
Sarah Slaven, managing director of Business Durham, said the county council was working with the company on the factory bid. “This is the future,” she said. “This is the next industrial revolution and the North East is well placed to capitalise on it.”
The Government is expected to make a decision in the summer.
Chatbots danger
AI chatbots are driving, enabling, simulating and normalising violence against women and girls in dangerous new ways.
That’s the shocking findings from a report co-authored by Professor Clare McGlynn from Durham Law School which exposes the gaps in law and policy.
Professor McGlynn has spent decades documenting how technology can enable abuse, from sexual deepfakes to image-based abuse but her latest research into AI chatbots “feels different”, she told the Observer.
She and her team have documented how some of these tools, freely accessible to millions of users on the open web, allow users to roleplay rape, incest and child sexual abuse, alongside other forms of gender-based violence.
In her report, Invisible No More, Professor McGlynn recommends a new criminal offence of “dangerous deployment of an AI chatbot”, targeting companies that release products without taking reasonable steps to prevent harm, similar to existing food standards laws.
New Experience
So, after 25 years, it is NGI no more. It was already known that the organisation would take on a wider regional remit after receiving £7m of funding from the North East Combined Authority. And this week members met at Tyneside Cinema and voted to change the name to Experience North East England.
Newcastle on shortlist
Newcastle has been shortlisted to become the host city for the UK’s leading television industry event from 2027. Edinburgh and Greater Manchester are also in the running to be the permanent host of The TV Festival which every year brings together hundreds of television professionals and industry leaders.
Alison Gwynn, chief executive of North East Screen, said: “We don’t want to just host the TV industry on the banks of the mighty Tyne, we want to work with the festival and our partners to invigorate it.”
Thriving initiative
A South Tyneside woman has launched an online community to break down taboos about women’s health and to dispel false and inaccurate information that surfaces online.
Barbora Gray, a 35-year old who works in healthcare communications, has launched She Thrives which covers issues like the menopause, mental wellbeing, periods and fertility, and gives women a “safe space” to find accurate and evidence-based information on women’s health.
It is being backed by the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board, The Northern Health Science Alliance and several NHS trusts and is being supported by medical professionals who are concerned about content that women are being influenced by on social media.
Full council meeting cancelled
Durham’s ruling Reform group decided to cancel Wednesday’s full council meeting. A message on the council’s website said the meeting would not be convened due to a lack of business but the Local Democracy Reporting Service said this was later changed to say “business from this meeting will be considered at the next scheduled meeting” which is in May.
John Shuttleworth, leader of the independent group, said: “It is unheard of to see a full council meeting cancelled, as there is always some business to transact.” But council leader Andrew Husband said: “We won't have meetings for the sake of it.”
Moor Farm go-ahead
It had previously been assessed as “poor value for money”. But changes to the Treasury’s Green Book now means that the Government has given the go-ahead for major upgrades at the notorious Moor Farm roundabout in Northumberland.
The news was confirmed in Parliament yesterday by Heidi Alexander in response to a question from Cramlington and Killingworth MP Emma Foody who has campaigned to improve capacity on the A19 junction since being elected in 2024.
The Transport Secretary said: “I am delighted to confirm that improvements to the A19 at Moor Farm have been included in the pipeline of schemes that we have asked National Highways to develop for construction.”
Work is scheduled to begin in 2031. Having won the ‘war’ the ‘battle has now begun to bring forward the development.
Still no dualling of the A1 in the latest road investment strategy announced by the Department for Transport, but there will be improvements made to the 50-mile stretch between Morpeth and the border.
A quick word
The five walking and cycling hubs in Tees Valley are to remain open after all - at least for the next few months. More than 100 students have been moved out of a building in Newcastle’s Gallogate because of safety concerns over a wall in one of the ground floor commercial units. It is not expected to be open in time for the next academic year. Airline easyJet has reopened its base at Newcastle International Airport more than five years after it left amid Covid-era cuts. The three aircraft supports 140 direct jobs and means more flights and new routes. Newcastle’s historic Blackfriars restaurant is to hold its second three-day beer festival beginning on May 22. Higham House, an office block next to Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery which has been covered in scaffolding for five years, is to be demolished at a cost of £2m. It was bought by the council for £5m in 2011. A sapling from the Sycamore Gap tree will be grown in each of the country's 15 national parks. Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Park said: “Seeing its legacy grow in national parks across the UK is a reminder that landscapes connect us all, and that even after damage and loss, nature can recover and endure.” Forestry England is exploring the possibility of developing an onshore wind farm in Northumberland. Rage rooms are all the er, rage and Consett company Rage It Out has applied for a drinks licence. It said alcohol would not be served in the rage rooms or axe-throwing areas. Police have objected. Analysis by Zoopla shows that County Durham has some of the most affordable towns to buy a home in the UK. Shildon comes out tops followed by Peterlee and Ferryhill. Just outside the top three are Stanley (7th) and Crook (8th). An operation led by Northumbrian Water volunteers resulted in more than 200 bags of waste - weighing as much as a killer whale - being taken out of various riverbank areas including Houghton-le Spring, Hebburn and Stockton-on-Tees. The litter ranged from plastics and cans to shopping trolleys, tyres, sofas and other hazardous debris. Beamish Museum is currently playing a starring role in the Channel 4 series A Woman of Substance which is based on the Barbara Taylor Bradford novel. The museum’s period streets and interiors provide the backdrop for early 20th-century scenes.
Call centre to close
The BT Group says it plans to close the EE call centre at Doxford Park in Sunderland. The company said most of the 460 staff will have the chance to move to the Darlington or Newcastle centres as the decision is about office consolidation.
Meanwhile, Hull-based call centre firm ResQ, which has a base at Spectrum Business Park in Durham, says it plans to take on 400 more staff over the course of the year after securing more contracts
Business briefs
Fresh from the announcement of £750,000 from the North East Accelerate Fund, Wallsend-based Kinewell has received a King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, one of the UK’s highest business honours. Steffi Smith started making chocolate bars in her kitchen and selling them at Tynemouth Market. Now she has a staff of 20, exports all over the world - and her company The Chocolate Smiths has just been named Business of the Year at the North Tyneside Business Awards. National Gas has announced plans for a 300-mile underground hydrogen pipeline which will run through Teesside, Yorkshire and the Humber and into the East Midlands. The EDF nuclear power plant in Hartlepool has been ordered to improve safety measures after an increase in “near misses”, the Office for Nuclear Regulation has said. Newcastle-based Sapphire HR has acquired Manchester company Heads HR after securing a second round of investment from the NPIF - NEL Smaller Loans fund. Gateshead-based food packaging firm iPac has secured a £4.75m investment through Maven Capital Partners to grow its range of fully recyclable products.
1997 ad break
Set in an art school life-drawing class, the male model can’t, erm, hide his response, when an attractive female student arrives late. It cemented Impulse’s long-running strategy of using homour and innuendo in their ads - and it won a British Arrows Gold, the BAFTAs of British commercials, in 1998. No words - but the music is by Toots and the Maytals.
THE WIDER VIEW
Who dares wins
He’s a Doctor Who fan who cited Morecambe and Wise, Not the Nine O’Clock News, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet as formative viewing. So far so good for the new director general of the BBC.
Matt Brittin’s appointment was confirmed this week. The former GB rower who competed at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 was Google president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa before taking a “mini gap year” to sail and learn to scuba dive.
He was also commercial director of Trinity Mirror for two years during my time at The Journal. Critics say he lacks an editorial background. I have to say that we editors found him to be very impressive - a view endorsed by former Trinity Mirror MD Bob Cuffe on Twitter.
Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster, says Brittin’s appointment has come at an existential moment for the broadcaster.
“Critics may want to see a downsized BBC. But in a media world dominated by US-based tech billionaires and entertainment behemoths – and where disinformation poses serious risks to democracy – the broadcaster is more necessary than ever,” he writes in The Conversation.
“It is not only the most trusted news brand in the UK but provides billions in investment to Britain’s creative industries. And, it is a vital element of Britain’s soft power in an unstable geopolitical environment.”
Mining legacy
So-called ‘deaths of despair’ were originally thought to be an American problem - the high rates of suicide, drug overdoses and alcohol-related disease among middle-aged white men without university degrees.
But new research has shown that similar patterns exist elsewhere, including former mining communities in the UK.
“What we found was striking,” said Christopher Saville of Bangor University. “Across England and Wales, deaths of despair were consistently higher in communities that once relied on coal mining. Alcohol-related deaths were particularly elevated. In some coalfield areas, they were between 27% and 52% higher than in places without a mining history.
“Perhaps most striking was the fact that these patterns appeared even in places where coal mining ended more than 50 years ago. When we adjusted our analysis to account for differences in deprivation, something interesting happened. The gaps became smaller but they didn’t disappear.”
Saville said their findings fit with a growing body of research on health in former coalfield communities. “Taken together, these studies suggest the effects of deindustrialisation can persist for decades. Coal may be gone, but the consequences remain.”
Treatment blues
I have a gorgeous Ragdoll cat called Blue - an obvious name when you look into his eyes. I’m his favourite human. He’s on my desk beside me now, purring away and trying to use the back of my left hand as a pillow while I’m trying to type.
I noticed that he wasn’t himself one day this week. We (my wife’s better at these things than me) discovered an ugly mark and lump - and it took a fair amount of toilet tissue to soak up the poison that came out. We took the poor thing to the vets - and they were great.
No appointment. Seen within 10 minutes. Quick inspection. Looks like he’s been in a fight with another cat. Some fur shaved off, the wound cleaned up and an injection given - and we got some antobiotics to put in his food the next day
Great service. Ninety five quid.
This came in the week that the Government, via the Competition and Markets Authority, announced major, legally-binding reforms to the veterinary sector including mandatory price lists, caps on prescription fees, a national price-comparison website, and new rules forcing corporate chains to identify themselves.
I know from listening to BBC Breakfast that this is a subject that concerns so many people. But, as I handed over my card to pay the £95 bill, the one thought in my mind was ‘what if human health care was dealt with in exactly the same way’.
Cherish the NHS.