The answer to the UK’s future energy needs is hiding under the North Sea, say academics at Durham University.
The empty oil and gas fields that powered Britain for half a century could be refilled, this time with hydrogen made from our surplus wind and solar power. It is calculated that there’s enough capacity to power the UK for seven years - but the planning has to start now, they say.
That’s in The Wider View section at the end of this edition, which also includes a story about peace, love and understanding. Alternatively, you could say it’s a story about masked children beating up a Buddhist monk in a South Tyneside park.
I said in Monday’s edition (Sugar, sport and sums 24.08.26) that the Government’s theme this week was to be housebuilding, and devolving more powers to mayors to sign off large-scale projects on their patches. And so it came to pass.
The North East will receive £445m in funding to build 3,400 new social and affordable homes and Newcastle became one of only three councils in the country to get money - £140 million to support the delivery of nearly 1,000 council houses.
Middlesbrough has unveiled its vision to be “the UK’s most creative place for young people to live”. The timing of the announcement this week wasn’t so great, however.
There’s also anger from volunteers as the official nurdle clean-up is scaled back, conservation groups get closer to buying the Rothbury Estate, drivers are warned of a parking scam and there’s the Sunderland connection to a Paris flashmob performing Bohemian Rhapsody (a must see).
Do you remember Tyne Brand? At its height, the North Shields factory employed up to 750 people, making it the largest canned meat producer in Britain. The building is now something of an eyesore and plans have been approved to build new flats there.
Seems appropriate then that our TV ad break this week is a Tyne Brand ad from the 80s - “no lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed”.
Homes comfort
The North East can have few complaints after receiving £445m as a first share of the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. It’s stage one of a 10-year programme that still has more than £16 billion to be allocated outside London.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “We have an ambitious plan to deliver more than 15,000 social and affordable homes over the next decade, and today’s announcement is another important step towards making that happen.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government called it the “largest expansion of council housing in decades”, as it confirmed an initial £9.6 billion worth of allocations.
The Guardian, however, pointed out that Prime Minister Andy Burnham had backtracked on his announcement during the Makerfield by-election that all the money should be spent on council housing. Around 60% will be social rented houses with the remainder being shared ownership schemes or sheltered housing.
Building for the future
Only three councils will receive money from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. Newcastle is one of them - meaning they will receive £141.4 million to support the delivery of 966 new council homes.
Council leader Colin Ferguson said: “At a time when demand for affordable homes continues to grow, this investment will help create stronger communities, improve opportunities for residents and support the long-term regeneration of Newcastle.
We’re proud to have been recognised as a strategic partner and look forward to delivering the homes our residents need and deserve.”
Founding principles
Let’s hope all those new homes are built on good foundations…
Heatwaves are increasing the risk of subsidence, The Telegraph reported this week in an article headlined ‘Britain’s homes are cracking under the strain of hotter summers’. London and the South East are most at risk - but their ‘level of susceptibility’ map doesn’t look that great from a North East perspective either.
Delayed decision
Monday’s announcement of a new set of national planning rules has resulted in the cancellation of Newcastle’s planning committee meeting. This means a decision on plans to replace Hadrians Tower with a £60 million student housing tower has been pushed back until next month at the earliest.
Creative centre
Plans have been announced to revitalise Middlesbrough and make the town “the UK’s most creative place for young people to live”.
The proposals include demolishing the civic centre and building a theatre which would be equipped to host West End shows. The 10-year plan also includes a town centre hotel, an academic centre of excellence for surgery at James Cook University Hospital, bringing empty homes back into use, and creating an urban park.
Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke said the developments “would represent the most significant investment” for a generation. The full prospectus of plans will go before the council’s executive in a meeting on Tuesday with the idea to use it as a tool to lobby government and commercial funders.
‘Community in fear’
The timing of Middlesbrough’s announcement was not great considering the eyes of the UK are still fixed on the weekend crash in which two policemen died when their car was hit by a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway.
The five young men in the Passat also died and police said 17 people, aged between 18 and 61, had been arrested across Teesside as part of an ongoing investigation into the lead-up to the crash. They have been held on a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.
A fundraiser for the two police officers who were killed has passed the £1m mark.
Distrubingly, reports persist that the situation is escalating. The Mirror’s Jeremy Armstrong has filed an article headlined ‘Inside Middlesbrough community living in terror and fear as gang turf war claims nine lives in five days’. It’s grim reading.
Coming up…
Restaurants, theatres and pubs in the UK, including Wetherspoons, have already banned them. Now Newcastle City Council have felt the need to issue a warning about Meta’s AI glasses: “There are a handful of people in our city centre filming others who may be going through tough times or in some cases just dress differently.” There’s more in Monday’s edition of Eyes & Ears.
Clean-up anger
Volunteers helping with the great nurdle clean-up are angry that the official operation has been scaled back. Millions of the tiny plastic pellets spewed into the water after a collision at the Port of Tyne last month and nurdles are washing up on beaches in Northumberland and as far south as North Yorkshire.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness is not too happy either. “Now is not the time to cut the number of people paid to be out there on our beaches cleaning up nurdles,” she said on social media. “My team has contacted Solis Marine, the company organising the clean-up on behalf of the shipping insurers, to ask them to explain why casual workers have been stood down, and to get a commitment from them that they will respond immediately as new nurdle deposits wash up or are uncovered in the sand.
“They should not be allowed to decide on their own what a proper clean-up looks like. Our local volunteers have given up their time and worn themselves out combing beaches. They will be dismayed and I am standing up for them to demand answers.”
Environmental charity Fidra said: “The continued spread of nurdles to regions far from the source of the spill vividly highlights the wide-reaching impact - volunteers are reporting new finds every day.”
Closing in
Several major pledges totalling £5.5m in the past week have left the conservation groups hoping to buy the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland with just under £4m left to find by the end of October.
The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust have received the support of Sir David Attenborough during the appeal and feel they are within “touching distance” of the £30m target.
Parking scam
Drivers are being warned to avoid using QR codes when paying for parking. A Newcastle couple lost £370 after using the Spanish City plaza car park in Whitley Bay.
They used a QR code on a RingGo pay and display machine. They were then told their payment had been declined and that they hadn’t been charged - but found out the next day that five transaction of between £20 and £150 had been taken from the account by scammers.
Spanish City general manager Chris Marsh said: “RingGo does not use QR codes. We would never recommend following a payment link via QR code due to the potential for this scam.”
A quick word
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth has launched a new strategy to improve public confidence in the region’s public transport network to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. It follows Department for Transport statistics which found that women report feeling significantly less safe than men. A scheme which provides 18 to 25‑year‑olds who have left local authority care with free unlimited public transport travel is being continued, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has confirmed. A temporary ban on accepting fridges and freezers at a recycling centre in North Shields has been lifted now that a backlog has been cleared. Comedian John Cleese will be signing copies of his book Fawlts and All at Waterstones in Newcastle city centre on September 9, ahead of a night-time performance at the Tyne Theatre to mark 50 years of Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Age UK Northumberland has launched a scheme to tackle loneliness and social isolation through short-term, personalised support for those aged 50 and over. Individuals are paired with a trained volunteer befriender for weekly visits over a period of up to six months. William Clouston has resigned as leader of the Social Democratic Party (no, me neither) after eight years. Clouston, who is a steering group member of the True North think tank, will remain as Chair of Corbridge Parish Council. The late night levy on Newcastle’s pubs, bars, and clubs looks set to be abolished after the council’s licencing committee agreed the charge should be scrapped. A consultation will now take place with a final decision taken at October’s full council meeting.
Time for this
I was on one of my frequent internet journeys recently when I came across a brilliant video of a flashmob in Paris performing Bohemian Rhapsody. I just needed an excuse to share it with you.
That time has come.
It turns out that the Freddie Mercury figure in the video is Sunderland’s own Mickey Callisto and he is the star turn on the penultimate night of The Fire Station’s Summer Parties. That’s tomorrow, by the way. My excuse is I don’t watch Britain’s Got Talent. If you do, then you will know all about Mickey and his amazing voice. Maxïmo Park are headlining at the Sunderland venue tonight. The summer party season then bows out on Sunday with a sold-out Ibiza in Symphony.
BGT viewers will also recognise the cool young dude playing guitar in the flashmob video because Olly Pearson was a finalist last year. He’s 12 going on 32.
Miles better
Alan Shearer and North East Mayor Kim McGuinness completed the first official mile of a fundraising challenge to help raise £1 million for a new hydrotherapy pool at the Alan Shearer Foundation in West Denton which supports children and adults with complex disabilities.
Called Move a Mile, organisers hope people will collectively cover 52,719 miles – one for every seat at St James’ Park – with schools, businesses, sports clubs and community groups encouraged to get involved.
Business bites
Barbour has established an on-site training facility known as the Barbour Academy at its site in South Shields. The company will be recruiting 40 machinists and installing additional production lines in response to “unprecedented global demand”. Noggin HQ was founded by childhood friends Evangeline Atkinson and Laura Mills who had experience of being declined for credit despite working full-time and regularly paying rent and bills. Their company has now raised £2.3m as it launches its alternative credit scoring technology to UK lenders after gaining credit referencing authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. Construction work has begun on a major £35m transformation of the 12-acre Seventh Avenue site at Team Valley which was acquired by UK Land Estates last year. Dynamo North East has published a report on closer collaboration between public sector commissioners and tech businesses, using feedback from a leadership forum. Chief executive Dr David Dunn said: “One of the powerful messages that came through was the desire from both sides to learn more about each other. For the public sector to better share challenges to overcome, and from the tech sector, to share new ideas and innovations.” An interim chief financial officer has been appointed at Newcastle firm SkinBioTherapeutics, succeeding a whistleblower who alerted the firm to an accounting crisis at the company. Anita Slater has been appointed for an initial six-month term. CEO Stuart Ashman resigned in February. NEPIC chief exec Joanne Smith is among the signatories of a letter calling on the government to recognise the importance of the chemical sector and to agree a clear path for its future. The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) has teamed up with Lookers to offer exclusive deals on British-built Nissans to its members, as well as their families and friends. The scheme is supported by Nissan Motor GB Limited and delivered in partnership with Select Lease by Mobilize.
1982 ad break
The old Tyne Brand canning factory at the Fish Quay in North Tyneside closed in 1976 and has become something of an eyesore. Plans have just been approved for the construction of over 130 new flats there.
Do you remember Tyne Brand? “No lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed”. My thanks to Jack Arthurs for reminding me. Above is an ad for their meat pie fillings in 1982 - production continued elsewhere after North Shields was closed.
The company began life in 1901 as the Shields Ice & Cold Storage Company. Their first canned product, haddock, in 1903 was a flop, but their second attempt, herring in tomato sauce, was a hit.
Tyne Brand was a frontline supplier in both world wars and by the late 1950s the firm was turning out a million cans a week across three factories. At its height, the North Shields factory employed up to 750 people, making it the largest canned meat producer in Britain.
THE WIDER VIEW
Power solution under the sea
Debate about the future of North Sea energy usually focuses on how much oil and gas is left for us to extract. But energy engineers at Durham University have proposed an alternative future.
Empty oil fields could be used to store “green” hydrogen – an energy-rich renewable made by passing electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen, without producing any carbon emissions. Professors Stuart Jones, Andrew Crossland and Chris Groves have calculated that depleted North Sea fields could store enough hydrogen to power the UK for seven years - but the planning has to start today.
In an article in The Conversation, they say: “Every time Britain has a still, grey week in winter, something invisible happens behind our plug sockets: gas power stations fire up to keep the lights on. That gas is often imported, with prices set by volatile global markets. This is one reason why energy bills surged during the cost-of-living crisis, despite the low cost of available renewable energy.
“On very windy days, we have a different problem. The grid can’t always use all the electricity our wind farms generate, so we pay them to switch off. In effect, we throw away clean energy because we have nowhere to store it.
“Our latest research, published in the journal Applied Energy, points to a solution hiding under the North Sea. The depleted oil and gas fields that powered Britain for half a century could be refilled, this time with hydrogen made from our surplus wind and solar power.
“We found that suitable depleted North Sea fields could provide 3,659 terawatt-hours of hydrogen storage capacity, equivalent to more than seven years of projected UK electricity demand in 2040. Using them could also take conventional gas power stations off the grid altogether by 2040.”
Who’s calling?
This really does fall into the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ category. A company that promised to help protect the elderly from nuisance calls has been fined for… making nuisance calls to the elderly.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that Elderly Aids Limited (EAL) had “deliberately targeted” older people to promote call-blocking devices, saying that it would protect them from nuisance calls.
The company made more than 750,000 unsolicited calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) between May 2024 and February 2025. Complaints to the ICO said callers were “aggressive, misleading, and often failed to identify themselves”. The company has been fined £190,000.
Andy Curry, the watchdog’s head of investigations, said: “Not only did this company target vulnerable people who had explicitly asked not to be called – they harassed them to sell call-blocking devices. EAL showed a complete disregard for the law and the people they were hounding. This penalty should serve as a clear warning to any business that thinks the law does not apply to them”.
Peace, love and understanding
Elvis Costello is a brilliant songwriter. I adore his (What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? I learned years later that he didn’t even write it - that distinction goes to the talented Nick Lowe of Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile fame.
The Costello version was released in the late 70s when punk rock was in its prime. Lyrically it would have been more at home a decade earlier in the flower power days of the Mamas and Papas.
Why am I telling you this? I guess it’s because Costello singing about peace, love and understanding was the first thing that came into my head when I read the story of a Buddhist monk being attacked by masked children, yes ‘masked children’, in Hebburn Riverside Park, South Tyneside, on Tuesday.
“I hold no anger, resentment, or bitterness towards the young lads. While their actions crossed a line, panic and poor judgement often lead young people to react recklessly,” said Karucha Sripramote, who was wearing his orange Buddhist outfit when he was punched and kicked after being repeatedly harassed by the ‘masked children’.
The monk, who has lived in Hebburn for more than six years, said he was “deeply touched by the outpouring of support” and warm messages he had received since the attack.
“I know first hand how kind, welcoming, and peaceful this town is. This single incident does not change how much I value and appreciate living here. As a Buddhist monk, I contemplate life through understanding, patience, and the principle of cause and effect.
“My only hope is that these young lads take a moment to reflect on the kind of community they wish to grow up in. The way we treat others inevitably shapes the environment our own loved ones and families live in.”
I can’t think of a better way to end today’s edition.