Project asks people to make ‘promises to nature’ after ‘rollercoaster’ year for the Northumberland landmark
Its illegal felling brought feelings of grief, distress and anger but after a “rollercoaster” 12 months custodians of the Sycamore Gap tree say they want its legacy to become one of hope.
The National Trust and Northumberland national park have announced an initiative inviting the public to request one of 49 saplings from the tree.
Continue reading...Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group will fund data centre bringing 4,000 jobs to north-east England
Keir Starmer is set to announce the creation of a £10bn AI datacentre, bringing 4,000 jobs to north-east England, which will be funded by a private equity firm run by a big Donald Trump supporter.
The prime minister is due to host chief executives in New York on Thursday, where he is trying to drum up interest in foreign investment into the UK. He will hail the investment in an “artificial intelligence datacentre” – due to be built in Blyth in Northumberland by Blackstone – as a “vote of confidence in the UK”.
Continue reading...The penalties reflect the failings of the Environment Agency and Ofwat as much as the water companies
Behind the record fines announced by Ofwat for the routine dumping of sewage into rivers and seas by three water companies, there is a voiceless victim, one that does not sit in boardrooms, or get a chance to count dividends. It is our rivers and coastal waters, subjected to years of continuous pollution under the noses of the regulators, which are suffering.
In all likelihood the £168m penalties for the already struggling Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water will be followed by fines for the remaining eight water and sewerage companies, all of whom Ofwat is investigating over failure to treat sewage according to the law.
Continue reading...Northumbrian village was named as nation’s favourite, just ahead of Portmeirion and St Andrews
Bamburgh, the Northumbrian village known for its sprawling sand dunes and imposing castle, has retained its title as the UK’s best seaside destination for the fourth consecutive year.
A survey of 4,700 people by the consumer group Which? placed the Northumberland coastal village as the nation’s favourite, ahead of Portmeirion in Gwynedd and St Andrews in Fife.
Continue reading...The tree will be exhibited at the Sill in Hexham, close to where it once stood
The largest section of the Sycamore Gap tree unlawfully cut down last December is to go on public display, Northumberland national park has announced.
The tree, which stood in a dip next to Hadrian’s Wall, will be exhibited at the Sill, a tourist attraction in Hexham, not far from where it once stood.
Continue reading...Connor Lapworth, 18, and Corey Mavin, 15, have died and three other people are seriously injured after crash in Cramlington
Two teenagers have died and three other people have been seriously injured in a car crash in Northumberland.
Northumbria police said Connor Lapworth, 18, died at the scene and Corey Mavin, 15, suffered head injuries and died in hospital.
Continue reading...Farmer pleads guilty to health and safety breach after Marian Clode, 61, fatally injured on hiking trip
A primary school teacher was killed by a cow when an “entirely uncontrolled” herd of cattle was allowed to run free on a public bridleway, a court has heard.
Marian Clode, 61, was on an Easter break in Northumberland in April 2016 and walking with her family when the runaway cow charged at her and attacked her three times. She died days later in hospital, having suffered a severe spinal cord injury in the fall.
Continue reading...Famous tree was cut down from its spot on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland in September
Salvaged seeds and cuttings from the felled Sycamore Gap tree are showing positive signs of being able to grow and provide “new descendants”, the National Trust has said.
The world famous tree was cut down from its spot on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland in late September. Police continue to investigate the felling. A man in his 60s and two men in their 30s, who were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, remain on bail.
Continue reading...Animals make first return to the county in 400 years as National Trust introduces family of four to Wallington estate
It was a genuinely tense tale of the riverbank as a family of four beavers were released into the Northumberland countryside on Wednesday, the first time in more than 400 years that the animals are making the county their home.
Would they even come out of their cages? Would they be as feisty coming out as they apparently were going in? Would they be happy with their new surroundings?
Continue reading...National Trust rangers brace for second year of mass deaths on islands off Northumberland coast
A group of islands that make up one of the UK’s most important bird sanctuaries are to remain closed after new cases of avian flu were detected.
The disease devastated the seabird population of the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, last year and National Trust rangers expect thousands more deaths this year.
Continue reading...Rangers work to avoid repeat of last year’s devastating losses in breeding seabird colonies on the islands off the Northumberland coast
The Farne Islands will not open to visitors this spring in anticipation of bird flu once again ravaging breeding seabird colonies, after an “unprecedented” spate of deaths last year.
The rocky outcrop of islands off the coast of Northumberland has been looked after by the National Trust since 1925 and there are no previous records of so many endangered seabirds dying at once. More than 6,000 carcasses were picked up last year, which is believed to be the tip of the iceberg compared with how many birds would have died in total.
Continue reading...Teddi Shaw, from Northumberland, first recipient on health service of Libmeldy, world’s most expensive drug
A girl born with a rare and deadly genetic condition is expected to live a long and normal life after becoming the first person to be cured on the NHS with the help of a revolutionary gene therapy.
Teddi Shaw was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), an inherited condition that causes catastrophic damage to the nervous system and organs. Those affected usually die young.
Continue reading...Thor, seen in Hampshire and Scarborough – where fireworks were cancelled to spare him distress – has now been spotted in Blyth
A wandering walrus who delighted thousands in Scarborough on New Year’s Eve has continued his English tour and turned up 100 miles further up the coast.
A large crowd quickly gathered in the Northumberland town of Blyth on Monday lunchtime after a walrus was spotted resting on a wooden pontoon at the yacht club.
Continue reading...Company struggling to find investors willing to fund effort to build giant £3.8bn ‘gigafactory’ in north-east
The UK government-backed battery startup Britishvolt is on the brink of entering administration with the potential loss of almost 300 jobs, after it struggled to find investors willing to fund its effort to build a giant £3.8bn “gigafactory” in north-east England.
The company had considered an administration as early as Monday, two sources with knowledge of Britishvolt’s operations told the Guardian. Britishvolt has lined up the accountancy firm EY to carry out the administration if it goes ahead.
Continue reading...Review found council was ‘paralysed’ due to processing freedom of information requests
Northumberland county council operated in a “climate of fear and intimidation” so extreme that senior officers and councillors were constantly making freedom of information (FoI) requests to dig dirt on each other, a report has found.
An independent governance review into the council found it had become “paralysed” due to the “extraordinary” resources devoted to processing almost 5,000 FoI requests made within three years, many from senior officers and councillors.
Continue reading...Northumberland landmark, named Ascendant, is intended as tribute for Queen’s platinum jubilee year
For supporters, the 55m turbine-blade-like sculpture jutting out of an isolated Northumberland hilltop will attract tourists and be a fitting tribute to Queen and Commonwealth.
For opponents it will be “ecological vandalism” that spoils the landscape and is an artwork which would not look out of place in Communist-era eastern Europe.
Continue reading...Seabird carcasses discovered along Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Scottish shores, with many more found emaciated
Several hundred seabirds have been found dead along the coasts of north-east England and Scotland, while many have been discovered emaciated.
The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), which is investigating the cause of the deaths, said the majority of the birds were guillemots.
Continue reading...Council scraps four-week trial of alternative to existing shuttlebus after swift and fierce opposition
For centuries, pilgrims have walked in the footsteps of monks who once inhabited Lindisfarne, connected by a tidal causeway to the ancient kingdom of Northumbria.
They have marvelled at the birthplace of the Lindisfarne gospels, one of the most celebrated illuminated manuscripts in the world, admired the castle that towers over crashing waves and the ruins of the ancient priory, and watched thousands of grey seals basking on the sand banks.
Continue reading...Unique 2,000-year-old discovery made by staff in lockdown at Northumberland’s Vindolanda Museum
The Roman author Pliny the Younger advised “kissing the hairy muzzle of a mouse” as a cure for the common cold. His fellow countrymen linked mice to the god Apollo, who could bring deadly plague upon them with his arrows.
So they might not have seen the funny side of a lifelike mouse made out of a strip of leather which has been newly discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall, near Hexham, Northumberland.
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