Latest news with #NorthTyneside
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Plan to create supported living facility in Scarborough approved
Plans to convert a large residential house into supported living accommodation have been given the application by Homemore Stay to create eight self-contained units at 30 Trinity Road was approved by North Yorkshire building previously contained a seven-bed house in multiple occupation, alongside three self-contained state the development would be managed by "on-site staff" between 08:00 and 18:00 seven days a week, with CCTV and on-call security outside of these times. Planning officers said the measures were considered to be "an appropriate level of management to serve the proposed facilities".The authority said a communal and training room, included as part of the scheme, would be delivered by registered charity, YMCA North to the Local Democracy Reporting Service an initial scheme had proposed converting the property into 11 units which were "significantly smaller than the nationally described space standards".However, documents showed room sizes in the amended scheme would meet the necessary criteria. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Mental health safe haven opens in Wallsend
Medical bosses have opened a third mental health safe haven to provide support to people in their Anchorage, has been opened in Wallsend, North Tyneside, by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Everyturn Mental centres were recently opened in Ashington and Newcastle, while a fourth is planned to be launched in Whitehaven, Cumbria, later this Mental Health's senior development manager, Samantha Kitula, said the charity's existing sites had shown how "vital" community-based services were to residents. "They are not only helping local people access practical mental health in the right place at the right time, but also easing pressures on other NHS services," she said."We hope that our continued work with our partners, including the NHS, local council, and local charity and community organisations will help ensure that nobody struggles alone." Wide-ranging services The Anchorage is located on Park Road and its name was chosen by residents to reflect the area's maritime heritage and the emotional and practical support it would ICB's chief delivery officer, Levi Buckley, said increasing the range of NHS mental health services in the region would allow people to get the right support when they needed it."Safe havens offer not just help in a crisis, but also support with the problem that may have caused it, like housing, money, drugs or alcohol," he said. The centre was opened with funding from the ICB and North Tyneside council's elected mayor, Karen Clark, said: "As well as offering practical support, care and understanding, the launch of a service like this on a high street is breaking the stigma that mental health struggles should be kept hidden." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
North Shields giant artworks spark 'amazingly positive' reaction
Two giant murals created as part of a town's 800th anniversary celebrations have had a positive impact, the art festival's organisers are the first of a total of eight large-scale works on blank walls on locations around North Shields, in North Tyneside, over the by Elevation, they are part of a festival marking its history from a small village of simple huts - or shiels - into a thriving harbour completed two have sparked hundreds of likes on social media with comments being "overwhelmingly positive". Dutch artist Nina Valkhoff, who created the first mural in the town centre, said people had often stopped to watch her at work and had been "very encouraging".The second, by street artist KMG and based on a river god, covers the side of a large building on the Fish on the third is due to start on Monday. Stuart Fern from Elevation said there had been hundreds of comments on social media, which had been overwhelmingly said: "The feedback has been amazing, I know these things are often quite divisive but this has been so positive."It's had a huge impact, I've even heard about tourists from Portugal and Sweden commenting.""They are really stunning, and will still be there in 10 or 15 years time - their legacy will last." The artworks are part of the North Shields 800 celebrations, marking the emergence of the town from a small village on the bank of the River Tyne to serve Tynemouth Priory into a thriving harbour Tyneside Council has now announced that a £132,160 grant had been awarded to the Linskill and North Tyneside Community Development Trust which would manage the funds on behalf of North Shields would be used to support 10 projects to safeguard the town's maritime, industrial, railway and arts heritage. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Sycamore Gap tree saplings gifted to 49 projects of hope
Two men have been jailed for felling the Sycamore Gap tree. By the time they are released, 49 saplings grown from seeds taken from the tree they sought to destroy will have been planted around the country. Given the sense of grief felt by many when the landmark tree was felled, Cath Darling's work fits neatly with the National Trust's aim that each of those saplings should carry a "message of hope".She holds outdoor sessions in parks and gardens, using nature to help bereaved children and adults. "One of the women I had helped told me about the Trees of Hope project and said I should apply," she says."I did, and I was just so happy to be told we were getting one." Cath runs Elemental Occupational Therapy which was chosen from hundreds of applications to receive one of the 49 saplings, each one representing a foot of the tree's original height. To decide where it should be planted, she has set up a working group made up of people who have attended her sessions."It has to be in North Tyneside where I run my sessions, and we have been discussing with the council about it being in the Rising Sun Country Park," she says. "But I feel very strongly this sapling doesn't belong to me, it belongs to everyone I've supported and they'll make that final decision." Just a few miles south, another project is also planning for the arrival of its sapling.A new nature reserve, Tina's Haven, on the east Durham coast has been named after Tina Robson of Sunderland, who died of a drug overdose in 2020 aged is hoped it will be a place used by organisations in County Durham and Teesside which help people recovering from addiction and than 20,000 trees have already been planted at the National Trust-owned site. Tina's mum Dr Sue Robson describes the reserve as something "powerful and hopeful" and says the tree will definitely be on the "Horden side", but the exact place is yet to be "fully decided". "We're talking to the National Trust about that, and we'll need some signage too so that people know this isn't just any tree."Out of Tina's past that was rooted in pain, something new and beautiful will rise." The sapling which will grow closest to the Sycamore Gap will be planted at Henshaw Church of England Primary, a small rural school near Bardon Mill which has the tree as its symbol, emblazoned on the uniform of every child. Executive head teacher Mike Glenton says many of the children live on farms near it and the illegal felling was "keenly felt"."They know it mattered, they understand the grief the community here felt at its loss." When the school heard it was to get one of the 49, saplings all the children were consulted about where it should be planted and the choice was "pretty unanimous"."We have a forest area and the children thought that would be ideal. "When it first goes in we'll put some protection round it, but once it grows the children will be able to hug it as much as they want." That the saplings exist at all is the result of an operation which began within hours of the tree being - young twigs with buds and the vital raw material for grafting genetic copies of the tree - were collected and posted to the National Trust Plant Conservation five bags of twigs and seeds arrived at the centre's secret location in Devon the next day. The man tasked with turning them into trees was Chris Trimmer who used a process called grafting to create an exact genetic copy of the original plant. "It wasn't the right time of the year to do it but thankfully it worked," he says. Chris says the 49 trees "and a few spares" are now "between four and six-foot high" and "looking really good.""The plan is to get them out this autumn, but we're in a heatwave at the moment and we're not sending the trees out until I'm sure they'll be okay," he says."We're used to dealing with really special plants here but this has been really interesting for me personally."My first date with my wife was to go and see Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, which includes a scene at Sycamore Gap, so I had a particularly special reason to make sure this tree survived." Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, both from Cumbria, were sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Tuesday for the illegal felling of the court Andrew Gurney, defending Carruthers, said many people had asked why he did it, to which the reply was: "Unfortunately it was no more than drunken stupidity."But the judge dismissed that and suggested the motive was likely "sheer bravado" and "thrill-seeking".Whatever the reason, people have ensured that from one act of shocking destruction there will be 49 symbols of hope. Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Keep cars off Cullercoats RNLI accessibility ramp plea
Beach visitors have been told to stop parking on an RNLI accessibility ramp because they are hindering rescue efforts. The organisation said that drivers were ignoring double yellow lines near the Cullercoats ramp in North Tyneside, delaying volunteer rescuers reaching volunteer Alex Bateman said he had had to abandon a recent rescue mission because he could not get parked nearby."If I was the only tractor driver available that would have really slowed down the launch of the vehicle and lifeboat into the sea," he said. Sarah Whitelaw, who volunteers at Cullercoats RNLI, said: "When someone is in the water and needs assistance, every second counts."She said that she appreciated that parking around Cullercoats was difficult, but keeping the accessibility ramp car-free at all times was essential."Quite often we launch within five to six minutes, so we need our crews to get down as soon as possible," Miss Whitelaw said."We're seeing all sorts of shouts from people swimming and getting into difficulty, to people on kayaks or paddleboards getting into distress." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
