Eyes & Ears 20.06.25
It's all you need to know
Water works
Following on from the country’s driest Spring for more than 50 years, England’s already strained water supply could be under far greater threat than official forecasts suggest - because of the booming AI sector.
The Environment Agency has warned that by 2055, the public water supply in England could face a shortfall of 5 billion litres per day. That estimate does not include the vast amounts of water used by the growing number of datacentres.
Dr Muhammad Wakil Shahzad and his team at Northumbria University are working on a solution - a low-water cooling system.
Trials have shown it can be more energy-efficient than conventional chillers, and use less water. Powered entirely by solar energy, the system operates without compressors or chemical refrigerants. He has written about it here.
One of the largest datacentres in Europe is being built at Cambois and is due to be completed by 2035. Operators QTS will use a pioneering low-pressure pumped refrigerant system to remove heat without consuming any water.
Sending a warning
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have issued a stark warning about the financial cliff-edge councils are facing because of the huge overspends they are having to make to meet their statutory obligations to help people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
This is by no means a ‘new’ story, but the committee this week criticised the Government for having no proposed solution in sight.
In 2021, the previous government allowed councils to exclude these overspends from their books using a temporary ‘statutory override’ - but that expires in March next year, potentially triggering bankruptcies in half of the country’s councils once the figures appear on their balance sheets.
Northumberland County Council has predicted that it will need to find almost £8 million of savings, while Reform-controlled Durham County Council has warned that it could have a cumulative deficit of around £38 million by March 31 next year.
Without wishing to make light of the situation, you wonder what Nigel Farage’s DOGE (Department Of Government Efficiency) team - tasked with uncovering wasteful council spending - will make of sitting on a financial time bomb set to go off in around eight months time.
Structurally sound
Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited Newcastle this week. That would normally be the cue for a good news announcement.
She unveiled a £1bn Structures Fund aimed at repairing and upgrading bridges, tunnels, and flyovers across the UK. The Lower Thames Crossing in Essex will get £590m of that money.
No mention was made of demolition work on the A167 Gateshead flyover which will begin in August, according to council leader Martin Gannon.
The chancellor posed for pictures with the Tyne Bridge as a backdrop - when it had already been announced that the £6m needed to complete the repair work would be provided from the North East Combined Authority’s recent £1.8bn transport settlement.
She acknowledged that projects in the region have been “crying out for investment”, but when asked about restoring the Leamside Line - which would have huge national benefits because of the increased capacity it would bring to the East Coast Main Line - she said more announcements would be made in the weeks and months ahead.
Wait and see Part 2
The Government delivered its 10-year infrastructure strategy in the Commons yesterday. Kind of.
Treasury Minister Darren Jones promised £725 billion in infrastructure projects over the next decade, with spending on transport, energy and other schemes set to grow in line with inflation after the current spending review period.
The detail will have to wait for the publication of an online ‘infrastructure pipeline' in a couple of weeks - but it’s not a good sign that the £1bn Structures Fund announced by the Chancellor earlier in the week is also part of yesterday’s lacking-in-detail infrastructure strategy.
We’ve had enough of double announcements in the past.
Affordability test
The Chancellor’s visit to the North East also brought up the subject of the A1. A scheme to dual 13 miles of the road between Morpeth and Ellingham was scrapped in October because it was not deemed value for money.
Rachel Reeves said the Government was looking at “affordable” measures for the main route between England and Scotland, but enquiries by the Local Democracy Reporting Service failed to establish what those options might be.
Invitation only
A proverbial war of words has broken out between Reform UK and organisers of the 139th Durham Miners’ Gala.
The party, which won 65 of the 98 seats on Durham County Council in May, have not been formally invited to this year’s event, which takes place on July 12, and said: “The DMA clearly holds the thousands of former miners and their families who voted for Reform in complete disdain.”
The association responded: “Everyone in Durham is welcome at the Gala, but we invite on to the platform some of our many friends who share our beliefs in community, in the labour movement and in social justice. The Reform UK councillors do not.”
I’m sure both sides would appreciate these nostalgic words on the Gala, written by former senior BBC journalist Chris Stewart in July last year.
Joint warning
Two northern mayors, Conservative Ben Houchen and Reform’s Luke Campbell, have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning that his US trade deal could see the closure of the UK’s two largest bioethanol plants, Ensus in Redcar and Vivergo in Hull.
The trade deal could flood the market with cheaper, subsidised US imports, making it nearly impossible for British producers to compete.
It’s also bad news for farmers. This column in The Telegraph highlights that 1,220 farming jobs are at risk on the 12,000 farms that supply the bioethanol plants with wheat.
News correspondent Gregg Easteal provided this report for ITV Tyne Tees this week.
Starring role
The North East’s dramatic landscapes and historic landmarks make a perfect backdrop for Danny Boyle’s new film 28 Years Later which went on release this week.
The Sycamore Gap tree was included thanks to the wonders of digital technology. Starring roles also went to Holy Island, Kielder Forest, St Cuthbert’s Cave near Lindisfarne, Gibside, the Penshaw Monument, Tynemouth cliffs and the Arbeia Roman Fort at South Shields.
Urban scenes were shot in the centre of Newcastle while Hexham, Rothbury, Waskerley and Melsonby were used to add rural grit to the post-apocalyptic setting.
Destination North East England have invited travellers to visit… if they dare!
Marked down
More than 50 UK universities fell in the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings, including Oxford and Cambridge.
Durham is still in the global top 100 dipping from 74 to 78. Newcastle slipped a few places from 162 to 173, Northumbria saw a modest decline from 521 to 548, while Sunderland and Teesside stayed in the lower bands without notable movement.
Good idea but…
This sound like a really good idea - but I can’t pretend I know what it means.
The Government has selected Darlington, Sheffield, and Leeds as “thematic campuses”, where civil servants will work directly with local communities and frontline workers (like teachers, NHS staff, and council teams). Instead of just writing policies in Whitehall, they’ll test new ideas on the ground to tackle big national goals.
Darlington will be on growing the economy, Sheffield will be on expanding opportunity, and Leeds will be on improving health. The idea is to learn what works locally, then scale it up nationally.
It’s part of a bigger plan to “rewire the state from the ground up” - basically, to make Government more responsive, practical, and rooted in real communities rather than just central offices.
Like I said, sounds like a really good idea - but I can’t pretend I know what it means.
A quick word
Former Durham County Council leader Amanda Hopgood has joined the steering group of the think tank True North which was launched in March and is chaired by former Carlisle Conservative MP John Stevenson. Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth is keen to copy an enhanced drone system being deployed by the British Transport Police to help the force crack down on nuisance motorbikes, scramblers and e-bikes being used illegally. Sunderland councillor Simon Ayre has resigned from the Conservatives and will sit as an independent while he “takes time to consider his position”. Actors Mark Gatiss and Gina McKee will receive honorary degrees from Durham University this summer for their contributions to the arts. The remaining four members of Yarm Town Council have also resigned following a “fractious” public meeting last week. Reform UK say they have lodged a formal complaint with Northumberland County Council over a constitutional review which they say disadvantages their party. The private Dame Allan's Schools in Newcastle has announced it will go fully mixed from the start of the September. Not everyone is happy.
Nature trails
The National Trust has designated three North East routes as “green corridors” as part of plans to connect urban dwellers with nature..
Gateshead's nine-mile Tyne Derwent Way trail, which connects historic sites along the River Tyne, is one of the three sites. A second route stretches along the River Wear from Durham city centre to Crook Hall Gardens.
Teesside's corridor runs from Middlesbrough and the Tees Estuary to the North York Moors National Park and Roseberry Topping.
New Leaf
Nissan has unveiled details of its third-generation Leaf electric vehicle which will be built in Sunderland. It will be able to travel up to 375 miles on a single charge and will be available for customers to order later this year.
It will be powered by batteries from AESC UK, Nissan's battery partner, which is based next to the company’s factory on Wearside.
RIP Wincey
Wincey Willis, ITV’s first female weather forecaster, has died aged 76. She had been diagnosed with dementia in 2015 and died in December, but her passing was only announced this week.
Wincey joined TV-am in 1983 having been scouted for the role while she was a presenter for Tyne Tees Television.
Bridge too far
There were 1,705 submissions from the public to name the new bridge across the Wear - not all of them serious, say Sunderland City Council. Bridgey McBridgeface was one of them. Others included Bridgey Phillipson, Bridge-it Jones and Régis Le Bridge.
I’m touched that one person suggested calling the bridge, now officially known as the Keel Crossing, Brian
Business bites
British Steel has secured a five-year £500 million deal with Network Rail, effectively safeguarding the future of steel production at Scunthorpe and protecting around 2,700 jobs. Four companies from the North East were among the 10 companies announced as winners in the first Deloitte UK’s Best Managed Companies Awards - Esh Group, JT Dove, Banks Group and The Inn Collection Group. French-based real estate investment company Iroko Zen has purchased the historic Exchange Buildings on Newcastle’s Quayside whose tenants include the Premier Inn and Slug and Lettuce. Family-run contractor Hall Construction Services has won a £16.8 million contract to oversee highway and utilities work on Burtree Garden Village on the outskirts of Darlington. Robson Laidler will become one of the top 100 accountancy firms in the UK after acquiring Teesside-based Tindles Charted Accountants. Newcastle-based SkinBioTherapeutics has signed an exclusive two-year agreement with Superdrug to make its acne treatment commercially available for the first time. Esh Construction has been named as sole delivery partner on a £160m Northumbrian Water planned and reactive repairs and maintenance contract.
1980 ad break
People of a certain ‘vintage’ will remember Paul Masson’s California Carafes, a line of affordable, easy-drinking wines which stood out on shelves and dinner tables in the 70s and 80s because they weren’t sold in traditional bottles.
The great actor and director Orson Welles starred in a series of ads for the brand between 1978 and 1981. By this time he was at the veteran stage, struggling to raise money for projects he wanted to pursue and reduced to accepting any advertising job that came his way.
Instant cameras, photocopiers, frozen food products, board games, tyres, cereal and various drink brands to name a few among many.
His time with Paul Masson came to an end shortly after these out-takes of a clearly bored and well refreshed Welles came to light.
THE WIDER VIEW
Zipped-lip scenario
Remember Gus, the jargon-spouting, corporate-obsessed executive in Drop the Dead Donkey (“Let’s operate a zipped-lip scenario on this one”).
Well, I think he’s found a new job with Microsoft’s Copilot. For the uninitiated, Copilot is a generative AI chatbot that acts as a digital companion, providing assistance with various requests for information and ‘stuff’ across various platforms.
I find it more of a help than Googling and far more efficient and user-friendly than the multi-volume set of Encyclopaedia Britannica that my mum bought from a door-to-door salesman in the early 70s.
This companion, however, is quite chatty and this week I responded - against my better nature, it has to be said. The result?
“You’re very welcome, Brian - pleased it landed well. If you ever want to sharpen it further, pivot the framing, or thread it into a bigger narrative (political theatre, regional identity, shifting class alignments…), I’m here to throw some sparks your way. Always a pleasure sparring ideas with you. Want to keep going”?
No thanks, Gus.
Straight talking
“If good people don’t grasp difficult things, bad people will,” says Baroness Louise Casey, who this week delivered her report on grooming gangs which drew widespread praise for its candour and urgency - and prompted Sir Keir Starmer to agree to a national inquiry.
Baroness Casey has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most tenacious and plain-speaking public servants.
She began her inquiry with the feeling that a national inquiry was probably not necessary. The facts and evidence she discovered made her change her mind - and that of the Prime Minister.
So, we can all take comfort from the fact that the government’s full review of social care services is being led by the very same person. Someone who is known for her fearless approach and for pushing institutions to confront uncomfortable truths.
Why can’t we quit coal?
Ten years after world leaders vowed to phase it out, the demand for coal is still rising. Today the world burns nearly double the amount of coal than it did in 2000 - and four times the amount it did in 1950.
“Coal is like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going,” says Glen Peters, a senior researcher at the Cicero Centre for International Climate Research in this FT article.