Category: Newcastle

Stone locals enjoyed the Warriors at Westbridge event which happened today at Westbridge Park.This free family event began this morning with a Viking procession from the Stone Town Council Building car park on Station Road to Westbridge Park. Families accompanied the parade, and many were dressed like Vikings. Many enjoyed the fun battle displays, living history demonstrations, a Viking encampment showcasing the everyday life of Viking families, traditional crafts. Ahead of the event, Councillor Jill Hood, Chairman of the Council’s Tourism and Town Promotion Sub-Committee, said: “Stone Town Council know that keeping children entertained during the summer holidays can be a challenge, and finding fun, interesting and free activities is not always easy. “We are delighted to be bringing this exciting new event to Stone and giving local families the opportunity to experience Viking life first-hand.”All photographs below were taken by Ian Knight / Z70 Photography: 1. Viking invasion of StoneThe Warriors at Westbridge event hosted by Stone Town Council at Westbridge Park. | Ian Knight / Z70 Photograph2. Viking invasion of StoneThe Warriors at Westbridge event hosted by Stone Town Council at Westbridge Park. | Ian Knight / Z70 Photograph3. Viking invasion of StoneThe Warriors at Westbridge event hosted by Stone Town Council at Westbridge Park. | Ian Knight / Z70 Photograph4. Viking invasion of StoneThe Warriors at Westbridge event hosted by Stone Town Council at Westbridge Park. | Ian Knight / Z70 Photograph

A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with an alleged dine-and-dash at a Staffordshire restaurant. Staffordshire Police confirmed the 23-year-old suspect from Tamworth was detained on Wednesday and subsequently released on conditional bail. The arrest relates to an incident at The Dial, a restaurant on Station Road in Burton-upon-Trent.Two men allegedly ran up a bill of approximately £150 on February 16 before walking out without settling it.The pair are said to have ordered steaks and cocktails, consumed portions of their meals, and then claimed they had discovered hairs in the food.According to police, officers were called to the Station Road venue.The men had ordered a sharing steak priced at £70, which one of them consumed entirely on his own, along with a £40 fillet steak, accompanying sides and cocktails.After eating a portion of their food, the pair approached staff to complain that they had found hair in their dishes. A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with an alleged dine-and-dash at a Staffordshire restaurant | GOOGLERestaurant manager Jez Hives told the BBC in February that the men then left the premises without paying after staff were unable to resolve the dispute.Mr Hives said he was stunned when he reviewed the restaurant’s security camera footage the following morning.He claimed the recordings captured one of the customers physically pulling hair from his own head and depositing it onto his plate before raising the complaint with staff.He said: “It is unbelievable that someone would go to that length to get free food.”Staffordshire Police confirmed the 23-year-old suspect from Tamworth was detained on Wednesday | GOOGLEThe manager added: “There was clumps of hair within the dish, and upon inspection of the CCTV the next morning, I found out he’d been picking his own hair out of his head and seasoning his steak with it.”Sgt Lee Parden of Staffordshire Police emphasised the force’s commitment to tackling such offences. He said: “We are determined to crack down on individuals involved in theft from local businesses and will do all we can to stop people from committing this type of crime, which has a significant impact on local people.”The arrested man, who is from Tamworth, has been placed on conditional bail and the investigation continues.

From controversial planning decisions to help for the homeless – along with what next for Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent – the city’s Labour council leader Jane Ashworth was quizzed by BBC Radio Stoke listeners on Tuesday.It came after what could only be described as a whirlwind of a week in local and national politics.On Thursday, the government announced its decision on how local councils will be organised in Staffordshire, which will see the 10 councils in the county scrapped and replaced with two new authorities. Then on Monday, the new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham entered Number 10 and announced his “cost of living government”. An end to rough sleeping? The first policy pledge Burnham made as the new prime minister was to end rough sleeping, an issues that resonates with the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The government said an additional £340m would be provided to support the policy, which is expected to provide 1,200 homes and “intensive support” for at least 3,000 people in England over a five-year period.But Ashworth said the answer, for her area, was “not simply more accomodation”. The leader said there was a difference between those who needed somewhere to sleep and people who were “entrenched” and unwilling to accept support. According to Ashworth, there were about 50 people “not ready” to accept advice or help from various agencies for their drug or alcohol addictions.Those were the issues she felt needed addressing, to go any way to reduce or “end” the number of rough sleepers in the city. “We need something different, the current system isn’t working, we’re talking to government about the monkey dust problem, so we’ll see what happens,” she added. New council, same debt Stoke-on-Trent City Council will cease to exist from April 2028, to be replaced by a new North Staffordshire Council, as mentioned above.Ashworth believed the change would be a “big, exciting project” and deliver “‘value for money” for residents. The all-in-one authority will serve a population of 495,000 and deliver the running of all services from bin collections to social care. The areas it will cover include Stoke-on-Trent, the Staffordshire Moorlands and Newcastle-under-Lyme borough. While a decision has not yet been made on what this means for council tax rates, the leader dismissed the idea they could be harmonised with the current cheapest ones (Stoke) – meaning residents outside the city paying less. Stoke-on-Trent has, for the last four years, used a government bailout loan to keep services afloat, and that has now racked up £60m in debt. Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell claimed that in other areas that have been through similar reorganisation, they have had debt written off by the government.But Ashworth said she was not confident the new authority would get any financial relief or subsidy from the government to wipe the debt.House building backlash Campaigners from Packmoor Liaison Support Group demonstrated outside Stoke-on-Trent City Council earlier this year over the land decisionAshworth responded to a backlash from listeners about a cabinet decision to allow council owned farmland in Packmoor to be built on. Residents who campaigned against the plans said they wanted the council to prove every brownfield site had been “exhausted”‘ before developing on green belt land. The leader said she felt the practical concerns raised by residents were addressed, which led to the authority agreeing on a proposal to build no more than 816 homes, on more than a third of the land available. The council is tasked with delivering 948 homes a year in Stoke-on-Trent by 2028 as part of the national drive for new housing. In the latest draft of the local plan for the city council area, 73% of the sites earmarked for development are brownfield. The councillor argued that while adopting a “brownfield first” policy was right, the sites were not very big so did not give the authority enough land to meet those building targets. Pledge on Hanley cashThe arguably ill-fated, long awaited and stalled development of Etruscan Square in Hanley is finally due to undergo work, starting in November, according to Ashworth. She said the project would start with demolishing the former Iceland store on the site, before building housing.The site was allocated £20m of levelling up money, secured by the council’s previous Conservative administration.Reports in May revealed that £31m of Stoke’s levelling up funding, was in fact unspent. Ashworth tried to reassure listeners that the money would not run out, and it would be spent in time. Meanwhile, in Tunstall, levelling up seemed to have hit the buffers, with plans to develop the historic Tunstall library and baths site refused. The leader admitted this £3.5m would be allocated to another area, but insisted Tunstall would not miss out and the council would “spend it on something else” in the town.Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
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The M42 southbound is closed between J10 (Tamworth) and J9 (Curdworth).A stretch of the M42 is closed as emergency services respond to the scene of a crash. National Highways have warned the southbound carriageway of the motorway between Junction 10 (Tamworth) and Junction 9 (Curdworth) is closed and that Warwickshire Police are at the scene this morning (July 24). In a statement, shared online at around 5.40am, a spokesperson for National Highways said: “The M42 southbound is closed between J10 (Tamworth) and J9 (Curdworth) following a serious collision involving a motorcycle and a car.M42 | Google Maps“Emergency services, including Warwickshire Police, are at the scene. Police have requested the carriageway be closed while they deal with the incident and carry out their investigations.“Drivers should expect long delays on the approach to the closure and are advised to allow extra time for their journeys or consider alternative routes where possible.”Road users are advised to follow the Solid Triangle diversion symbol on road signs. The diversion route is as follows:Exit the M42 at J10 and take the A5 westbound Watling Street.Continue along the A5 westbound to its junction with the A452, Bonehill Road.Take the exit to the A453 southbound and continue to its junction with the A446, Bassetts Pole.Take the exit to the A446 eastbound and continue to the M42 J9 to re-join.Emergency services have been contacted for a comment.Continue Reading

The Australian followed his Open heroics with a sensational JCB showing. Less than a week after etching his name into major championship history, Lucas Herbert stole the show on day one of LIV Golf UK.Just six days – a little over 144 hours – after matching the lowest-ever round in Open Championship history at Royal Birkdale, Herbert was back rewriting the record books at the JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire.Lucas Herbert carded an incredible 11 under par in round one at LIV Golf UK | APThe Australian produced a sensational 11-under-par 61 to storm to the top of the leaderboard, delivering a breathtaking display featuring nine birdies and an eagle on the par-five 10th hole.His remarkable round set a new LIV Golf UK record at JCB and a new course record, despite the layout being extended to a par 72 this week compared with the par 71 setup used in previous editions.A packed grandstand on the par three 14th hole at LIV Golf UK. (Photo by Matthew Harris/LIV Golf) | APFrom tee to green, with his distinctive visor and glasses catching the eye, Herbert looked completely locked in. The thousands who descended on the pristine course near Uttoxeter were treated to a clinic in ball striking and putting as the Australian appeared incapable of making a mistake.Grouped alongside home favourite and Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter and two-time major champion Jon Rahm, Herbert was already drawing crowds several rows deep from the moment he stepped onto the course. As the afternoon progressed, those numbers continued to swell as the Australian maintained his charge and laid down an early marker.Dustin Johnson tees off during round one of LIV Golf UK in Staffordshire. (Photo by Matthew Harris/LIV Golf) | APBefore Herbert’s brilliance, last year’s champion Joaquin Niemann and Rahm – who lifted the trophy the year before – shared the lowest LIV Golf UK rounds at JCB. Both carded eight-under-par 63s when the course played as a par 71, with both going on to win the tournament in those respective years – perhaps a positive omen for Herbert.The Australian’s opening-round brilliance leaves him in pole position heading into the remaining three days and already marks him out as a serious contender to lift the trophy on Sunday.Lee Westwood tees off on the first hole at JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire on Thursday. (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf) | APAway from the action, another major talking point followed the tournament throughout day one – whether LIV Golf will return to British soil next year.With uncertainty surrounding the future of the breakaway Saudi-backed circuit, fans gathered around tee boxes and greens were left wondering whether this could be their final opportunity to watch some of the biggest names in world golf compete at JCB.LIV Golf is seeking around £260 million of fresh investment to keep going after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced it would step back from funding at the end of the year. The fund has invested almost £4 billion into the league since its launch in 2021.Home crowd favourite Lee Westwood at LIV Golf UK (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf) | APRegardless of opinions surrounding the breakaway tour, its backers and the politics behind it, those who witnessed Thursday’s thrilling opening day will hope the event remains on the calendar for years to come.At JCB, day one delivered champagne golf from start to finish, with a host of players finishing well under par.While Herbert leads the way, he has a familiar threat chasing him down, with American crowd favourite Bryson DeChambeau breathing down his neck.Bryson DeChambeau during the first round of LIV Golf United Kingdom at JCB Golf & Country Club (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf) | APLess than a week after being handed a two-shot penalty at the Open Championship after officials ruled he had improved the lie around his ball in thick rough, DeChambeau showed his accuracy off the tee by repeatedly finding the fairway.“Where’s your lawnmower?” one fan jokingly shouted to Bryson before he launched another monster drive down the 10th fairway.DeChambeau carded a brilliant eight-under-par 64 to sit three shots behind Herbert heading into Friday’s second round.Tyrrell Hatton of Legion XIII hits his shot from the 10th tee during LIV Golf United Kingdom in association with Bahri Pro-Am at JCB Golf & Country Club on Wednesday, July 22, 2026 in Rocester, England. (Photo by Matthew Harris/LIV Golf) | APHome favourite Tyrrell Hatton was also in fine form, sitting five shots off the lead after signing for a six-under-par 66.But defending champion Rahm, who could wrap up the individual LIV championship this week, endured a frustrating opening day, carding a one-over-par 73.Continue Reading

When one thinks of regeneration projects it is tempting to look solely at the biggest cities, combined mayoral authorities and metro mayors. After all, there are schemes involving tens of thousands of homes, swathes of land and seriously huge levels of investment and collaboration shaping the future of our regions.
If however the United Kingdom is to seize the regeneration opportunity, it is vital that imaginative regeneration happens at a smaller scale also.

Regeneration can also be used by smaller borough or district councils to revitalise town centres and reshape places, creating economic and social value.
One town that is showing just what regeneration can do is Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, which has embarked on an £85m strategy to revitalise its town centre with Capital & Centric, the Manchester-based developer known for taking disused buildings and regenerating them.
The plans involve the re-use of three inter-linked town centre sites: redevelopment of a shopping centre, a multi-storey car park being turned into housing and an old civic centre being demolished for a new car park and homes.
As part of our Regen Connect series, Building spoke to Simon McEneny, deputy chief executive of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, while at UKREiiF to find out more about the plans.
Builidng finds McEneny on the local authority’s UKREiiF stand, surrounded by pictures and diagrams of projects and pipeline opportunities in his borough. There is an ambitious message for such a small local authority with small urban centre – the population of Newcastle-under-Lyme itself would almost fit into Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium.
McEneny starts by reflecting on multiple grant funding awards made to the authority in a short space of time back in 2020 and 2021, which he saw as an unprecedented opportunity for the borough. The council received £11.4m in from the Future High Streets Fund in 2020 and then followed this up by securing £43m from the Town Deals Fund (since consolidated into the Local Regeneration Fund) along with £4m of revenue funding through the Shared Prosperity Fund. Last year it secured a further £18.9m for land remediation through Homes England.
An unprecedented funding opportunity
“Newcastle-under-Lyme has never had any real government grant funding in its history, since 1974 [when it was founded],” says McEneny.
“We realised we needed to do something to change the nature and feel of the high street because it is just dead, we’ve got very few national brands. We’ve got a few little artisan shops but it was sort of dying.
“How do we create something which is really quite exciting with the money we’ve got? Because we’ve only got this one chance, we’re probably not going to get this money again.”
The approach taken by the council and McEneny shows how multiple sites can be used together as part of a cohesive regeneration plan for a town centre, with each site’s usage impacting others.

The Ryecroft site: hotel, car parking and new homes
McEneny says he realised the town needed a hotel as it was missing out on attracting visitors. “We don’t have a decent three-star offer in the area, even though we’re about an hour away from Alton Towers, which is one of Staffordshire’s biggest tourist attractions.”
But McEneny says he could not get a hotel brand interested unless there was sufficient car parking space. Therefore the council purchased the vacant Ryecroft site and demolished some 1960s municipal offices. It is now working with Capital & Centric to build a new 455-space multi-storey car park and the hotel, along with 130 flats in three blocks, with later living units built by McCarthy & Stone and affordable housing managed by housing association Aspire Housing.
McEneny says that the provision of a brand new car park left the council with a disused Brutalist Midway multi-storey car park built in the 1960s.
McEneny says: “The frame is still strong, it’s concrete and I didn’t want to knock it down because it will cost a fortune and will only have to rebuild the site with something else.”
Instead McEneny spoke to Tim Heatley, boss of Capital & Centric who he says found the concept of converting the car park into housing “interesting.”

The five-storey car park is now being transformed into 110 flats designed by architect Shedkm. The project, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, will also see rooftop extensions, communal gardens, and a three-floor atrium with a social hub, gym, and mini-cinema.
Reimagining the town’s shopping centre
The third of the three linked projects at the heart of Newcastle-under-Lyme’s regeneration plans is the old York Place shopping centre. The 1960s building is currently being revamped, again by Capital & Centric.
The centre will retain the existing structure. It is being refurbished to include shops, bars and cafes, a new public square, 42 homes and a new music venue. McEneny says the centre will be renamed “Astley Place” after Philip Astley (the father of the modern circus) who grew up in the town.
McEneny says the former circus owner, who pioneered the circus ring, is of “cultural importance” to the town, so the three projects include circular public spaces or “rings” as a homage.

“Tim [Heatley of Capital & Centric] and his crew have taken our idea of the circles and created these three developments that are interlinked, but there are urban parks or places of interest where people can populate and own the space across the town and just make it make people’s interactions with the town a lot different to just walking through,” he says. The shopping centre is due to complete by Christmas, the Midway car park by next May and the Ryecroft scheme by the end of 2027.
McEneny sounds confident about these timelines. He also sounds confident about the council’s risk level in the schemes.
De-risking the deal
Under the deal, Capital & Centric will buy the scheme back off the council upon completion for whatever the council has spent or the value of the development, which ever is higher.

The three schemes
The three inter-linked projects will deliver 328 homes, 8 new bars, restaurants and cafes and a community use music venue in addition to landscaping.
Developer: Capital & Centric
Contractor: AC1 Construction, Clegg Construction and HBC Construction
Architect: ShedKM
Start on site date: December 2025
Expected completion date: The shopping centre is due to complete by Christmas, the Midway car park by next May and the Ryecroft scheme by the end of 2027.

This, plus the £18.9m funding from Homes England means the council has “de-risked the investment.”
He says: “The council didn’t want the financial responsibility of it. So, we have been de-risking that, because Capital & Centric have got a tried and tested model and they own it after [completion].”
We move on to talk about other regeneration strategies. McEneny has a vision of turning Merrial Street, which runs through the middle of the three schemes, into an “independent artisan street”.

“We’re not going to get big brands back on our high street […] we’ve tried, but they’ve left and they’re not coming back,” he says. Instead the council is looking at incentives, such as time-limited reductions in rent or paying for new window fronts to incentivise shopkeepers.
Local government reorganisation
Newcastle-under-Lyme council’s new Reform leadershipn is an obvious topic of interest. Reform UK locally campaigned on stopping greenbelt development.
McEneny says there is a shortage of brownfield sites to develop on, which is problematic for an administration opposed to green belt development but which nevertheless is expected to deliver homes to its local plan. 
All of this, however, may well be a moot point as far as Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is concerned.
After a long period of uncertainty and what McEneny described as “limbo”, the government last week finally confirmed Newcastle-under–Lyme will be merged with Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Moorlands to create a new unitary council covering North Staffordshire expected to be established in 2028. 
Quite what this means for the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme remains to be seen. But it would seem that, as far as the borough council’s concerned, McEneny’s decision to jump at the opportunity to regenerate the town presented by the funding in 2020 and 2021 was astute. 

Regen Connect

Through ongoing analysis and expert commentary, Regen Connect highlights the policies, funding streams and local priorities that matter most to the construction and development sector.
This coverage will culminate in a special report to be published at our Building the Future Live Conference in London on 7 October.
How you can get involved:
Throughout the year, our team will be gathering insight from across the sector to inform editorial features, debates and events. We welcome contributions from practitioners who want to share experience or shine a light on emerging trends.
Click here for more on the campaign
Be part of the conversation – contact us to contribute or get involved by emailing our deputy editor at dave.rogers@building.co.uk   and to find the campaign on social media follow #regenconnec

The event featuring the viral TikTok star was due to take place at the weekend, but has been moved to August.An event featuring one of the internet’s biggest viral sensations and a Staffordshire native has been cancelled and moved to another date.Viral TikTok star Spudman was set to visit Rugeley on Saturday, July 25 to hand out free jacket potatoes and exclusive prizes to celebrate London Northwestern Railway’s (LNR) new Class 730 trains on the line connecting Rugeley to London.However, the event organisers have told the Express & Star that the event on Saturday has been cancelled and, instead, will take place on Saturday, August 22.Spudman will be giving away free baked potatoes and prizes as part of the appearance. Photo: London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway | London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands RailwayBen Newman, known to his online following as Spudman, rose to fame after uploading interactions with customers queuing for loaded spuds at his van in Tamworth.In June, five towns across the region battled it out in a competition to win a pop-up from Spudman in their area, with the winning town, Rugeley, securing 41 per cent of the total votes. Continue Reading

Seven English players are in action at LIV Golf UK this week. LIV Golf’s English stars are relishing their return to home soil as the tour is back in Staffordshire.LIv Golf UK at JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire in 2025 (Photo by Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf) | APThe event could prove to be the final LIV Golf tournament at the venue, with the league seeking to secure $300 million in funding by September 1 after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) ended its financial backing.Tyrrell Hatton heads into the tournament on the back of his recent LIV Golf victory in Spain and is among the home favourites bidding for success on English soil.“Playing home events are always fun,” Hatton said. “Having friends come out to support you…home fans in general, even if things aren’t going well, they always support you. “If you have a good moment, you get a good cheer – and that can kind of breathe some life into you.”The Legion XIII player produced the best LIV Golf finish by an Englishman at JCB, tying for second behind team captain Jon Rahm in 2024.The league is making its third consecutive visit to JCB and its fifth event overall in England.The all-English Majesticks GC quartet of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sam Horsfield and Laurie Canter will be hoping home support can inspire a turnaround after a difficult 2026 campaign.Ian Poulter will feature at JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire this week | AFP via Getty ImagesThey arrive at JCB bottom of the season-long team standings but are looking forward to the home atmosphere, including the party atmosphere around the par-three ninth hole, where their pop-up pub is situated.“Very much looking forward to returning to JCB,” said Majesticks co-captain Poulter. “It’s become our home event. The fans come out in massives. We have an incredible fan village, incredible activations. We have the pub. It’s a special week.”Fellow captain Westwood added: “It’s always nice for English and British players to play in front of our home crowds. They really get behind us. It’s a great atmosphere.”Continue Reading

Police are asking people to close their windows and doors amid rise in burglaries linked to the warm weather.A local police force has urged residents in the area to close their windows and doors following rise of burglaries and attempted burglaries in the warm weather. Staffordshire Police said: “We’re asking people to make sure that windows and doors are secured wherever possible, especially if you are leaving the house or going to sleep at night.”The force said that thieves are looking for easy targets, especially as residents in Staffordshire are looking to cool amid the hot weather that has been common this summer. The force listed numerous examples of these sorts of crimes taking place. For example, yesterday (Monday, July 20), a Mazda was stolen from the driveway of a home on Moreton Lane, Kingsley, in the Moorlands. Police said that the suspect got in the house through a window and took the keys before leaving the scene in the stolen car at about 3.40am. In another case, a car was taken yesterday when suspects went inside a house on Elmwood Drive, Blythe Bridge. The suspects found the keys to a Ford Kuga and drove off in the car at about 2.20am. Later, the car was found abandoned with a flat tyre in the Caverswall area. The force said further incidents had taken place in Burrington Drive, Trentham; Princess Drive, Weston Coyney; Stanier Street, Fenton and Bridle Path, Werrington. Continue Reading

A car ended up atop rocks near a main road in StaffordshireA car driver found themselves between a rock and a hard place after the vehicle left the road and came to rest on a big rock.Car on the rocks near Cannock | Local LibraryPassing motorists couldn’t quite believe their eyes when they spotted the white car ‘parked up’ on the stone off the A34 Stafford Road at Pottal Pool between Cannock and Stafford over the weekend.The car has since been removed but images of it were shared widely on social media.Continue Reading