Stockton Council’s planning officers said the outline proposal for 11 self-build plots on a paddock near Manor Close, Wolviston, should be approved, finding “no sustainable planning reasons” to refuse it. However, councillors on the planning committee disagreed, went against their officers’ recommendation and refused the scheme. Applicant ELG Planning said the “comfortably sized plots” for…

Tees Flex, the Tees Valley’s on-demand responsive bus service, will cease to operate at the end of March 2026. Instead, funding will go toward two new hourly routes – one serving Hartlepool and another connecting Darlington and Stockton – aimed at giving passengers more reliable, regular journeys. The Tees Flex scheme comes to the end…

Protesters gathered outside Durham County Hall last week in an attempt to convince the council to back out of a joint deal for the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF). The new facility, set to be built near Redcar in Teesside, is supported by a partnership of seven local authorities in the North East, including…

Leaders on Stockton Council’s cabinet were told how parents were choosing not to take up early learning places offering 15 hours of funded childcare per week. Working parents of children from nine months to four years old can get 30 hours of free childcare for 38 weeks of the year. This has recently expanded from…