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Northumberland County Council is offering funding from a pot of £50,000 for projects aiming to help the environment.  Up to £5,000 is available from the Council’s Environment and Climate Fund to support community initiatives such as reducing emissions, enhancing energy efficiency, educating and engaging the local community, and promoting waste reduction through reducing, reusing and recycling.  Applications are now open at https://www.northumberlandnetzero.uk/apply/climate-fu

Northumberland residents can now recycle more items at the Council’s Household Waste Recovery Centre’s (HWRCs), operated by SUEZ recycling and recovery UK (SUEZ), in a bid to further increase recycling rates and make recycling everyday items like coffee pods easier for residents.   Two new bins for coffee pod recycling have been introduced at each of the 12 sites – one for metal pods and one for plastic. The coffee remains from the bottom of the pods will be sent for composti

The County Council’s plans for a new community woodland are underway in Hadston and Red Row. During two community planting events, over 300 trees have been put in the ground with another 10,000 more being planted over the coming weeks by a local tree planting company.   The Old School Field site in Hadston has seen a total of 80 volunteers from Hadston House Youth Club and members of the public plant tree species including Rowan, Downy Birch, Silver Birch, and Hornbeam.   The

A new management plan is being put in place by the County Council to ensure that Northumberland’s designated stretch of coastline continues to be protected.  The new plan, formally adopted by the Council, will cover The Northumberland Coast National Landscape, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which runs along 64km of coastline from near Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Coquet Estuary.  The Northumberland Coast National Landscape Management Plan will run until 2030 to ensure tha

Cutting-edge technology is being trialled to enable better and faster planning decisions in relation to flood risk in the county.  A project is underway within the County Council after it was awarded over £725,000 in Government funding to carry out pioneering research into how AI can support faster and better planning decisions relating to flood risk on a national scale.  The money came from the UK Government’s Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) which funds regulators and loc

Fifty middle and secondary school pupils from across Northumberland came together to discuss climate change issues in a mini COP30 UN summit.  The event, hosted by Northumberland County Council in the Council Chamber at County Hall, saw nine schools debate pressing issues such as deforestation, flooding and sustainable energy, sparking enthusiasm and respect for both worldwide and local challenges.  Following the success of last year’s event, this year has been bigger and bet

Landmark moment as Northumberland County Council plants it’s millionth tree.   A 2-metre-tall Oak tree has been planted at East Cramlington Local Nature Reserve by the Council’s Great Northumberland Forest team as part of National Tree Week.  Since the introduction of the Great Northumberland Forest initiative in 2019, the Council has created 190ha (hectares) of tree coverage - that’s over 27 trees for every child under the age of five in Northumberland, helping to boost biod

Northumberland’s beaches are some of the very best in England for water cleanliness, according to a new study.  An impressive twelve bathing waters along Northumberland’s heritage coastline have once again been awarded the ‘excellent’ standard - the highest possible rating in European bathing water quality.  The beaches that have been rated as ‘excellent’ are Bamburgh Castle, Seahouses North, Beadnell, Low Newton, Warkworth, Amble Links, Druridge Bay North and South, Newbiggi

Improved rubbish recycling for Northumberland residents has had a multi-million pound boost.  The Council’s Cabinet approved a capital investment of more than £21m to expand the range of products that can be recycled as part of the Government's “Simpler Recycling” policy which comes in next year.  Earlier this year the Council agreed to expand its food waste recycling services to approximately 90,000 households across the south east and central areas of Northumberland, to sta

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has opened its new Technology Development Centre, boosting opportunities for innovation in the UK’s offshore renewables industry in the North East of England. The state-of-the-art £6.3 million two-storey facility will provide testing, validation and demonstration for companies working on products and services to support offshore renewables – adding to the globally unique range of services already available at ORE Catapult’s Nationa

Pupils across Northumberland have been taking part in International Walk to School Month, with over 6,000 pupils from 37 schools walking, cycling or scooting to school.  Walk to School Month is organised by the UK charity Living Streets and sees pupils celebrate the joys of walking and wheeling to school. This year pupils were asked to take on The Great Space Walk and complete a 5 day walking challenge during the month.   Pupils meet various colourful intergalactic friends al

The Council has welcomed extra carriages on a number of peak time trains on the Northumberland Line.  The rail project has been a phenomenal success, with around 700,000 passenger journeys already made since the line opened in December 2024.   The weekly passenger numbers are set to go higher with the opening of the fourth station – Blyth Bebside, on Sunday, October 19th – with the remaining two stations at Bedlington and Northumberland Park due to open in the coming months.