Welcome to your daily look at the news in the North East.
Each morning and afternoon we'll bring you some of the latest from the North East - from breaking news and top stories to NUFC updates and the cost of living latest.
Today we bring you the news that Newcastle's Clean Air Zone charge has raked in more than £54,000 in its first month and Gosforth High Street’s much-criticised bollards are set to be removed.
READ MORE: Inside the Whitley Bay butchers that has been serving Geordies for more than 100 years
This is your North East Today update.
Newcastle Clean Air Zone: More than 1,600 drivers fined in first month for not paying city centre pollution toll
More than 1,600 drivers were fined for not paying Newcastle’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge in its first month of operation.
Council officials have confirmed that 1,658 motorists were hit with penalty charge notices (PCNs) for bringing a non-compliant vehicle into the CAZ without paying the toll from its launch on January 30 until the end of February. Some older, high-polluting vehicles that do not meet certain environmental standards are now subject to daily tolls of either £12.50 or £50 to come into Newcastle city centre, under efforts to slash illegal levels of roadside emissions.
The charges apply to older buses, coaches, taxis, and lorries for now – with tolls for vans due to start this summer, but all private cars being exempt.
The amount of income generated by the CAZ in its first month was £54,327.50 – made up of £41,975 in toll payments, £7,402.50 in paid PCN fines, and £4,950 from discounted seven-day passes for taxi drivers.
Read the full story here.
Nathaniel Wardle stabbing: Bid launched to get sentences increased for teens convicted over dad's knife death
A bid has been launched to get the teenager who stabbed loving dad Nathaniel Wardle to death locked up for longer.
Mohammed Rabani, 19, was jailed for 12 years and six months after being convicted of manslaughter and possession of a knife following the dad-of-four's death in Wallsend. He was found not guilty of murder after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
Rabani's co-accused Robbie Battista, 18, was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter but admitted being in possession of a knife at the scene and was handed a suspended sentence.
Now the Chronicle can reveal that both sentences, passed at Newcastle Crown Court last month, have been referred to the Attorney General's Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.
Law officers have 28 days from the date of sentence to decide whether Rabani and Battista's sentences should be referred to the Court of Appeal to be reviewed.
Read the full story here.
Stadium mastermind gives Newcastle expansion hope after previous 60,000-seater and hotel plan
You would not recognise Russell Jones if he walked past you outside St James' Park. Yet you suspect that is just the way the unassuming 78-year-old likes it.
Jones may prefer to keep a 'very low profile', in his own words, but the former executive director's stamp is all over the cathedral on the hill. It was Jones who helped design and deliver the stadium that we know today for Newcastle United.
In fact, few figures have a more intimate knowledge of the site - and whether increasing the capacity at St James' really is feasible in the long run.
"There are means of doing it," he told ChronicleLive. "There's a saying in life: where there's a will, there's a way. Basically, that's what you have got to adopt. I wish them well in doing so."
Read the full story here.
Gosforth High Street bollards to be removed but replacement plan branded 'extremely dangerous'
Gosforth High Street’s much-criticised bollards are set to be removed this month – but plans to replace them with a new bus lane have been labelled “extremely dangerous”.
Newcastle City Council has confirmed that it will at last get rid of the bollards that have provoked widespread frustration since they were installed in 2020. The changes were made as part of emergency measures during the Covid pandemic to provide more space for social distancing, cutting the road from four to two lanes to help cyclists and pedestrians.
Read the full story here.
Nexus confirms Haymarket Metro Station is expected to fully reopen by end of week
Nexus aim to have Haymarket Metro Station fully reopened by the end of this week after it returned to exit only on Tuesday.
Trains had not been stopping at Haymarket Metro Station from Friday last week due to all three of the station's escalators being out of service. One is out of service for a "total renewal" while the other two had faults, one of which has been repaired, meaning that the station could reopen as exit only on Tuesday morning.
Nexus chiefs plan to have the station fully opened by the end of the week. Until then, Metro passengers can board city centre trains at Central Station or Monument, or board just outside of the centre at Jesmond.
Read the full story here.
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