Whitley Bay & district · Local news you can trust
All 28 food hygiene ratings published for North Tyneside in August were 5s, from a Front Street deli to a Wallsend chippy. The full list, venue by venue.
Read the full story
Local Info
Whitley Bay Council Tax Bands 2026/27: Band A £1,641
Every North Tyneside band, from A at £1,641.17 to H at £4,923.54, up 5.36%. The council, police and fire split, and the new banded reduction scheme from April 2026.
Schools
Monkseaton High School closes 31 August: what happens now
Monkseaton High School closes for good on 31 August. GCSE results are still handed out there on 20 August, and the council then holds certificates and records.
Schools
Free school meals North Tyneside: new rules from September
Every child in a Universal Credit household qualifies for free school meals from September, whatever the parents earn. North Tyneside families should check now.
Jobs
North Tyneside claimant count hits 4,450, up 295 in a year
4,450 people in North Tyneside claimed unemployment benefits in June, the most since February 2025, with the rise sharpest among under-25s and over-50s.
Local Info
Whitley Bay House Prices 2026: £341,592 Town Average
The average Whitley Bay home sold for £341,592 in the year to April 2026, £138,000 above the record £203,813 borough average. Prices by type, and who pays what.
Local Info
Whitley Bay Metro Timetable: First 05:24, Last 23:53
Metros run every 12 minutes and reach Newcastle in 27. First train 05:24, last through train to Monument 23:53, and a Pop single is £2.50 against £5.10.
Local Info
Whitley Bay Roadworks: Sandringham Drive Set to Shut 12 Days
Sandringham Drive and Wilton Drive face a 12-day closure from 28 September for a new water main, with borough resurfacing running until 31 October.
What's On
Things to Do in Whitley Bay: 10 Days Out, Prices Checked
Ten Whitley Bay days out with details checked on each venue's own site: Spanish City, a tidal lighthouse, £10 ice skating and a pay-what-you-like cinema.
Local Info
Whitley Bay Planning: 2,700 Homes at Murton Gap, 995 a Year
North Tyneside must plan 995 homes a year to 2042. The 2,700-home Murton Gap scheme, 1,250 more proposed north of Whitley Bay, and this week's applications.
The Metro loop is the spine of this borough. It runs out along the coast through Whitley Bay, Monkseaton, Cullercoats and Tynemouth, down to North Shields and the Fish Quay, then back through Wallsend and Longbenton, with Shiremoor, Backworth, Earsdon and Killingworth inland of it. Whitley Bay and Tynemouth are where we start, and we cover the rest of North Tyneside with them.
North Tyneside Council, run by a directly elected mayor from its offices at Cobalt Park, decides the things that shape a week here: planning on the seafront and in the villages, parking, bins, licences, council tax. It publishes the evidence and hardly anybody reads it. We do, and we write down what it says with a link to the file.
Every fact carries a link to its source, so you can check it for yourself.