Here to help! Manchester depends on what type of school you would like to send your kids to. There is one which will only accept all the kids from the same family, so if your kids are very different you might find that hard.
Never heard that the Rov’s permission is needed to move to gateshead. As long as the family is frum and conforms to halacha. Judging by the number of families that have moved here recently, I would guess it’s not too difficult to move. Transistion is fairly easy.
Gateshead is a very warm community and most families seem to settle down well here. Manchester is much bigger but still warm, you just need to find the right area and shul to settle down in.