Very late reply to the OP, but for anyone looking at Teesside;
The most important thing I can say is to make sure you apply for accommodation early if you can, otherwise they're likely to stick you in a ****ty house share in one of the many bad neighbourhoods. The houses themselves aren't bad, but they're between two other houses and you never know what your neighbours are going to be like.
I'm not going to lie to you and say this is "the safest, friendliest city in the UK!", it can be a bit daunting at times walking around town (there's beggars that come up to you and chavs drinking at 10am on street corners) but the city is so active that you don't really have anything to worry about during the day. Stick to the main roads and keep alert if you have to walk home late at night (as you should in any city) and you should be good.
Aside from that, students and staff are nice at the university and it's incredibly safe. There's plenty of societies and clubs you can join, of course the night life is good too with a huge amount of bars and clubs selling cheap drinks and the SU has stuff going on every week if you don't want to go on a pub crawl. I'd recommend it so long as you keep in mind that outside of the university and the main streets, it's a pretty poor city.