Strategy Area Description

Overview of the strategy area

The strategy area is located in the north east of England, on the eastern side of the narrowest point of mainland England, adjacent to the North Sea. It comprises the southern part of Tyne and Wear, south of the river Tyne, from the western most point of Gateshead, east to the North Sea coast and south to the southernmost extremity of the City of Sunderland. To its north lies Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside, on its southern limit, it borders County Durham, with Northumberland to the west and the North Sea to the east. The central point (in Gateshead) is situated at 'approximately', latitude: 54 degrees, 56 minutes north; longitude: 1 degree, 34 minutes west.

The strategy area is described in three National Character Area descriptions that relate to it - 'Tyne and Wear Lowlands'; 'Durham Coalfield Pennine Fringe'; and, 'Durham Magnesian Limestone Plateau'. A fourth, 'Tyne Gap and Hadrian's Wall', relates to a small area of land in the western most part of the area along the Tyne valley.

The eastern boundary of the strategy area is formed by the coastline, from the mouth of the river Tyne in South Tyneside, south to the mouth of Ryhope Dene in City of Sunderland.  Its northern edge is the River Tyne from South Shields, in the east, to near Wylam in the west.

The western boundary runs south along the Stanley, Clinty and Milkwell burns, via eastward sweeping bulges, south towards Easington Lane, before extending north and eastwards to Burdon, and the coast.

At its greatest extent, from the South Groyne at South Shields in South Tyneside to the southernmost limit of the City of Sunderland it is 24.3 km, north to south. At its widest point, between Milkwellburn in Gateshead and Souter Point in South Tyneside, it is just under 32km. It covers an area of almost 344 square kilometres.

Despite its relatively small size, the strategy area has a varied topography. From the coast, along deeply incised river valleys, to inland locations where the land rises steeply, to the west of the Team valley, on to fells with a flavour of the uplands. Within this landscape, it has a relatively large resident population and a long industrial history.

It contains large urban areas that are centred upon the main river corridors. Away from these, much of the strategy area's lowland landscape might be considered rather featureless. Many parts of it, even those not built up, have been heavily influenced by human activity; much of the rest is farmed.

The strategy area's land uses are mixed. These are, in terms of the land area they cover (in descending order): urban, agricultural, industrial and, semi-natural habitats, which, in the west, include some large areas of woodland. The agricultural landscape is largely open, divided by small hedges. Interspersed into this are small pockets of conifer plantations or mixed deciduous woodland.

Despite its largely urban character, the strategy area has areas of 'unspoilt countryside' and is home to a variety of wildlife-rich habitats. These include ancient semi-natural woodland, permanent pastures and hay meadows, magnesian limestone grassland, flushed grassland, acid grassland, lowland heathland, coastal habitats, saltmarsh, rivers, streams, ponds and reedbeds. This habitat complexity is a product of the area's varied geology, its axial and boundary features (that is, the rivers Tyne and Wear) and its position on the North Sea.

The strategy area clearly displays the evidence of its industrial past, in particular the enormous influence of coal mining. Through history, the extraction and trading of coal has been of great importance to the region, shaping the lives of its people and, very often, its landscape.

'History' of the strategy area

The three metropolitan council areas of Gateshead, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland that form the strategy area were created in 1974 as part of the Metropolitan County of Tyne and Wear.

Human history: Landscape and biodiversity

The first significant human impacts upon the north east of England's landscapes and habitats occurred around 7,000-8,000 years ago, in the Mesolithic period.

The early hunter-gatherers left middens containing remnants of their diet, foraged in the landscape. An 'old sea cave' at 'Whitburn Lizard' (South Tyneside) held the remains of the extinct great auk, suggesting that species was common enough along the coastline, to be hunted, 2,000-3,000 years ago.

By 2,500 BC agriculture had become the dominant way of life with resultant impacts. From this time onwards, man was a major shaping force upon the landscape, flora and fauna of the strategy area. The wheeled plough arrived with the Romans, leading to increased grain production and the establishment of significant Roman settlements, for example Arbeia at South Shields.

The strategy area was once part of Durham, one of the three English 'counties palatine'. In these, the Prince Bishop acted as 'regional sovereign', wielding huge power, deciding how land was managed and where animals were hunted, for example in the 'forest' of Winlaton above the Derwent valley, in Gateshead.

For nearly 800 years, coal mining was a major economic driver and landscape shaper across the strategy area. By the late 13^th century, coal was being shipped out of the river Tyne and in the early modern period, the amount of coal passing down this river was measured in hundreds of thousands of tons per annum.

In the 10^th and 11^th centuries, the Derwent valley woodlands were cropped to provide timber for the construction of Durham Cathedral. In 1294, Edward I requisitioned wood for warships; Tyne shipwrights obtaining oak from Chopwell in the Derwent valley. Centuries afterwards, Charles I repeated the exercise, taking timber for ship-building from the Crown Estates of 'Choople Woods', in June 1635.

At South Shields, salt manufacture was a major industry from the 13th century. By 1696 there were 143 salt-pans at 'Shields', but subsequent decline meant this trade had ceased by the end of the 19^th century.

In the early days of habitation, local foraging helped determine the pattern of settlements, which were often located close to rivers that provided fresh water, fishing and hunting opportunities. Salmon fisheries are well documented along the Tyne, such as at Blaydon and Ryton in Gateshead.

There was relatively little change in the farming footprint of the area between the first agriculturists and the Agricultural Revolution of the late 18^th century. At this time, the effects of 'enclosure' began to manifest themselves, leading to a large increase in the length of hedgerows and associated copses. The lowland landscape pattern laid out at that time largely remains recognisable today.

From the late 17^th century, with the commencement of the Industrial Revolution, man's activities began to have greater landscape impacts, for example with the development of 'engineered features'. This commenced with the creation of a network of wagon ways, which laid the blueprint for the later rail network. This process produced features that remain in the modern landscape, such as deep cuttings (for example at Lockhaugh, on the Derwent Walk, Gateshead), embankments (the Harton Mineral Line, in South Tyneside) and viaducts (The Victoria Viaduct, at Washington, City of Sunderland).

As industrial wealth accrued, through the 18^th and 19^th centuries, rich landowners established major estates in the strategy area, such as at Gibside and Ravensworth (Gateshead).

As time progressed, the major engineering of land took on new facets, with new impacts on wildlife. For example, the Tyne Improvement Act (1861) brought about a reconfiguration of the river, to serve industrial growth. Prior to this, the Tyne had been a relatively shallow river but by 1866, 5.2 million tons of material had been removed, transforming its geography. In 1885, at Dunston, the '30-acre island', Kings Meadows, the largest of the 'Clarence Islands', was dredged away.

Through time, the strategy area's rivers became more polluted. Water pollution from human effluent grew through the 19^th century but it was not until 1920, that Tyne estuary readings of oxygen fell to zero. The river's water quality remained poor for much of the 20^th century, with consequent impacts on its ecology. It was not until the 1970s that these issues began to be seriously addressed.

As early as the mid-17^th century, coal ships entering the Tyne were dumping ballast onto the 300 acre expanse of mudflats at the Don's mouth, South Tyneside, 'a parcel of Land or Waste on the River Tyne, called Jarrow Slike', a rich area for wildlife.  By 1882, John Hancock was of the opinion that Jarrow Slake had been 'in great measure destroyed as a resort of wildfowl'.

Through the 19^th century and early 20^th century, urban spread, particularly around the mouths of the Tyne and the Wear, merged smaller settlements into urbanised zones. The creation of conurbations left less room for wildlife, as green spaces and habitats between settlements were lost.

In the wider landscape, post Second World War, the intensification of agriculture brought new challenges for wildlife. The mechanisation of farm work, led to the loss of many important open-county features such as ponds, hedges, rough and uncultivated field corners, bringing impacts for birds and other wildlife.

A measure of these changes is shown, in microcosm, by the alteration to the Strategy Area's coastal strip. In the early 20^th century, coastal fields stretched, uninterrupted, from South Shields to Marsden Village and beyond, to Sunderland; a mixture of pasture, barley, kale and turnip fields, where lapwings, skylarks and grey partridge nested. Corn buntings, yellowhammers and linnets were plentiful, singing from the hedgerows and limestone walls marking out the fields. Migrant birds were attracted to winter stubble fields, joining flocks of buntings and finches. In little time this diversity was lost, at both a small and grand scale.

The widespread adoption of persistent pesticides and herbicides through the 1950s and early 1960s had a hugely adverse effect on some birdlife; the now common again sparrowhawk, at that time, almost disappeared from much of the strategy area.

As the North East's industrial fortunes waned, in the late 20th century, derelict industrial sites, which once produced pollution that damaged wildlife now offered opportunities for it to exploit. Through time, such sites became plentiful and many became havens for wildlife. Shibdon Pond, in Gateshead, once an armaments dump, part of a colliery, bounded by railways, and finally, a site earmarked as a local authority refuse tip, was saved and is now a nature reserve.

Many of the area's older settlements close to the Wear and the Tyne, were established for defensive (on The Lawe in South Tyneside) or resourcing reasons (water and provisioning).  These spread and, ultimately, coalesced. Later on, such settlements were often focussed on a colliery, as at Clara Vale and Marley Hill in Gateshead, or a clay pit and brickworks for example at Kibblesworth, in the Team valley. Across the Area countless small sandstone quarries were developed, where that resource was accessible, to provide local building stone; most of these are, now, long since gone, as working sites.

A significant development during the second half of the 20^th century were the processes that led to the founding of the Northumberland and Durham Naturalists' Trust in the early 1960s. In 1971 this became two separate wildlife trusts for Durham and Northumberland, with the consequent establishment of nature reserves across the strategy area.

Settlement patterns

Today, the strategy area is dominated by the conurbations, with significant urban developments along the Wear, Tyne and Team valleys, and at the mouths of the main rivers. These comprise many constructed, features including bridges, roads, factories and shopping centres and, not least in terms of area coverage, the houses in which people live.

From the Industrial Revolution onwards, the area's small settlements, established near to growing industries, grew and coalesced into large urban centres. Today, between these, there remain areas of agricultural land and greenbelt.

Some of the western parts of the strategy area, for example the lower Derwent valley and some of the more westerly parts of the Wear valley, have a more rural feel. In some places, the area's landscape is one of scattered small towns and villages surrounded by farmland and woodland, for example in the lower Derwent valley.

Urban centres

The City of Sunderland, on the North Sea, sits on a low range of limestone hills running parallel to the coast. The city is divided by the river Wear, which flows along a deeply incised valley and is crossed by famous Queen Alexandra and Wear bridges. To the south west of the city, one of the strategy area's major landscape features, Penshaw Monument, stands.

Along the south shore of the river Tyne, Hebburn, Jarrow and South Shields, form South Tyneside's main urban block.

Gateshead is located on the south bank of the river Tyne, and is an extended urban area stretching along the main river corridor east, towards Hebburn. To its south and west there are several satellite towns, for example Birtley and Whickham. It has a varied topography compared to the City of Sunderland and South Tyneside and, in its western parts, there are extensive areas of a rural character.

Relatively recently, Penshaw's dominating landscape monument has been joined by the Angel of the North, which perches high above the Gateshead section of the A1.

Landscape

The strategy area has a relatively diverse landscape with an array of different habitats, which are products of its geology, and, in many respects, history. In terms of landform, the strategy area is varied, rising from below sea level in the coastal inter-tidal areas to over 250 metres above Ordnance Datum, on its highest fells.

Geography and changes over time

The area's geography is one of contrasts, from the cliffs and low sandy shorelines of the North Sea coast, to wooded valleys and the 'fell-like' hills of western Gateshead. Many underlying aspects of this are fixed in historical timescales, but, since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, man-induced change to the area, at both a micro and macro level, has been almost constant.

Population

The impact of human activity on the area cannot be over-stated. Its relatively urban, densely populated nature is evidenced by the 2022 National Census figures, when its population was around 625,000 (Gateshead - 197,700; South Tyneside -147,800; and Sunderland - 275,000).

Human geography

Most of the strategy area's population reside in the conurbations and larger settlements, and most people work in 'the area', or the nearby city of Newcastle. Service industries, including retail and tourism, have replaced the once dominant mining and manufacturing trades as the Area's key economic drivers. Whilst services are important in terms of employment share, some larger non-service related employment hubs are located away from the core built up areas, such as to the west of the City of Sunderland (for example the Nissan complex at Washington) and in Gateshead (for example the Team Valley Trading Estate).

Key transport routes into, through, and across the strategy area include the A1 and the East Coast Mainline, north-south, and the widespread Tyne and Wear Metro system.