Strategy Area Description

The geography of the strategy area is dominated by its main river valleys, in between which, there is a broadly undulating lowland landscape ranging in altitude from 'marginally below' sea level, to close to 260 m above sea level.

Across the area, there are incised river valleys, broad u-shaped valleys, a varied coastline of high limestone cliffs, soft and rocky shores and many intertidal features. Inland, the rolling hills of the magnesian limestone plateau run through the densely populated urban areas of Sunderland. Away from the urban areas, the river valleys are spread with a patchwork of agriculture, both pastoral and arable, that climb from the valley floors on to the higher fells. In the central portion of the strategy area, south of the Tyne, the land is flatter and rather featureless, except to the east where incursions of limestone intrude upon the landscape, such as at Boldon Hill, South Tyneside. In parts of western Gateshead, some of the smaller valleys, for example the Barlow Burn, illustrate a gently rolling topography heavily moulded by glaciation; the presence of moraines and eskers, demonstrate the origin of their ground form.

Relief

The strategy area is, essentially, a lowland landscape. Most of its land surface area lies below the 100m contour, much of it lower still. Nonetheless it exhibits a significant altitudinal range, from slightly below sea level (that is, the intertidal areas of South Tyneside) to over 250 m above sea level (the fells of western Gateshead). The highest points of the three local authority areas are: just over 170m above ordnance datum, at Warden Law (City of Sunderland); around 90m at Boldon Hills (South Tyneside); and 259m at Currock Hill (Gateshead).

Rivers

The geography of the strategy area has been heavily influenced by its two major rivers, the Tyne and the Wear, and the extensive industrial and urban areas that developed along their lower valleys; in large part, because of the access these provided to the North Sea. Today, all of its river systems provide corridors for wildlife courtesy of their instream habitats, marginal vegetation and, further west, their wooded banksides.

The three main river systems the Wear, the Tyne and the Derwent (a tributary of the Tyne) rise on the high peatlands of the Pennines, far to the west and south west. The Tyne runs west to east and is tidal over most of its length (some 34.5 km) in the strategy area. Into this flows the Derwent and the river Team (in Gateshead), and in South Tyneside, the river Don. The Wear enters the North Sea at Sunderland and has no major tributaries in the strategy area.

The Tyne, the largest of the area's rivers has had, in terms of its ecology, industry and economic development, a disproportionally large effect on the whole North East region. In some places the Tyne's flood plain has been raised to facilitate settlement or development for example in South Shields, around Tyne Dock, and in Gateshead around Dunston.

The river Wear enters the strategy area, upstream of Fatfield and flows north east towards Sunderland, past Penshaw Hill and Claxheugh Rock and through a limestone gorge, before meeting the North Sea.

At both Gateshead and Sunderland, narrower deep river gorges allow iconic bridges to cross the rivers and, in many senses, these visually characterise the area. The river mouths of both Tyne and Wear are enclosed by Victorian piers, built to protect the river entrances, the harbours they contain and the trading vessels passing through them.

The Derwent, courtesy of its heavily wooded riverbanks and rapid and riffle instream profile, could be considered an upland water course, it enters the Tyne at Derwenthaugh (Gateshead).

The river Team is, in essence, a meandering lowland river, with incised riverbanks, sandbanks and adjacent damp meadows. It flows through a wide, glacially channelled valley, into a heavily modified downstream section before entering the Tyne at Dunston (Gateshead).

The river Don, most easterly of the Tyne's tributaries, forms in eastern Gateshead, before flowing through the flat, agricultural landscape straddling the Sunderland/South Tyneside boundary. Most of its course is in South Tyneside, and it reaches the Tyne at Jarrow.

According to the Northumbria River Basin Management Plan (2022), the ecological status of all of the strategy area's rivers, both estuarine and non-estuarine reaches of these, is at best moderate.