Environmental and Geotechnical Issues:

Historical Land Use and Sites of Archaoological Interest

The land use of Gateshead town centre and immediate surroundings has varied significantly since the mid 1800’s with land uses ranging from residential housing and open space to heavily industrial processors. The diagram above summarises the past land use, as determined from Ordnance Survey plans, of the 47 development areas since the mid 1800’s. In general it is apparent that the central ‘town centre’ area has remained predominantly residential / commercial land use, whereas the land use along the south bank of the River Tyne and adjacent to the railway lines developed as industrial areas. It is common for industrial areas to be located close to such features as the river and railway lines will have provided good transport links for importing / exporting goods.

Past and / or present industrial processors in the Gateshead area included extensive railway land with depots and engine sheds, foundries, steel works, glass works, engineering works and chemical works, to mention a few.

Gateshead’s historical industry is also associated with quarrying and coal mining.

A number of former sandstone quarries and clay pits have been identified within the study area, and a number of coal mines are known to have existed in Gateshead, some mining coal seams until the 1940’s.

Geology

The geological strata present below the Gateshead area consists of the Upper Carboniferous Middle Coal Measures. The Coal measures consist of interbedded layers of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and shale deposited approximately 300 million years ago. Thin layers, or seams of coal are present within the strata, many of which are sufficient thickness to have been mined in the past.

Above the Coal Measures at surface level more recent superficial or ‘drift’ deposits are present. These deposits consist of clays, sands and gravels deposited during / after the latest Ice Age.

In total seven seams of coal sub crop below the drift deposits in the northern part of the study area. These seams are named as the High Main, Metal, Top and Bottom Five Quarter, Top and Bottom Main and the Maudlin / Bensham.

The Coal Measures strata below the site dip in a south-easterly direction which results in the coal seams becoming progressively deeper below ground level from northwest to southeast across the study area.

The coal seams have been extensively worked below the study area in the past. A mining report obtained from the Coal Authority indicates the presence of recorded workings in nine seams of coal at depths ranging from 50 to 220m below ground level. It is also likely that additional unrecorded workings will be present below some / all of the study area.

Previous Site Investigation Information

The diagram above shows a summary of all available previous site investigations carried out within the boundaries of the study area.

Mining Related Ground Instability Risk

From an assessment of all the available information, a risk rating ranging from high to low with regard to the potential for past mine workings and / or the presence of shafts having an effect on possible future developments of each of the 47 areas.

Contamination Risk

Using the historical past land use of the study area, the potential risk for the presence of contaminated land has been devised for each of the 47 development sites. As with the mining related risk, the contamination risk rating ranges from high (red) to low (blue) onthe above diagram.

In general the areas marked as ‘high’ potential risk of contamination are the areas formerly occupied by heavy industry such as the previously mentioned industrial areas along the River Tyne and the railway lines.