River Tyne Restoration Facility

The River Tyne is vital to economic growth in the offshore sector, particularly offshore wind, decommissioning and subsea technologies.  It is home to globally significant businesses including Siemens, Technip and Baker Hughes who deploy state of the art technologies such as robotics, AI, and energy storage. They are attracted to the area due to our deep-water berths, marine testing facilities, port infrastructure, university research, highly skilled workforce and supply chains.

The RTRF is an innovative solution to the problem of historic contamination within the river, and is being designed as a purpose built facility to store material which would otherwise disrupt the Tyne’s operational berths which support 3900 jobs and contribute £139m annually to the regional economy.

The contamination is related to historic mining activity in the North Pennines and results in naturally occurring sediment containing high levels of heavy metals. At times of higher river flows the contaminated sediment washes downstream and accumulates in the quay berths.  A situation exacerbated by climate change. 

When this occurs, action levels for the disposal of the sediment at sea are exceeded and the only alternative is disposal at landfill adding significant costs to businesses and increased carbon emissions relating to the processing and transport of dredged sediment. Over time this will lead to berths becoming unviable economically, resulting in the loss of global businesses and jobs on this nationally important East Coast Estuary.

Interventions are being undertaken in the headwaters, supported by Defra, to prevent contamination entering the river.  The RTRF is the technical solution to solve the issue of contamination already present in the river, and is entering the final stages of design, which will include site investigation works commencing in late October.

Stakeholder Engagement Event

Newcastle City Council are preparing an application for planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act to build the River Tyne Restoration Facility (RTRF). Ahead of the submission in early 2025 and as part of the application process, the council will be undertaking stakeholder engagement from 14 October 2024 for 4 weeks. 

We held a public information event which will be held at Pottery Bank Community Centre on Wednesday 23 October. 

Newcastle City Council are keen to understand support for the project. Local stakeholders including members of the public, local businesses and community groups, are invited to comment on the current design proposals.

For more information on the project and to provide feedback, please email RTRF@mottmac.com.uk  or complete this form.

If you have questions, or need this information in a different format such as large print, please email us at: rtrf@mottmac.com, or call: +44 113 394 6735.

Visit these sites for more information 

• Levelling Up Fund bids | Newcastle City Council
• Major funding bid to support jobs and investment announced | Newcastle City Council