The community of Felling is on the Eastern side of the borough of Gateshead. Formerly an independent “urban area” with its own civic building and facilities, it was merged into the Gateshead conurbation with the creation of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Borough Council in 1974.
The last 30 years have been a period of continuous economic decline for Felling as its staple industries – shipbuilding and heavy engineering – have struggled to survive. The result is a level of unemployment of 10.9%, which is substantially higher than the national average (5.2%). This is particularly the case among men.
Many of the problems traditionally associated with large-scale unemployment are found in Felling:
- 42% of families are Lone Parent (compared with 16% in Gateshead as a whole).
- 19.5% of the population of Felling have a long-term limiting illness. (2004)
- The Index of Deprivation ranks the parish of Felling as the 2nd most deprived parish in the Durham Diocese.
- The crime rate is above the national average. The crimes solved rate (26%) for the Felling area is below the national average. (2004)
- Felling is one of the government’s 100 Health Action Zones, ranked as the 97th worst.
- There are some boarded-up residential properties, but much has been to demolished in the last 6 moths (Nov. 2008).
- Property prices are significantly below the national average.
- Gateshead Council provides an above average level of services, however as a consequence, council tax rates are 28% above the national average. Collection rates are slightly below the national average.
- The main shopping street in the parish is extremely run-down with a large number of empty properties. In 1996 a council report identified that 28% of Felling’s retail stock was empty, the highest % rate of empty properties of the entire borough’s shopping areas.
- A number of estates in the area suffer from gangs of children “hanging around” with little to do. Consequently levels of vandalism are high, and there are problems with drug and substance abuse, as well as a number of cases of arson.
The Felling community exists on the north face of the great hill that forms the backbone of much of the borough of Gateshead. The southern-most boundaries of Felling are marked by the more prosperous areas of High Heworth and Windy Nook, while to the north, the area is bounded by the River Tyne.
To the west, Felling runs in towards the eastern edges of Gateshead’s town centre, bounded by Deckham, the Old Fold estate and the Riverside Bowl recreation area. To the east of Felling lie Pelaw and the more prosperous area of Heworth.
The area is reasonably well served for communications, although the primary transport routes also contribute to the area’s disjointed feel. The major routes all run east-west, tracing the bottom on the hill that forms the southern half of the community.
The Tyneside Metro runs through the area, with a station at Felling. Paralleling this route, the British Rail east-coast line also passes through the parish. The nearest BR station is at the Heworth Metro Interchange.
Immediately south of the Metro line runs Sunderland Road, which carries traffic from Heworth to the South end of Gateshead town centre. North of the Metro line runs the Felling Bypass – a major dual carraigeway – which connects Gateshead with the A1 and A19 to the south.
Most of the least desirable housing in Felling surrounds the Felling By-pass. Several estates on the north side of it have been demolished. There is little likelihood of any additional housing being built in this area as the council plan to turn much of the remaining free land over to industrial use.
However this is not to say that the north side of the Felling Bypass (Felling Shore) is entirely desolate. A considerable industrial estate has been developed here; a mix of warehousing, manufacture and service industries use the factories that have grown up along the Felling Shore. Added to the industrial units that exist between the Felling Bypass and Sunderland Road at Heworth at the Eastern End of area, Felling has quite a respectable industrial base. Although like many such industrial estates that exist in areas of relatively high unemployment, the skill needs of the companies cannot necessarily be satisfied by the local population.
In an attempt to remedy this situation, Design Works, which lies at the eastern end of Felling, provides training opportunities for local people, funded by various government programmes.
Much of the area’s housing stock dates back to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, with many rows of terraced housing, particularly lining Sunderland Road, some of this has been demolished and new homes buing build but remainunsold due to the financial climate. Further up the hill towards the centre of Felling, a number of more modern estates have been built, although there has been little new building in the last 20 years.
A number of large blocks of flats have been built in the area – most of which immediately surround the main shopping area. Despite this apparent ready-provision of customers, the Felling retail area has been designated as a Shopping Improvement Priority Area. A 2004 council report found 28% of the properties in the precinct were empty. An early Years uni has been built on the High street which has been used for a year now.
