In defence of the Ouseburn

One of the glories of the North Country is the Tyne river system - the North Tyne merging with the South Tyne, passing the northern boundary of the Roman world, under the iconic bridges down to the sea and the world.
But too it depends on its network of tributaries - and it's one, the Ouseburn, I want to focus on.
The Ouseburn - it already has the two parts of its name which are ancient terms for flowing water, it doesn't need the third, river - is only around 10 miles long. It rises near the airport and discharges into the tidal estuary, but passes through six wards of the city.
In 2011 at Salters Bridge and 2021 in Jesmond Dene it foamed with pollution. A paper published in the Young Scientist journal by a local experimenter found it to be polluted upstream too. Historically three main causes were to blame - agriculture, mining and landfill.
Now following work by Highways England while widening the A1 we can add that water runoff from roads carries a high pollutant load including silts and grits, litter and debris, organic and inorganic pollutants, phosphates, nitrates, salts, heavy metals, degraded tyre particles plus oils and other hydrocarbons.
The Highways Agency needs to be held to its duty to ensure that such discharges do not pollute the Ousburn and other waterways.
Although the mining has gone, there are still trace elements to be found. Farmers continue to use chemicals on fields which drain into it.
As the pressures of urban expansion continue to grow, we must avoid the fates of the Fleet, the Tyburn, the Effra which emerges alongside MI6, and many others in London which became open sewers and then closed sewers.
So our Ouseburn requires TLC. Not just keeping it clear of the pollutants I mentioned but also the detritus of local people - their rubbish, especially that carelessly discarded to the four winds - and the natural damage from storms which cause branches and leaves and banks to fall in and restrict flows.
This requires action not just from those agencies the motion mentions but the city council, volunteers and residents.
Only together can we sustain our heritage and a pleasant and safe environment to work and play in.

Councillor Robin Ashby - Parklands Ward and Ouseburn neighbour