New Tyne Tunnel provokes dredging fears

Jun 12 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

PROPOSED changes to dredging plans as part of the building of the new Tyne Tunnel have sparked fears among river guardians.

The Tyne Rivers Trust claims that under the new plans, dredging would take place at the peak run of salmon and sea trout in what in the best salmon river in England and Wales.

Tunnel builders TT2 originally planned to dredge the trench for the tunnel sections in a “window” between November and March.

At this time there is normally maximum water flow in the river to wash away disturbed silt, when water oxygen levels are also normally high, and when fewer salmon and sea trout enter the Tyne.

Dredged material was to have been disposed of at sea with the most contaminated silt - estimated at around 10% - would be landfilled.

Now the proposal is to use the dredged material to fill in Tyne Dock at South Shields, with the contaminated silt being deposited first and then capped.

The remainder of the dredged material would then be added with the filled-in dock, providing development land for the Port of Tyne.

This would involve a change in the dredging “window” to September-October this year.

This has alarmed the Tyne Rivers Trust, which was set up to receive £250,000 negotiated by the Tyne Riparian Owners and Occupiers Association for habitat improvement works to compensate for any loss of migratory fish like salmon, in the river as a result of the tunnel construction.

Trust chairman Andrew Davison said: “As regards to the timing of the dredging, we have concerns. Even though we have no hard evidence that this change will damage the river or the main salmon run, we believe that there is equally no hard evidence that it will not.”

Click the links below for previous stories on the Tyne Tunnel
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