Since the Tyne Derwent Way's official launch in April 2024, many of you have enjoyed using the nine-mile route between St Mary's Heritage Centre on Gateshead Quayside and Gibside in the Derwent Valley. Whether it's walking, cycling, exploring, enjoying nature, culture and heritage on your doorsteps, volunteering or taking part in an event or activity, there's been lots going on.
Before we launched, we knew it was important to have the project properly evaluated, so we could all see the impact it's had, learn from the experience, and assess how we can improve in the future. We commissioned Wavehill: Social and Economic Research in December 2023 to carry out this work - and now their report is ready to read.
The evaluation covers November 2023 to March 2025, when the first phase of the project, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), was completed.
The project successfully delivered a wide range of activities, reaching over 4,000 people and creating over 650 volunteer opportunities.
People who've been involved in the Tyne Derwent Way praised the design of the project for the way it has prioritised people, with an ethos of 'doing with the community not to the community'.
One key strength of the project has been the collaboration between Gateshead Council, the National Trust, Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust, and Newcastle and Northumberland Universities, working with local partners. This has brought diverse expertise and resources - and having a dedicated project team has been crucial for continuity, accountability, and building community relationships.
The variety of opportunities to engage with the Tyne Derwent Way has meant people from across our communities could get involved. Communication has been a key success in reaching more people, along with having physical spaces, such as the Staiths Space (Tyne Derwent Way at Dunston Staiths), as a base for community activities.
Challenges:
Partnership working, while a strength, is also complex. The Tyne Derwent Way is not a formal legal entity (like a charity or community interest company) so managing it has meant navigating differing organisational policies, procedures, risk assessments, and insurance requirements, which took a lot of time and resource.
Funding has been used well and has helped to build strong foundations, establish a visible presence, and generate a high level of local engagement and momentum. However, this momentum is at risk of stalling without a clear strategy and the right type of follow-on investment to sustain and grow the initiative. Future funding is critical not only to maintain current activity but to realise the project's broader vision of connecting communities and creating a vibrant, inclusive route that links nature, heritage, and urban life.
Recommendations:
1. Secure follow-on funding: Continued investment is vital to maintain progress, build on the momentum generated, and realise the longer-term ambitions of the project. The project team secured funding for the 2025 - 26 period, up until the end of March, and is applying for funding to cover the next phase.
2. Retain and support the project team: Secure the positions of the existing project team to ensure continuity and allow them to deepen community relationships, coordinate delivery, and drive forward future developments with the knowledge and experience they've gained so far.
3. Establish a formal legal structure: Explore the potential benefits of establishing the Tyne Derwent Way as a formal legal entity, such as a charity or Community Interest Company (CIC).
4. Sustain effective communication: Telling the story of the Tyne Derwent Way remains important for building the project's profile and for community support, so continue to build on the effective communication activities to date.
5. Improve data collection and use: Better-quality data would support more accurate evaluation, inform programming decisions, and help target activities where they will have most impact. Investigate other ways of tracking how many people are using the route, and how they're using it.
Also in the report, you can read more about:
Stomping Grounds Forest School
Gateshead Riverside Park Green Team
Sunderland Young People's Bike Project
Telling Tales
Thank you for your support so far
These are still early days for the Tyne Derwent Way, and there's a lot we want to achieve here together over the next 10-15 years. We hope you'll join us to shape Gateshead's green getaway and make it somewhere we can all be proud of - and we can all be part of.
