Where are we?

The church is located on Carlisle Street, Felling, within the borough of Gateshead. Christchurch is close to Felling Metro station, and approximately half-way between Sunderland Road and the Felling By-Pass. If approaching by road from Sunderland head along the Felling By-Pass. After the roundabout at Heworth, take the second road on the left (Carlisle Street). The church is approximately 200 metres along this road. If approaching by road from Newcastle or the centre of Gateshead, do not approach along the Felling By-Pass as there is no access to Carlisle Street from it. Instead use Sunderland Road, which parallels it. Carlisle Street is the first left turn after Felling Metro station. The church is approximately 200 metres along this road.

To see where we are in the north of England, click here. To see where we are in Tyne and Wear, click here. To see where we are in Gateshead, click here. Our address is: Christchurch Felling, Carlise Street Felling, Gateshead Tyne and Wear NE10 0HQ Telephone/Fax: 0191 4693308

If arriving by metro, turn left out of the metro station as you ascend the stairs and cross the bridge over the railway line. Follow the road down the hill though a small housing estate. The church is on the other side of the estate.

An introduction to Felling

[This text is taken from the document we are developing to support a bid for funding we are going to be making to help us raise money for a building project. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please e-mail them to the author directly.]

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.
  
• The Church Urban Fund ranks the parish of Felling as the 8^th most deprived parish in the Durham Diocese. (Ox-Lip deprivation rating 34.38)
  
• The crime rate is above the national average. The crimes solved rate (26%) for the Felling area is below the national average. See also figure 2.
  
• Felling is one of the government’s 100 Health Action Zones, ranked as the 97^th worst.
  
• There are many boarded-up residential properties, some of which the council plans to demolish.
  
• Property prices are significantly below the national average. (See figure 1)
  
• 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 M1 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, the Innovation Centre, 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 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century, with many rows of terraced housing, particularly lining Sunderland Road. 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 recent council report found 28% of the properties in the precinct were empty.