Pure Seaton Valley

Pure Seaton Valley

The Pure Seaton Valley project is a community-led project covering the whole of the Seaton Burn catchment. The aim of the project is to develop and implement sustainable solutions for the problems of flooding, dehydration and poor water quality within the Seaton Burn. The project has improved footpaths and the local habitat, as well as opening up areas for public recreation. It has also enhance and highlighted local cultural and historical identity by setting up research groups to publish a report and a book on their findings.

Pure Seaton Valley have worked with Newcastle University to carry out an environmental study of the Seaton Burn and its catchment to establish the effect of past industrial activities on the catchments. Local community groups have been encouraged to join with representatives from our transnational partners to assist and participate in this environmental study and all other schemes within the project.

The Pure Seaton Valley project started as part of a much larger transnational project known as PURE North Sea (Planning for Urban-Rural River Environments). The lead partner in Pure North Sea is the Province of Groningen in the Netherlands. Other partners in the project are the City of Deventer, also in the Netherlands and the City of Gothenburg, in Sweden. The final partners were a number of organisations from the North East of England, entitled PURE North east; the consortium was led by the Environment Agency. The North Sea Project is being funded through the European Regional Development Fund Interreg IIIB.

All of the Pure North Sea projects rely heavily on transnational cooperation as all of the project partners have common interests and objectives. The project started in October 2002 and had a three year duration. however the significant benefits gained by all of the participating partners has led to transnational cooperation well beyond the lifespan of the North Sea Project.

Scenic view of the Seaton Burn

The North East of England consortium consisted of four projects coordinated by the Environment Agency, they are; Pure Team Revival, Pure Ouseburn, Pure East Cleveland and Pure Seaton Valley. The Seaton Valley project is led by the Friends of Holywell Dene, and consists of four themes and several sub schemes:

Theme: Planning

Scheme Title: Plan Production
Scheme Title: Gateway to Rural Areas

Theme: Participation

Scheme Title: Development of Learning Module
Scheme Title: Sustainable Catchment Partnerships
Scheme Title: Stakeholder Involvement
Scheme Title: Community Driven Investigation

Theme: Multifunctionality

Scheme Title: Heritage

Theme: Water Management

Scheme Title: Wetland Creation
Scheme Title: Leachate Management

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