Plans to convert the long-abandoned Water's Edge pub in South Shields into four residential properties have been approved by councillors, despite a long-running battle over the site's future and dozens of public objections.
South Tyneside Council's planning committee voted unanimously in favour of the redevelopment at Trow Lea on 20 October, following concerns about the impact on the coastline and the loss of the former venue.
Eight-year planning dispute
The ruling comes eight years after controversial proposals to demolish the pub and replace it with a block of flats were rejected following hundreds of objections. That refused application went to appeal, and a Government-appointed planning inspector subsequently threw out the appeal.
The pub site was recently listed for auction, and an application to convert the property into homes, originally submitted in 2023, was brought before the council's planning committee this week.
Objections and officer assessment
Approximately 30 public objections were raised, citing concerns over the loss of the public house, reduced privacy for beachgoers, increased lighting, parking pressures, adverse landscape impacts and the potential for setting a precedent for further development along the foreshore.
Council planners noted that the pub ceased trading in 2017 and had since "fallen into a state of disrepair", arguing that the new housing proposals would deliver a "wider visual improvement to this important area of the coast". Planning officers confirmed the proposals were satisfactory in terms of design and layout, highway safety, coastal erosion, ecology, heritage impacts, and drainage and flood risk, subject to planning conditions and legal agreements.
Councillor reactions
Councillor Kate Owens-Palmer highlighted the building's "depressing decline" in recent years and referred to previous efforts to restore it to use. While she acknowledged that introducing four dwellings at the site could be "jarring", she noted that the existing pub's appearance was equally "detrimental to the foreshore".
She told the committee: "I do understand the public objections but I can't find enough material reasons to deny this application, so with a certain amount of reluctance I would support it."
Councillor Karen Pittuck also remarked that the site had been "derelict for a number of years" and cited a planning committee report confirming that residential development had previously been granted approval on the site. She added: "The idea that we could have some fantastic venue there, it's not realistic. There has not been an interest in redeveloping that site for a long time and so for that reason I would support it."
