Councillors are set to decide this week on proposals to redevelop a long-disused coastal pub site in South Shields into residential properties.
South Tyneside Council's planning committee will vote on plans to convert the Water's Edge pub site at Trow Lea, which would deliver three dwellings alongside a detached bungalow.
Three-bedroom homes planned for pub building
The proposals for the pub building, which sits next to a council car park, would create three three-bedroom homes, with two properties on the ground floor and one on the first floor.
The scheme includes a first floor extension and changes to the pub's doors and windows, along with a newly built two-bedroom bungalow planned for a garden area within the site.
Previous demolition plans rejected
Earlier proposals to demolish the pub and build an apartment block were refused by the council's planning committee in 2018, after attracting hundreds of public objections.
The rejected proposals were taken to appeal, and following a formal hearing at South Shields Town Hall, a Government-appointed planning inspector upheld the refusal.
In recent months, the pub site was put up for auction and marketed as "easily accessible and in such a picturesque and peaceful location".
Consultation raises concerns
A planning application to convert the site into residential properties, originally submitted in 2023, is now finally being brought before councillors for a decision. During a council consultation, around 25 submissions were received expressing worries about the loss of the pub, loss of privacy for beachgoers, increased lighting, parking difficulties, and adverse effects on the landscape, among other issues.
Council planners, recommending the application for approval, said the site has "fallen into a state of disrepair" and maintained that the fresh proposals would "result in a wider visual improvement to this important area of the coast".
A council committee report also indicated that there were "no adverse impacts arising that would substantially outweigh the benefits of the development". The identified benefits include "social and economic gains" from the development helping to address South Tyneside's housing supply shortfall.
Officers noted the proposals were satisfactory regarding design, layout and visual impacts, highway safety, coastal erosion, ecology matters, heritage impacts and drainage and flood risk, subject to planning conditions and legal agreements.
Councillors will examine the proposals at a planning committee meeting on Tuesday, October 20, at South Shields Town Hall. The meeting begins at 10am and will be open to the public.
