Bid to build business '˜hubs' on main route into South Tyneside
A scheme - previously proposed for the land at the rear of the Travelodge, Burger King and Subway at Whitemare Pool - was turned down earlier this year on the basis South Tyneside Council deemed the idea out of keeping with the area.
Applicant Patrick Cleary has said he hoped to support small electrical and joinery businesses by setting up small works units on the land, which would be accessed via a slip road into the old Roman Road, just beyond the Shell petrol station.Planners had expressed concerns about slow-moving traffic from the site pulling onto the A194 Leam Lane, which has a national speed limit.
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Hide AdNow Martin Cleary, Patrick’s brother and now owner of the land, has applied for a building made up of four units and two single units, with the aim of creating 14 in total.
The application sets out how the council has said the plot is green belt land, but the team behind the plans says it is a brown field site and has a commercial use for more than 20 to 25 years.
It has been used for the last 10 to 15 years as a storage and distribution centre for construction materials and has had a number of brick buildings on there.
It has also pointed out the businesses which are up and running on the site off the roundabout.
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Hide AdIt has previously been reserved as a potential traveller site, but that is no longer needed since West Pastures was set up in West Boldon.
Stuart Harrison, the agent for the application and planning consultant with Bury St Edmunds-based E & P Building Design, said: “The idea is to provide employment for some businesses, some mechanics, electricians and joiners.
“We are expecting to try and get 14 units, but it maybe that we need bigger units, three or four bigger ones, it all depends on what’s needed.
“We have got two estate agents who say we need them and it is a suitable area. It isn’t near any residents and it’s not going to impact on anybody in a huge way.”