Fundraiser launched to take legal action over felling of South Tyneside College trees

A fundraiser has been launched in an effort to raise enough money to take legal action over a decision to fell more than 140 trees at the current South Tyneside College site.

A decision was made in December 2023 to demolish the current College, as it is set to relocate to South Shields town centre, and in its place, build around 260 homes.

The demolition work will see 143 out of 283 individual trees on the site being felled, with many trees that are protected by preservation orders marked to be cut down.

More than 4,400 people signed an online petition, which was set up by Colin Porter, in an effort to urge South Tyneside Council to save the trees on the site.

Now Colin is aiming to raise £5,500 to begin legal proceedings to have the planning application reheard due to the fact that one of the voting members 'fell asleep' during the original meeting in December.

He said: "We are trying to engage a barrister to take on our cause and have the planning process reheard in an effort to save more trees.

"We aren't against the relocation of the college and understand that there is a need for housing but we feel like that the whole thing needs to be done more sympathetically.

"Some of the trees on that site are more than 100 years old, they were planted by our ancestors so why should our generation cut them down?

"If the plans are revised to build less houses then more trees can be saved and we can avoid this having a huge impact on the biodiversity in the local area."

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At the time of writing, the fundraiser has raised more than £2,700 of its £5,500 target, something Colin has expressed his surprise at.

He added: "Obviously there was a lot of support when we launched the petition, both online and physically when we were going door-to-door.

"However, I know times are hard and wasn't really sure about asking people for money but the support has been great.

"Some people have been pledging around £100 which shows how much people in the local area care about these trees.

"I'm hopeful that we can to the target to start the process of having this reheard."

If you wish to view the fundraiser, then you can do so by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/SaveCollegeTrees.