Plans to turn former Jarrow hotel into HMO submitted

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for The Alexandra Hotel on the corner of High Street and Minster Parade in the town.

Plans are seeking permission to change the use of the building from a former hotel to two HMOs, a property type which typically includes multiple households living in separate bedrooms with access to shared living facilities.

The proposals for The Alexandra Hotel include one six-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO) at ground floor level and a five-bedroom HMO at first floor level, along with associated works.

This includes the creation of a roof terrace above an existing garage with a 1.9-metre boundary wall, a new door and the “replacement of all windows with uPVC”.

A design, access and heritage statement submitted to council officials noted the pub has been vacant for years andprovides details on the proposed HMO scheme.

The planning document notes the first floor has been used as “stop over accommodation” by ‘building company operatives’ and that the planning application aimed to “regularise the use of the first floor as an HMO” and “convert the ground floor into a separate HMO”.

Floor plans show how the building would be subdivided, with the ground floor including a large kitchen, dining and living space, as well as a cycle storage area and refuse store.

Meanwhile, the first floor is proposed to be a “separate HMO” with a lounge area, kitchen and dining area and a “paved terrace” above an existing garage with a glass balustrade and a boundary wall to “prevent overlooking” to a neighbouring property.

The majority of the bedrooms across both HMOs do not have en-suites, although toilet facilities are provided across both floors to serve the development.

Those behind the scheme said the existing building is “unremarkable” but does have some “communal interest” as “one of the surviving mid-20th Century pubs” in the area.

While it was argued that “this nominal neutral communal interest should not be overstated”, developers said proposed works would “ensure that this building (which has some neutral historic interest), will be preserved within the town and maintain its link to its communal and industrial past”.

Planning documents also revealed that the HMO conversion would be used by a “large building company” based in the south of England which is “currently contracted for a large building project in Newcastle”.

Applicants said the creation of the two HMOs would “form excellent facilities for the applicant to provide good quality accommodation for the company’s workforce whilst they are working in the north east of England for the next two to three years”.

It was also argued that the HMO accommodation plan would bring a “disused building” back into use and “in the long term […] form an important part of the residential stock within the town”.

The design, access and heritage statement adds: “No in-curtilage or off-street parking is proposed as part of the development due to the constraints of the site, there are no traffic or parking restrictions within the vicinity of the site, and it is considered sufficient capacity is available on-street within the vicinity of the site to accommodate the development.

“There is sufficient space within the building and its curtilage of the site for cycle parking, and there is sufficient space within the building for the off-street storage of refuse bins.

“It is not judged that the proposal would be detrimental in terms of access and parking arrangements”.

A decision on the planning application will be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Comments can be made on the plans, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until October 18, 2024.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: ST/0534/24/FUL