Housing plans submitted for major development at South Shields riverside site

The latest development scheme for the Holborn Riverside area of the town is set to create at least 350 houses, new offices and renovate former shipyard docks, if it is given the green light.

But the plans have provoked controversy among families living nearby over proposals to concrete over a field and move a popular park to make way for the project.

“Our vision for the area is to create a place where people want to live and enjoy,” said Ian Prescott, North East land and partnerships director at Keepmoat Homes, the firm behind the plans.

“If our plans are approved, we will ensure the development is a major benefit to the existing community as well as providing much-needed new homes on a site that has been left derelict for many years.

“We listened to feedback from the local community around space and play facilities and amended our proposals to incorporate a new play area for younger children.

“We are therefore putting forward a compromise scheme which retains play facilities in the local area whilst also enabling the overall development to still be progressed.”

The plans have been submitted to the planning department at South Tyneside Council for consideration, although it is not certain when they will be validated and available to view on the local authority’s website.

Of the 350 homes planned, 53 are expected to be offered at ‘affordable’ rates, equivalent to no more than 80 per cent of local market rates.

The proposals also include provision for 200,000 sq ft of office space.

Earlier this week, regional business leaders suggested the North East could take advantage of changing work practices accelerated by the pandemic with so-called ‘North shoring’, in which companies are encouraged to move from London and the South East to take advantage of lower costs.

Opponents to the project have focussed on the potential loss of green space and a park between Laygate Street and Commercial Road.

But bosses at Keepmoat have insisted not building on the land would mean the scheme was ‘no longer be a viable proposition’.

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