Next steps set out for huge South Tyneside development blueprint as key public hearings end

The document aims to provide a framework for where new homes, businesses, shops and leisure amenities will be built in the borough up until 2040.

It also aims to ensure the right infrastructure, such as roads, health facilities and schools, is in place to support growth.

Despite the local plan twice being rejected by councillors, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning issued an intervention notice directing the council to submit the plan for independent examination in public.

The second and final stage of public hearings began on Tuesday, January 13, and concluded on Wednesday, January 21, following initial hearings over a two week period from July 8-17, 2025.

Numerous speakers from a variety of community groups and organisations, along with council officers, all attended and voiced their views as part of the process.

Inspector David Spencer, appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct the hearings, speaking on the final day of the stage two sessions, said they are “at a point where we need to move forward as quickly as is practicably possible”.

He added he hoped to get his post stage two hearings letter to the council by “very early” February at the latest.

This will let the council know if any changes need to be made to the plan, known as ‘main modifications’, and these are then consulted on by the council.

Mr Spencer asked whether it would be realistic to get to the consultation stage at “some point in March” – which council officers said “wouldn’t be an unrealistic timetable”.

Andrew Inch, council senior manager for planning, added they “don’t think at this stage” that the pre-election period ahead of May’s local elections, known as purdah, “necessarily precludes that consultation from taking place”.

The consultation would be “a six week exercise” which goes out to “everybody” in the South Tyneside Council area to allow them to have their say.

The inspector then produces a final report which is sent to the council and, following a “fact check”, will then be published on the local authority’s website.

Mr Spencer said: “I think it’s my ambition or objective to deliver the report by the end of May, possibly into the first week of June, subject to sticking to that timetable.

“Rest assured I’m aiming to have the report to the council as soon as I can deliver it.”

This will be followed by the council deciding whether it wants to formally adopt the plan as its local planning policy, and if it does, it can only adopt the plan with the changes recommended by the inspector.

Mr Spencer concluded the hearings by thanking the council and everybody who participated and attended the sessions for their contributions.

He said: “It’s clear to me that people have worked very hard over a long period of time, not just at these examinations, but in the years before them to prepare the paperwork and to present their case for their area.

“I generally consider that I now have sufficient evidence and information to assess the soundness of the South Tyneside local plan.

“I shall be considering carefully all the points that have been put forward to me before coming to my conclusions, including submissions that are made on the proposed main modifications.”

He added the council’s local plan examination website will be updated as the process continues so urged those interested to follow the page for updates.

For more information on the local plan process residents can visit https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/24174/Local-Plan-examination.