Road safety scheme at 'dangerous' Harton Cemetery gets funding boost to protect visitors

South Tyneside Council’s Riverside Community Area Forum (CAF), at a meeting this week, approved a funding application which aims to improve safety for pedestrians using Harton Cemetery.

The application came from Westoe ward councillors Paul Brenen and Kate Owens-Palmer and aimed to “support the pedestrians visiting the cemetery on a daily basis and [to] also slow the cars down coming in and out.”

Councillors said the scheme was linked to the large number of pedestrians and vehicles using the same access point to enter the cemetery under the Grade II-listed cemetery entrance gates.

There were concerns over the risk of accidents at the site, with a scheme developed to help improve safety.

The funding amount agreed for the Harton Cemetery application by Riverside CAF was £5,956, made up of £5,176 from the environmental capital scheme and £780 from the local neighbourhood scheme.

The scheme was described as a “road safety scheme with road markings” and is understood to include a “speed cushion” under the listed entrance gates along with signs outside.

Another speed cushion is also proposed inside the cemetery complex on a bend near a war memorial, along with road markings to deter parking in certain areas and increase road safety.

The application was outlined by Westoe councillor and Riverside CAF chair. Kate Owens-Palmer, at Tuesday’s (September 16, 2025) CAF at South Shields Town Hall.

“We’re fully aware that it’s an historic area but the gates that you enter both by car and on foot means that it’s quite a dangerous part of Westoe and cars do tend to come along Cemetery Walk and into the cemetery at high speed,” she said.

“There’s also a resident who lives in the lodge there and they have been provided with two parking spaces […] currently cars are parking all the way up outside the lodge and other cars are coming around the corner at speed despite the speed limit.

“We haven’t had any accident but when we took the safety officer down there and the bereavement officer who manages the cemeteries in South Tyneside, both very much agreed that something needed to be done and that this was aesthetically the least obtrusive way of doing it.

“There will now be a pedestrian walkway on one side and a yellow line on the right side, parking for the resident and a speed bump as you enter and another around the corner.

“Those entering the cemetery will have one speed bump to negotiate but hopefully the one on the north-south side will prevent cars shooting around that corner and causing a danger to pedestrians.

“Sometimes you get someone with a buggy, or two dogs and a toddler, it’s a dangerous spot and it needs something done.”

For more information on Riverside CAF and approved funding applications, visit South Tyneside Council’s website.