South Shields: Crumbling Lawe Road building left an eyesore after failed hotel project to become flats
Plans to transform an “eyesore” development site in South Shields into new apartments have been given the green light by councillors.
South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee, at a meeting this week, approved an application for a site on the corner of Lawe Road and Ocean Road.
Plans for a 43-room hotel at the site of the former Park Hotel were approved back in 2017, however work stalled and was never completed.
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In 2025, the partially demolished building still remained an empty shell, with its Lawe Road facade held in place by a network of scaffolding.
The proposed apartment scheme included 14 one-bed apartments and one two-bed apartment, along with plans to “remove the existing facade, whilst paying homage to the apartments that stood there beforehand by recreating similar window openings and the bays that tied it into the whole of Lawe Road”.
Planning documents also described the proposed apartments as “starter dwellings” and while developers noted no in-curtilage parking was proposed to serve the new homes, they said there was available parking in the wider area and noted on-site cycle parking spaces were proposed.
During a council public consultation exercise on the plans, there were four objections raising a number of concerns, including the loss of the existing building facade, parking pressures from new apartments and traffic during construction.
But South Tyneside Council’s planning officers, in a report published ahead of this week’s decision-making meeting, recommended the apartment plans for approval.
Council planners, in a committee report, said the plans would not give rise to an “unacceptable impact on highway safety or a severe cumulative impact on the network in terms of its car parking impacts”.
It was also noted that the “design of the building and its boundary treatments are considered to be acceptable, having regard to the scale of the building that previously occupied the site, as well as surrounding buildings and […] the previously approved hotel proposals.”
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The apartment plans were discussed by South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee on Monday, May 19, 2025, at South Shields Town Hall.
Although some concerns were raised about the lack of proposed car parking provision and the loss of the original building facade, the plans were eventually passed by a majority of councillors.
Councillor Rhiannon Curtis raised concerns about the development and asked whether it could provide car parking in addition to cycle parking provision, given the potential for “at least 15 new cars” and impacts on existing parking pressures in the area.
Council planners said there wasn’t an “express need” to provide on-site parking due to the site’s sustainable location and issues with available space for parking at the front of the site “causing conflict with pedestrians”.
It was noted that the Lawe Road site’s previous guest house use had some off-street car parking, but that provision was “limited” and “informal”, and although a hotel use with “some parking” was subsequently approved in 2017, it was noted that there were “potential conflict issues” linked to parking.
Council planners added the local authority was taking a similar approach on parking to other sites near the town centre and while acknowledging there were time limited parking restrictions near the Lawe Road site, they added there was “some car parking availability” in the evenings.
Councillors were also told that wider considerations had been looked at when assessing the application, including the council’s housing land supply and delivery numbers.
Cllr Curtis maintained the plans were “adding to the burden” of parking issues in the Lawe Road area, rather than developing a “concrete solution”.
“I feel that there needs to be something in place, it just seems like it’s creating a problem,” she added.
During debate on the plans, councillor Shirley Ford welcomed more housing and the development of the “eyesore” site.
However, the councillor added she was concerned about the loss of the original building facade, especially after it was “kept as a condition of the previous [planning] application” for the site to help “maintain the character of the area”.
“It is right on the corner facing two heritage parks, facing opposite The Marine public house and the majority of the housing in that area is Victorian terraces, all of a similar kind of character,” Cllr Ford said.
“I just wondered if there had been anything explored about maintaining that still existing facade, restoring it and making that part of this new build.”
Council planners, responding, said they were “comfortable” with the proposals not retaining the existing facade, which was noted to be “not in a particularly good condition.”
Councillor Paul Dean suggested future tenants of the apartments could apply for permit parking and said he had the impression the development would attract “a younger entrepreneurial type clientele.”
Councillor Neil Maxwell added: “Yes it’s a busy area, it’s just off the town centre, it’s right near the sea front, everywhere around there has got a parking problem.
“So hopefully they will be able to get a parking permit, the people who live there.”
After being put to the vote, the apartment plans were approved with eight votes in favour and two votes against.
The planning approval is subject to the completion of a legal agreement securing financial contributions from developers towards ecology and affordable housing matters.
The section 106 legal agreement, which is a standard part of the planning process, would secure around £6,000 towards ecology work focusing on coastal nature sites.
Although the applicant plans to provide apartments for “open market sale or rental” at Lawe Road, the legal agreement would also secure a “financial contribution of £68,250 for off-site affordable housing”.
A design, access, heritage and sustainability statement from developers, submitted earlier this year (2025), noted previous hotel plans for the site were “paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed due to changed market demand”.
Developers said the new apartments scheme had been designed to “enhance the surrounding area and promote sustainability and [the] regeneration of the site” and would “follow the traditional homes along Lawe Road, whilst also having a contemporary feel by the material choices chosen.”
Under planning conditions, the development must be brought forward within three years.
For more information on the plan, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search application reference number: ST/0746/24/FUL