Family home plan refused by South Tyneside Council over highways safety concerns

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has refused an application for a property at Kingswood Close, in the Boldon Colliery area.

Plans were previously submitted seeking permission to build a two-storey dwelling in the property’s rear garden with a single-storey attached garage.

Planning documents said plans included the site being “subdivided by a fence to separate the proposed new dwelling from the existing dwelling on the site and for a highway verge crossing to be installed to the [new home’s] front boundary onto Cotswold Lane”.

During a council consultation exercise on the plans, around 11 public objections were received raising a number of concerns.

Concerns ranged from highway safety issues, parking and loss of privacy, to the development setting a precedent for similar developments in the area, and impacts on trees.

Elsewhere, a total of 11 representations were submitted in support of the planning proposal, with some welcoming the re-use of “wasted land” and others stating the house would be a “perfect family home” which would “fit nicely amongst the houses already there”.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, South Tyneside Council’s planning department refused it on July 30, 2024, on highway safety grounds.

Council planners raised no issues with the development’s visual impact, impact on the character of the area or residential amenity concerns.

The main reason for refusal was linked to vehicle access and the site’s location and council planners argued the plans would “result in significant harm to highways safety”.

The judgement followed previous concerns from council highways officers about “drivers not expecting vehicle movements from one individual plot access onto that road [Cotswold Lane]”.

Despite additional comments from a transport consultant, a council decision report said this was “still not considered to satisfactorily address the highway safety concerns raised previously regarding a new vehicular access, manoeuvring and parking at this location”.

The council decision report said the proposed development “would have a means of access onto Cotswold Lane which is a local distributor road that does not at present have direct vehicle access to it from individual dwellings”.

It was noted that the “site access is also in close proximity to a priority junction opposite, a zebra crossing and a bus stop”.

Council planners argued that the “lack of on-site vehicle turning space or visitor parking would result in vehicles having to reverse onto or off the public highway to enter/exit the site” and that there would be an “increased risk of visitor parking on Cotswold Lane arising adjacent to the site”.

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The council decision report added: “In light of such prevailing highway conditions and bearing in mind the restricted visibility of vehicles and pedestrians on the surrounding highway arising from such vehicle movements and parking, it is considered that unacceptable harm to highway safety would arise from this development”.

It was also argued that the “substantial and lasting harm that would be caused to highway safety would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the small-scale benefits resulting from the development”.

The benefits of the scheme were referenced as economic benefits from the development and the social benefits of “adding to the housing supply in the area”.

The applicant has the right to challenge the council’s refusal decision by lodging an appeal with the Secretary of State.

More information about the planning application can be found via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website.