Major plans for new South Shields extra care housing development put forward

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has registered plans for land on the former Chuter Ede School and Community Association site, on the corner of Galsworthy Road and Benton Road.

Plans include up to 124 one-bed and two-bed extra care residential apartments, a type of accommodation that combines independent living with care and support services.

The specialist accommodation is expected to be developed and managed by Karbon Homes, in partnership with South Tyneside Council, to help people with differing levels of care and support needs.

Those behind the scheme have said it will help address the lack of specialist and affordable accommodation options in the borough – with 92 two-bed apartments and 32 one-bed apartments proposed.

A total of 25 ground floor apartments within the extra care scheme will also be specifically designed for people living with dementia.

The development would be the second extra care facility to be developed by Karbon Homes in South Tyneside, with work on a 96-apartment scheme starting at the end of last year (2024).

The planning application for the Chuter Ede site was announced by applicant Karbon Homes Limited earlier this month (March, 2025) along with CGI images of how the scheme could look.

Following registration by the council this week, the planning application has appeared on South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and members of the public can now view design images and supporting documents and make comments.

A design and access statement submitted to council officials states the extra care scheme aims to “balance the proposals with the open nature of the existing site [while] retaining a suitable privacy for proposed and adjacent dwellings”.

Access to the site would be taken via the existing access on Galsworthy Road and “levels and distinct architectural features” in the scheme would “allow the public and private areas of the building to be immediately distinguishable”.

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This includes a proposed “single-storey community hub acting as a reception and focal point for the development”, which would provide a “welcoming and warm setting for the care facility and enhance the overall street scene for existing residents”.

The proposals would also provide 64 car parking bays, including 18 electric vehicle bays, and 14 cycle parking spaces to “encourage the use of zero emission transport modes.”

Karbon Homes has worked with JDDK Architects, a Tyne and Wear-based company, on the design of the scheme.

The “affordable rented tenure” apartments would sit across four storeys and would be laid out around a central communal courtyard.

Apartments on the ground floor of the development would have access to private patio areas, with upper storey apartments benefiting from balconies.

The scheme would also include a variety of landscaped areas and small quiet gardens, as well as an “integrated community hub”, a bistro café and multi-use spaces for activities open to the general public and community groups.

Heating and hot water for the extra care scheme would be powered by air source heat pumps, with additional energy generated through roof-mounted solar panels, developers have said.

Delivery of the extra care scheme would also be part-funded by Homes England, through Karbon’s strategic partnership with the Government’s housing delivery agency.

A planning statement submitted with the planning application adds the development would “provide a much-needed extra care facility and specialised dementia care unit to help meet the needs of South Tyneside which is currently lacking in [such] facilities”.

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The planning statement adds: “There are no adverse impacts of the proposal which would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the proposal.

“Such benefits include delivering much needed market and affordable homes which would contribute to South Tyneside Council’s housing requirements, provision of community facilities, and significant biodiversity net gain, in a well-designed and high-quality landscape setting.”

An affordable housing statement also submitted to council planners states the proposal “forms part of the council’s wider adult social care accommodation strategy, aimed at supporting people who may need care and support to live independently within the community, rather than going into residential care”.

The statement adds that extra care units will “only be made availableto individuals who meet a minimum level of care requirement set out by South Tyneside Council” and “residents will be assessed for a place based on the level of care that they require.”

A decision on the planning application is expected once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Comments can be made on the plans, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until April 2, 2025.

For more information on the plan or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search application reference number: 250168