Plans submitted for apartment and house in multiple occupation at former church in South Shields

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for the former church at 6 Westoe Avenue in the town’s Westoe ward.

The site is described in planning documents as a vacant building previously used as a Seventh-day Adventist Church with residential accommodation partially to the first floor.

New plans aim to convert the entire building into accommodation, including a self-contained apartment and a seven-bed HMO.

A design and access statement submitted to council officials notes the building would be “refurbished and altered internally” to provide nine en-suite bedrooms.

This would include a self-contained two-bedroom apartment with circulation space, a bathroom and a kitchen/ living/ dining area to the ground floor.

In addition, seven en-suite bedrooms would form a HMO over two floors of the building, along with communal facilities.

This includes two HMO bedrooms and a large communal kitchen on the ground floor, and five of the HMO bedrooms at first floor level.

Those behind the scheme said the proposals would  “upgrade thermal properties to modern requirements” and that the conversion would be a “needed addition to a residential area”.

Some proposed works include changes to ground floor windows, however, applicants said existing windows to the first floor would be “retained where possible or replaced within the existing apertures”.

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The self-contained ground-floor apartment would also be accessed from the street via a newly formed entrance, while access to the en-suite HMO bedrooms would be from the existing street entrance and staircase.

The design and access statement adds: “The proposals would be constructed in a considerate manner to the context of the property and other adjacent properties in Westoe Avenue, and be of a similar nature to existing additions nearby.

“It is considered that the proposals form an appropriate form of development for the site and within Westoe as a whole”.

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

Comments can be made on the plans, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until March 7, 2024.

For more information on the plan, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: ST/0018/24/FUL.