Plans submitted to transform woodland area in East Boldon into 'community garden'

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for land adjacent to St George’s Church, which sits off Front Street in East Boldon.

According to planning documents submitted to the council, the small woodland site is fenced off and “provides a visual and physical barrier to viewing the church from Front Street”.

New plans aim to revamp the space and improve access for the public with a range of works, with the planning listing describing the development as a “communal area with boardwalk and associated planting and landscaping”.

Plans include the construction of “boardwalk pathways” throughout the site to allow access for wheelchairs and prams / buggies and two access points onto the footway adjoining Front Street.

In addition, bench seating is proposed in two locations along with new “low level planting” with plants “suitable for under tree canopy growth”.

Proposed site plans for the woodland site show access points to the north and south connected by boardwalk paths, large areas of wildflower planting, wildlife habitat improvements, a central  “community garden” and a “tree bench seating reflection zone”.

Further details of the planning application and its aims are set out in a heritage statement submitted to council officials.

The heritage statement notes the proposals are from the Joint Benefice of the Boldons and aim to “provide an area of open space for users of the church building and residents of the village and visitors”.

It was also noted that the plans would provide pedestrian access to the church and the Little Acorns Nursery.

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The heritage statement adds: “The proposals by the Joint Benefice of the Boldons will create an area of public open space at the centre of East Boldon Conservation Area.

“It will enhance the setting of St George’s Church and improve access to the building”.

Those behind the scheme added the “maturity of the woodland provides an important setting to St George’s Church” and that a council tree survey of the site was undertaken in 2018 which “indicated at that time [that] no trees needed to be removed”.

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

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search reference: ST/0875/23/FUL.