South Shields: empty and boarded-up Harton police station set to become flats after major water damage

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for the boarded-up and vacant building at 187 Sunderland Road in the Harton ward.

According to a design and access statement submitted to the council, the site has been derelict since the closure of the police station and was sold for redevelopment in 2016.

The document added the building is in a “state of disrepair” and has suffered “massive” water damage due to the site having no roof covering, with the “first floor and roof timbers exposing the interiors to the elements”.

New proposals aim to redevelop the existing site to deliver a three-storey apartment block offering six one-bedroom apartments.

Works include “retaining the existing structure and upgrading the walls to meet the required structural and thermal properties”, as well as adding an additional floor to “match the scale and mass of the neighbouring terraced housing”.

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Submitted floor plans show two self-contained apartments per floor, each with a kitchen, living room and bathroom.

The roofs of the redeveloped building would also be a “simple pitched construction with well-proportioned dormers, and grey roof tiles, in keeping with the surrounding properties”, planning documents state.

Elsewhere, a “feature gable-fronted entrance extension is proposed for the front elevation facing Sunderland Road” and existing front parking will be “re-configured” to allow for six spaces.

Developers maintained the proposed design of the apartment block “intends to deliver an attractive development that is traditional in its form” and that materials used would “complement the site surroundings”.

The design and access statement adds: “The developer is targeting a fabric first approach.

“This approach places the greatest emphasis on the thermal performance of the building envelope and is less reliant upon applied renewable technologies.

“This ensures that thermal performance and sustainability are embedded within the fabric for the lifetime of the building.”

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 plan, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until January 27, 2025.

For more information on the plan, visit the council’s planning portal website and search application reference number: 250006