South Tyneside Council reveals its latest draft ‘local plan’ for the borough

The local authority’s ruling cabinet will be asked to approve an updated blueprint for development in the borough at a meeting in January so that further public consultation can begin.

The local plan provides a framework for where new homes, businesses and leisure facilities will be built up until 2040, to help ensure that the right infrastructure, such as roads and schools, is in place to support growth.

Council officers have stressed local authorities need to adopt local plans by the end of 2026 and that failing to have an up-to-date plan can leave the council in a “weaker position” when negotiating on planning applications.

The latest ‘Regulation 19’ publication draft is one of several formal stages that a local plan must pass, prior to adoption by the council.

In summer, 2022, an eight-week public consultation was held on the Regulation 18 draft plan with 1,887 individual responses received.

Since then, the plan has been refined to reflect the feedback received, as well as further work being undertaken to build an updated evidence base to support Regulation 19.

As a result, a number of sites, both in the Green Belt and in the ‘main urban area’, which were previously identified as housing sites in the previous local plan, have been removed and are no longer allocated for housing.

This includes housing plans for the Disco Field in Boldon which had sparked opposition from members of the public.

Sites removed from the urban area represent allocations of around 300 homes, while the Green Belt sites removed following the Regulation 18 consultation were once allocated for around 750 homes.

This included land south of Cleadon Park, land west of Sunniside Farm, land at the former MoD bunkers, land south of St John’s Terrace and Natley Avenue, land at Wellands Farm and land west of Cleadon Lane, Whitburn.

There has also been a reduction in the amount of housing required for the plan period, due to changes in a formula used to calculate ‘local housing need’, and several planning permissions being granted for housing development since the Regulation 18 consultation.

In addition, the 15 per cent buffer proposed at Regulation 18 will now no longer be included as this would require more land in the Green Belt to be allocated for development.

The changes have resulted in the local plan’s residual housing number decreasing by around 1,000 homes, with a drop from 4,471 to 3,443 over the plan period.

The percentage of South Tyneside’s Green Belt proposed for development has also dropped from seven per cent to five per cent.

Councillor Margaret Meling, cabinet member for economic growth and transport, said: “It’s vital that we have an up-to-date plan so that we maintain control over development in the borough; without one, we are vulnerable to speculative development proposals.

“We have listened to what our residents told us during the Regulation 18 consultation, particularly around some council-owned sites, and this version of the plan reflects people’s views as much as possible.

“We continue to prioritise and actively promote the development of brownfield sites first, but there is an acute undersupply of land from non-Green Belt sources, so we have had to look at all options to accommodate sustainable development.

“In this version of the plan, it is proposed that just 5% of land is removed from the Green Belt.”

The latest version of the local plan allocates 27 sites which would accommodate 1,190 homes in the main urban area, with a further 2,253 houses to be accommodated outside this area.

This includes six sites being ‘removed’ from the Green Belt to accommodate around 1,000 homes, with individual sites across the Whitburn, Cleadon, East Boldon and Hebburn areas.

Land at South Tyneside College’s Hebburn campus is allocated for development, as well as land at North Farm, land to the north of Town End Farm, land at West Hall Farm, land at Whitburn Lodge and land to the north of Shearwater.

In addition, the local plan has also identified land south of Fellgate as a Sustainable Growth Area, which will be allocated for up to 1,200 new homes and supporting community infrastructure.

At a cabinet meeting next year, senior councillors will be asked to approve consultation on an initial scoping report which would help inform a future masterplan for this specific site.

South Tyneside Council has been working on its local plan for years, with the plan being taken back to the drawing board in 2021, before a new ‘Regulation 18’ draft went out to public consultation in 2022.

Cllr Meling acknowledged the local plan had been “delayed and delayed” and said it was “now time to move forward”.

The cabinet member added: “A local plan isn’t just about building houses; it’s about making the borough a thriving and prosperous place.

“It gives us the opportunity to enhance and protect our natural and historic environment and embed policies that mitigate the effects of climate change.

“We want people who grow up in South Tyneside to be able to stay here, with access to affordable housing and skilled jobs.

“We want to create well-designed, sustainable neighbourhoods that last a lifetime.”

As well as housing, the local plan includes a range of policies looking at key issues across the borough, from health and economic growth, to climate change and transport.

There is also a focus on design standards for new developments, affordable housing and specialist housing types.

Councillor Jim Foreman, cabinet member for housing and community safety, said it was important for the local plan to “match the needs of the residents” and to “keep communities together”.

Council planning officers added that the scoping report for the biggest site in the local plan, which proposes up to 1,200 homes south of Fellgate, aims to ensure that it is “the best it possibly can be”.

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Future proposals include a masterplan and design code, with the site also expected to include a new ‘local centre’, primary school and the transport and green infrastructure needed to “deliver a new community”.

Subject to cabinet approval of the latest draft local plan, a six-week public consultation period will follow.

Consultation at the Regulation 19 stage is specific in its remit, and provides the opportunity to comment on whether the plan has been prepared lawfully and whether the policies within it are ‘sound’.

Ultimately, the local plan will be submitted to the Secretary of State for a Public Examination before an independent planning inspector.

Council bosses hope this will happen in early-2025 with the plan being formally adopted later the same year.

Cllr Foreman added: “We’re looking to the future because it’s not myself that will benefit from the local plan, it’s going to be my children and grandchildren.

“We want to make sure that the local plan is right, to get the right developments for the future of the residents of this borough.

“It’s important to make sure that we do get it right”.

Information on the latest draft local plan can be found via South Tyneside Council’s website. 

The next steps for the local plan are set to be discussed by cabinet on January 3, 2024, at South Shields Town Hall.