'Jump for jobs' - South Tyneside councillors to decide on trampoline park plan to create 80 jobs

Major plans for an indoor trampoline park creating up to 80 jobs will be decided by South Tyneside councillors next week.

The borough council’s planning committee will vote on plans for the future of a large warehouse unit at Boldon Business Park, near the Boldon Leisure Park which houses Cineworld and McDonald’s.

The redevelopment aims to transform the building into an “indoor adventure park” linked to UK adventure and trampoline park operator AirHop, with a range of indoor activity zones, party spaces and customer facilities planned.

An accompanying planning statement noted the AirHop site would create around 70–80 jobs with a mix of full-time and part-time positions, including general staff, supervisors, operations managers, a general manager and a regional manager.

More than 90 customer parking spaces are planned, including disabled spaces and secure cycle parking, and peak operating hours are expected to fall outside of standard school and working hours.

Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of a decision-making meeting next week, have recommended the plans for approval.

They said the development would “result in the loss of a warehouse unit that contributes at present to the borough’s constrained supply of employment land and buildings”.

However, council planners noted that the “lack of firm offers for the building from warehouse/industrial occupiers”, despite marketing for more than two years, “appears to be a reflection of the deficiencies of the unit in terms of meeting warehouse/industrial occupier requirements, the very limited demand for large warehouse/industrial units and the substantial supply of such units across the wider region”.

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Planning officers argued that the benefits of the trampoline park development, including bringing a vacant unit back into use and the creation of dozens of jobs, were “not substantially outweighed” by the development’s “adverse effects”.

The council report goes on: “There would be community and health benefits arising from the provision of an indoor sports facility not currently available in the area.

“Given the location of the application site adjacent to the Boldon Colliery District Centre it is considered that users of the facility are also likelyto make use of businesses within the district centre which will assist in enhancing its vitality and viability.”

The planning committee will discuss the plans on Tuesday, September 22 at South Shields Town Hall from 10am. The meeting is open to the public.

For more information, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search for reference 260094.