Controversial HMO plan for Jarrow recommended for approval by planners despite 115 objections
South Tyneside Council to decide on contentious HMO plans for Salem Street amid local opposition and petition.
Controversial plans for a new house in multiple occupation (HMO) in a residential street are due to go before South Tyneside councillors for decision.
The borough council’s planning committee will discuss and vote on plans for the future of 54 Salem Street in the Primrose ward next week.
Plans from Aidan Ryan Property Ltd, submitted earlier this year, sought permission to change the property from a “dwelling” to a six-bed, six-person HMO.
The plan falls against a backdrop of South Tyneside Council’s previous decision to launch an “immediate” borough-wide Article 4 Direction removing permitted development rights for small HMOs, meaning that planning permission is needed for all HMOs across the borough.
A submitted planning application said work on the Salem Street HMO conversion started in July 2025 but had not been completed.
Submitted floor plans showed two en-suite bedrooms on the ground floor, one en-suite bedroom and two bedrooms with off-suites on the first floor, and one en-suite bedroom on the second floor, as well as a ground floor communal kitchen / dining area and cycle storage.
During a council public consultation on the plans there were 14 objections received raising a range of concerns.
These included an “over-concentration of HMOs in the area” and the “changing character of the street”, along with concerns about parking pressures, antisocial behaviour and waste collection.
The application was also called into the planning committee for decision by Fellgate and Hedworth ward representative councillor Geraldine Kilgour based on “incongruence with the local area, overdevelopment and [the plans being] in a very vulnerable location.”
A petition opposing the HMO with around 115 signatures was also submitted, which included Salem Street residents and residents from other streets.
Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of next week’s decision-making planning committee, have recommended the HMO for approval.
It was noted that the proposal would “provide social and economic gains by contributing to reducing the current shortfall in terms of housing supply and providing a form of affordable accommodation that meets an identified housing need”.
Council planners added that “no significant harm or adverse impacts have been identified in respect of visual and residential amenity, biodiversity, highway safety, or in respect of crime/antisocial behaviour/fear of crime and flood risk/drainage.”
Councillors will discuss the Salem Street HMO plan at a meeting on Tuesday, August 25 at South Shields Town Hall from 10am.
For more information, visit the council’s planning portal website and search for reference 260211.