Major update on plans to turn South Shields guest house into 14-bed HMO where residents will be 'kettled in'

South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee, at a crunch meeting this week, voted unanimously to block an application for an address at 97 Mill Dam, referred to in planning documents as the former Mill Dam Guest House.

The site sits near the Grade II-listed Customs House and documents submitted with new plans for the site noted the guest house “currently stands vacant.”

Plans submitted last year (2025) by Moore Apartments Ltd sought permission to convert the site to a 14-bedroom HMO which, supporting planning documents said, would provide “high-quality managed accommodation consistent with local housing needs.”

According to a heritage, design and access statement linked to plans for the Mill Dam Guest House site, the proposed HMO use would “ensure ongoing maintenance and positive contribution to the conservation area”.

Those behind the scheme said internal works linked to the HMO conversion would “consist mainly of non-structural partition walls to create individual bedrooms and en-suite facilities” and noted the wider development would “bring a vacant heritage property back into beneficial use while preserving its contribution to the Mill Dam Conservation Area”.

It was noted that “communal kitchen, living and dining spaces will be provided in accordance with licensing standards” and that “new heritage-style windows will replace the existing units, maintaining the proportions and profiles appropriate to the conservation area”, along with bin and cycle stores and existing car parking provision “remaining unaltered.”

During a council public consultation exercise the plans sparked opposition, with around 47 representations “received in objection to the proposal”, including “one petition with 19 addresses”, council documents state.

Concerns raised included “harm to designated heritage assets including the Mill Dam Conservation Area and nearby listed buildings”, the “intensification of the existing use” and impacts on “community cohesion”, crime and antisocial behaviour, parking pressures, waste management, safeguarding and more.

There were also objections to the HMO application from all three Beacon and Bents ward councillors, including councillor David Francis who called the application before the Planning Committee for decision.

The representation from Beacon and Bents ward councillors raised concerns about “inadequate and unsustainable” parking provision, antisocial behaviour and historic issues with the site when it was previously in use, impacts on “local community” and a “cultural quarter”, the HMO representing a “harmful intensification of use”, and the plans “conflicting with the heritage and character” of the local conservation area.

Emma Lewell, the MP for South Shields, also made representations which were summarised in a council report, raising concerns and asking for the application to be referred to the council’s Planning Committee.

The MP said she “fully accepted that the former guest house requires investment and improvement, but did not accept that the only choice is to allow it to be turned into yet another HMO in the town centre, with tiny rooms and minimal shared space that do not equate to long- term, good quality, sustainable social housing.”

Other points and concerns raised by the South Shields MP included the importance of “supporting, retaining or redeveloping existing visitor accommodation in the town centre” and parking pressures from the new HMO use, as well as reference to the “serious and justified concerns” raised by local residents, including around antisocial behaviour.

South Tyneside Council’s planning department, in a report published ahead of a decision-making Planning Committee this week, had recommended the HMO development for approval.

Council planners, in the committee report, said the HMO proposal would provide “social, economic and environmental gains by contributing to reducing the current shortfall in terms of housing supply” and would “bring a currently vacant building back into use”.

They added that “no significant harm or adverse impacts have been identified in respect of residential amenity, biodiversity, highway safety, impact on the character or appearance of the conservation area or the setting of listed buildings, or in respect of crime/antisocial behaviour/fear of crime and flood risk/drainage.”

The HMO plan was presented for discussion and decision at a meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee on Monday (January 12, 2026) at South Shields Town Hall.

Council planners maintained the HMO residential use was acceptable in planning terms at the proposed site and noted it was not possible for the planning system to regulate the occupants of an HMO as the “planning system considers the use of land”.

However, they added that the management of the development would be addressed via the council’s licensing system, including “safeguards against crime and antisocial behaviour”.

It was also noted that the proposed room sizes had been reviewed by the council’s HMO licensing team and were deemed “of sufficient size to be acceptable in terms of an HMO.”

Concerns were raised by a number of councillors on the Planning Committee about the proposed bedroom sizes and communal space, privacy impacts on neighbours and potential antisocial behaviour, along with reference to an unauthorised use of the property for a “short period of time” in 2025, confirmed by council planning officers, and fears about the future management of the 14-bed HMO.

The concerns were raised in the context of the location of the property in a conservation area and in an area where there are nearby properties housing vulnerable residents, as well as wider concerns raised by Northumbria Police.

Councillor Joan Hamilton said the size of the rooms proposed “just doesn’t warrant a decent standard of living”, while councillor Chris Davies said the internal space “is not a proper place for people to be living in” and that future residents would be “all kettled in.”

Councillor Shirley Ford said the proposed development would more than double the occupancy of the existing guest house and represented a “significant increase in the number of people who will be in that area.”

Meanwhile, councillor David Kennedy said the proposed development “basically shows HMOs at their worst” and noted concerns raised by police, as well as concerns about parking pressures and the proposed room sizes.

“We’re talking about herding 14 people, that’s if they are single occupancy, into box rooms and expecting those 14 people to have the only means of relaxing in a communal lounge,” Cllr Kennedy added.

The planning meeting also saw a representation from former South Tyneside councillor Mark Walsh, who spoke in objection to the plans as a member of the public.

Concerns raised included highway capacity and safety in the cul-de-sac, the size of the HMO having a “disproportionate effect upon the local community” and concerns about the management of the HMO around antisocial behaviour, given the impacts of the previous unauthorised residential use at the guest house.

After being put to the vote, the committee voted unanimously to refuse the application against the recommendation of council planning officers.

This followed a formal motion to refuse the plans raised by councillor Kate Owens-Palmer, which referenced the HMO plan causing “damage to the conservation area” and the “intensification of population of Mill Dam”.

The refusal ruling also referenced concerns about antisocial behaviour, residential amenity impacts and the proposed HMO’s proximity to vulnerable residents.

Emma Lewell, MP for South Shields, speaking after the planning meeting, said she was “very pleased” with the Planning Committee’s decision.

“I asked for this application to be taken before the committee, along with my objection, when numerous residents from the Mill Dam contacted me with many serious and justified concerns,” she said.

“My position on the proliferation of HMOs in our town is well-documented.

“It is time the council used their powers robustly to preserve our heritage, our communities and to ensure that low quality HMOs have no place here.”

Following the Planning Committee’s refusal decision, the applicant has the right to challenge the ruling by lodging an appeal with the Secretary of State.

For more information on the planning application and council decision, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250590

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