Fresh apartment plans submitted for former church in South Shields

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received a new application for the former church at 6 Westoe Avenue in the town’s Westoe ward.

The site has been described in previous planning documents as a vacant building once used as a Seventh-day Adventist Church with residential accommodation partially to the first floor.

New plans aim to convert the building into accommodation, with four two-bedroom flats and alterations to windows and doors in the south and west elevations.

The application comes following a previous scheme for a self-contained apartment and a seven-bed house in multiple occupation (HMO) at the site, which was later withdrawn by the applicant.

The initial, and now shelved, scheme proposed a self-contained two-bedroom apartment to the ground floor and seven en-suite bedrooms forming a HMO over two floors of the building, along with communal facilities.

This included two HMO bedrooms and a large communal kitchen on the ground floor, and five of the HMO bedrooms at first floor level.

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New plans for the site represent a scaled back scheme with floor plans showing how the building would be subdivided.

On the ground floor this includes two two-bedroom flats, each with a kitchen / living / dining area and bathroom, along with cycle storage in a lobby area.

On the first floor the layout is similar, with two two-bedroom flats along with “circulation” space.

A decision on the new planning application for the site is expected to be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Comments can be made on the plans, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until June 26, 2024.

For more information on the plan, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: ST/0297/24/FUL.