Photo, M Dawson
Once a pub has gone it’s gone forever – remember the Turks Head just along Greens Place. Planning permission to demolish that and build flats went in a few years before it closed? Not unconnected is the mystery surrounding the loss of the Turks’ licence.
There is also a very strong body of opinion that the block of flats built to replace the Turks Head, is a story taller than planned but there is no way of proving it one way or the other as the plans originally submitted to accompany the grant of permision dissappeared at the same time as the rumours about the flats replacing a fondly remembered watering hole were being completed.
The permission to flatten the Beacon and replace it with a block of flats was granted in 2016 and the plans are still available and when I checked on a visit to South Shields in mid 2022, it appeared no different to when it was in use as a cannabis farm which was stopped by the police some years earlier. I am not saying that the owner knew anything about its temporary use but it is hardly a coincidence that the agent who submitted the plans for the demolition of the Beacon and its subsequent redevelopment was the same as the one who submitted the plans for the expansion of a boat yard into a covered ship repair yard. The agent was Gary Craig of GC Architectural Services.
His plans for the demolition of the Beacon, ST/0746/15/FUL, were finally submitted with a recommendation by the Council to the Planning Committee Meeting of the 1st February 2016 and were approved despite the protests of the local residents. The conversion of the former beer cellar into suitable living accommodation would have required a light well that would have had to have been constructed outside the site plan as was made clear some years ago in theharbourview.co.uk.
His plans for the expansion of the UK Docks, ST/0461/14/FUL. They had been re-submitted in late 2015 and they also carried a recommedation to the Planning Committeeby from the Counci approved despite our protests. Oddly enough the Gazette carried a glowing article about the replacement of a Public House by a block of flats but nothing about expansion of UK Docks slipway which, had in 2014 attracted the interest of nearly 300 petitioners nation wide.
The Chair of the Planning Committee Cllr J Woods was not available and the meeting was chaired by Cllr D Purves and it looked like the committee was bulked out with Councillors who cared nothing for the plight of the residents of either Greens Place or Harbour View. The previous meeting where the redevelopment had been brough to a halt by the guffures when the Principal Planning Officer he said was, ‘there had only been five complaints’ when the five of many were present at the meeting.
Once a pub has gone it’s gone forever – remember the Turks Head just along Greens Place. Planning permission to demolish that and build flats went in a few years before it closed? There is also a mystery surrounding the loss of the Turks licence.
There is also a very strong body of opinion that the block of flats built to replace the Turks Head, is a story taller than planned but there is no way of proving it one way or the other as the plans originally submitted to accompany the grant of permission disappeared at the same time as the rumours about the flats replacing a fondly remembered watering hole were being completed.
The permission to flatten the Beacon and replace it with a block of flats was granted in 2016 and the plans are still available and when I checked on a visit to South Shields in mid 2022, it appeared no different to when it was in use as a cannabis farm which was stopped by the police some years earlier. I am not saying that the owner knew anything about its temporary use but it is hardly a coincidence that the agent who submitted the plans for the demolition of the Beacon and its subsequent redevelopment was the same as the one who submitted the plans for the expansion of a boat yard into a covered ship repair yard. The agent was Gary Craig of GC Architectural Services.
His plans for the demolition of the Beacon, ST/0746/15/FUL, were finally submitted with a recommendation by the Council to the Planning Committee Meeting of the 1st February 2016 and were approved despite the protests of the local residents as were his plans for the expansion of the UK Docks, ST/0461/14/FUL. They had been re-submitted in late 2015 and they also carried a recommendation to the Planning Committee by from the Council approved despite our protests. Oddly enough the Gazette carried a glowing article about the replacement of a Public House by a block of flats but nothing about expansion of UK Docks slipway which, had in 2014 attracted the interest of nearly 300 petitioners nation wide.
The Chair of the Planning Committee Cllr J Woods was not available and the meeting was chaired by Cllr D Purves and it looked like the committee was bulked out with Councillors who cared nothing for the plight of the residents of either Greens Place or Harbour View. The previous meeting about the redevelopment of the Beacon had been brought to a halt by the guffaws when the Principal Planning Officer he said was, ‘there had only been five complaints’. Five of many protestors were sitting in the Gallery watching the proceedings!
What he did not tell you was that they had published the notice of demolition in the Pontefract local paper and although the link no longer works it matters little because permission to demolish the Beacon has lapsed. However someone with access to South Tyneside Council’s Planning site has made time to replace the all the site plans with alternatives.
Who was it any why was it done?