Land once earmarked for a pub has been approved for homes to be built on it.
Plans for the site in Jarrow's Fellgate Estate, off Lincoln Way, were given the green light by council planning bosses this morning (Monday, April 15), despite a raft of objections.
But members of South Tyneside Council agreed they could see no legally valid reasons why the proposals should be refused.
Objections raised in 58 separate letters covered issues including flooding fears, loss of green space, traffic and road safety and the design of the two homes the applicant, named in papers as Gavin Hall, was seeking permission to build.
Speaking at the meeting on behalf of objectors, Coun Audrey Huntley called the plans a 'massive over development in an unacceptable location'.
She also claimed garages for the properties could be converted into bedrooms and raised concerns for the safety of children at the nearby Fellgate Primary School due to extra traffic.
Coun Geraldine Kilgour, who also spoke against the application, added: "This is about what's acceptable in terms of size and street scene.
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"The application has been in the making since February 2018, but at no point has anyone involved made contact with our residents.
"Given the applicant and owner lives in our amazing borough, I hope they would know the land is precious to our residents."
According to a report prepared for the council's Planning Committee, the Fellgate Estate was built during the 1960s and 1970s, with the site originally reserved for a pub, but 'planning permission was never sought'.
In 1975 an application for a block of six flats on the land was approved and several other applications for housing have been approved since then.
Proposing the plans be accepted, Coun Gladys Hobson told the committee: "I think as members we all know what it's like outside schools, but traffic will not change with two extra houses on this site."
She added: "It's privately owned, not publicly owned, it's not public space, although the public may be using it as such.
"The objectors may have personal reasons for not wanting this, but there's no planning reasons to reject it."
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