Site pages last updated 6th October 2025
Old News has been moved to News History
South Tyneside Council has published their responses to all of the Action Points arising from the Stage One Hearings related to the Examination in Public of the South Tyneside Local Plan. The Working Group is now preparing for the Stage two hearings which will take place in mid-November.
Over the next few weeks we will be working through both the STC Reports as well as the Matters, Issues and questions raised by the Independent Inspector Mr. Spencer, in order to put the best case forward to stop the planned development on the Fellgate Green Belt.
Members of the Working Group will be making verbal representations during all relevant sessions.
Residents who made representations during the Initial Consultation between January 15th and March 3rd 2024 can also make either an additional verbal representation or a written representation which must be related to the Stage 2 Matters, Issues and Questions which have been raised by Mr. Spencer.
There are two deadlines set which are as follows:-
If you wish to be heard at the Stage 2 hearings you should confirm this via e-mail/writing to the Programme Officer, indicating which session(s), relevant to your representations, you wish to attend, by no later than 5pm on Friday 10 October 2025.
Any written statements in response to the Inspector’s Stage 2 Matters, Issues and Questions should be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 24 October 2025.
New and updated documents have been published on STC web site – Click here to read them
We will keep you informed via our Facebook pages and our web site, in the meantime, Please Stay Positive and by Working Together I truly believe that we can Save the Fellgate Green Belt 
Serious concerns over new(11/7/25) Statements of Common Ground in the Examination Library
As you may well know members of the working group sat through many of the hearings and or watched live streams of the Matter discussions. After the closing session on Friday 11th July, a number of new documents were posted in the examination library. We are not aware that these documents were requested by the Independent Inspector Mr Spencer, as these documents have not been mentioned in any of the previous proceedings.
These documents outline agreements between STC, Landowners and Land Agents.
They give specific details on the future use of the land, building timelines, site entry and exit provisions along with previously unknow details.
We have had no prior notice or details of these documents and in our opinion these documents are of significant importance that the public had a right to know about them and their contents in advance.
We are constantly being told that the examination process is meant to be open, fair, and impartial. Once again this premise is being tested to breaking point. Government Guidance clearly state:
- The Inspector must ensure that all parties, including the public, have a reasonable opportunity to comment on new evidence.
- If significant documents are added late in the process, additional time must be given for participants to review and respond to the new evidence.
We suggest that you take a look at these documents Click here and if you find as we do that they contravene any of the above points, you should raise an objection/complaint to the Programme Officer