Permission sought for 800 homes in a £140m Tyneside development

The proposed development would include 800 new homes with commercial space for a small number of shops and cafes. The developer also plans to create new public areas, including a waterfront park with floating gardens and cycle paths.

Following community consultation, the developer amended the plans to reflect the feedback, which included retaining the historic docks at the heart of the development, providing a varied mix of house types and a range of options for helping people onto the property ladder, the developer said.

It is hoped that the proposed public realm improvements and new cycle paths, that are planned to run along the river bank, would help to connect the development with neighbouring communities at Royal Quays and Fish Quay.

"We will create an exciting new development of homes together with small business facilities and amenities that will transform this former industrial area into a fantastic future asset for North Shields, as it was in the past," said Nigel Brewer, project director at Places for People.

It is hoped that the development would generate economic benefits that would extend to the wider North Tyneside region and to the regeneration of the River Tyne North Bank, the developer said.

The Smith's Dock shipyard in North Shields closed in the late 1990s. "[Following this] the site became derelict and disconnected from the town centre and the residential neighbourhoods that it had supported," Places for People said.

Places for People has invested nearly £20m in preparatory works to clean up the area and prepare it for development since it bought the site in 2007. Three of the six original docks have been filled in and new roads and a roundabout have been built to allow public transport access through the site.