Councillors approve proposals for ‘media tower’ at home of Hebburn Town FC - despite objection from Sport England

Hebburn Town Football Club previously installed the permanent steel structure at its home ground in Hebburn Sports Club to meet league requirements following its promotion success.

The media tower development, erected at the northern side of the ground, includes media facilities and space designated for club officials along with dug outs and associated fencing around a playing pitch.

Applicants said the plans were brought forward to meet tight league time-scales, with a retrospective application subsequently submitted to South Tyneside Council.

Back in 2022, council planning officers recommended the plans for refusal due to the structure being built on land designated for “recreational open space” and as a “playing field” which was previously used for cricket.

The refusal recommendation followed an official objection from Sport England, an arms-length body of the Government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport.

Although a cricket team has not been based at the Hebburn ground for years, Sport England objected to building on the land and asked for mitigation for the loss of cricket provision.

At a Planning Committee meeting in June, 2022, Hebburn Town FC officials said the “abandoned” land between football pitches had no alternative function as a cricket pitch, or for any other formal sport pitch.

It was warned that refusing the media tower could see the club relegated to a lower division, with the club adding it would be “unreasonable and perverse to maintain or protect a cricket square when it is no longer being used and the team disbanded”.

Following discussion, councillors agreed to defer a decision on the application to a future meeting – however more than a year passed with no decision in sight.

At a meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee on August 29, 2023, a report on the issue returned to councillors for discussion.

This time council planning officers recommended the scheme for approval, and said it would be “unreasonable” to refuse planning permission for several reasons.

It was argued that refusing the plans would not bring cricket back to the site and that the media tower and associated development would support Hebburn Town FC as a “significant community asset”.

Council planners noted a decision needed to be made on the planning application, which had been with the local authority for nearly three years.

Councillors heard that a package of mitigation had also been agreed to compensate for the loss of the cricket provision at the Hebburn sports ground as an “acceptable way forward”.

The request from Sport England and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) included a financial contribution of £30,000 to secure improvements to cricket facilities elsewhere in South Tyneside.

Council planners said it had been advised, by Sport England and the ECB, that the preference would be to use funds for planned improvements at Whitburn Cricket Club.

It was noted that Hebburn Town FC had agreed to contribute £2,000 towards the mitigation package, with council planners stating they had scrutinised financial accounts and it was what the club could afford.

However councillors heard Sport England had maintained its objection to the media tower development on the basis that the club “should be contributing more”.

Council planners added that the remaining £28,000 would be drawn from an existing council pot of Section 106 cash which had been secured from other local developments and earmarked for the improvement of borough sports facilities.

Some councillors on the Planning Committee were critical of this arrangement and said the funds could be used to establish a new cricket provision in Hebburn or Jarrow instead.

Several councillors on the Planning Committee also criticised the proposed use of £28,000 of council Section 106 funds, with councillor Eileen Leask describing the arrangement as a “bailout”.

Councillor Paul Brenen claimed the council was “picking up the tab for a private company” and criticised the retrospective nature of the planning application.

Elsewhere, councillor Shirley Ford said it “seemed premature” to make a decision on the plan and associated mitigation package while a review of the council’s playing pitch strategy was under way.

It was also suggested by some councillors that the distribution of Section 106 funding could be re-examined by one of the council’s scrutiny committees in future.

At one point in the Planning Committee meeting a majority of councillors were moving towards refusing the planning application, against the recommendation of council planning officers.

However councillors failed to agree on a planning reason for refusal, and were warned by council planning officers about the “real risk” of costs to the council during the appeal process.

It was also noted that the council, as landowner, could not dictate what type of sport leaseholder Hebburn Town FC chooses to operate on the site, and that relocating the media tower elsewhere would impact neighbours.

After the vote was reopened, the media tower plans were approved by a majority of councillors present.

Due to the outstanding objection from Sport England, the planning application will be sent to Central Government for decision.

An update on the planning application will be released once a decision from the Secretary of State has been made.