Extension plans approved for Eastern Touch Indian restaurant in East Boldon

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has approved an application for the Eastern Touch restaurant off Station Approach in the East Boldon area.

According to its website, the tandoori and balti restaurant has been serving customers for nearly four decades and offers a “large selection of authentic Indian dishes”.

The business also describes itself as “one of the finest Indian restaurants in the North”.

Plans submitted to council officials earlier this year proposed a single-storey rear extension to the restaurant, as well as the addition of an ‘extractor flue’.

Submitted floor plans described the development as a ‘restaurant enlargement’, with the proposed rear extension subdivided into a number of areas.

The extension aimed to help create a larger kitchen area by moving the existing kitchen into the extended space, as well as creating a larger dining area for customers in the original building.

The extension would also include an office, storage room, cold room, cooking area, pantry and serving station.

Elsewhere, the original building would include a larger dining area offering around 17 tables, with tables seating between two and four people.

After considering the planning application, South Tyneside Council’s planning department gave it the green light on May 10, 2024.

Council planning officers, in a decision report, said the proposals did not change the front of the property and would replace existing outbuildings on the wider site.

While visible from Station Approach, it was noted that the extension would “be over a distance across a private car park”.

The council decision report adds: “It is considered that the proposal would have no unacceptable visual impacts on the public domain, and instead would convey sensitive consideration to its surroundings having regard to its scale, proportion and use of materials”.

Council planners also concluded that the plans would not negatively impact neighbouring properties, or highway safety.

Following a representation from East Boldon Forum raising concerns about tree impacts to an adjacent property, a condition was added to the planning permission.

This included a “tree protection plan being submitted to and approved by the local authority before construction is commenced”.

A submitted planning application notes the development would not lead to a change in the number of employees at the site.

Under planning conditions, work must take place within three years.

For more information on the plans, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: ST/0865/23/FUL