Whitley Bay Planning: 2,700 Homes at Murton Gap, 995 a Year

The biggest planning story in Whitley Bay is not one application, it is the arithmetic. North Tyneside’s new draft Local Plan says the borough must plan for 995 new homes a year through to 2042, and the two places most of them would land, Murton Gap and a proposed extension north of Whitley Bay, sit either side of the town. This page tracks the plan, the big schemes and the week-to-week application flow, all from the council’s own documents and its planning portal.

The Local Plan: where the rules come from

North Tyneside currently works to its Local Plan adopted in 2017, which set up the borough’s two strategic housing sites at Murton Gap and Killingworth Moor. A replacement is now in progress: the Initial Draft Local Plan 2026, covering 2025 to 2042, went out for its first formal (Regulation 18) consultation from 14 January to 25 February 2026, and that consultation has closed (North Tyneside Council, Initial Draft Local Plan 2026, consultation page).

The council’s published programme has the next stage, the Regulation 19 publication draft, scheduled for summer 2026, with submission to the Planning Inspectorate in winter 2026 and adoption expected in early 2028 (council timetable via Lambert Smith Hampton). When the Regulation 19 draft is published, residents get a further formal window to comment before the plan is examined.

The housing numbers

The draft plan’s own figures (Initial Draft Local Plan 2026):

• 995 new dwellings a year is the borough’s local housing need under the Government’s standard method.
• Over the plan period that compounds to around 18,400 homes by 2042.
• Sites already identified supply about 7,760 of them, leaving roughly 10,700 homes still to find on new allocations.

What it means for you: numbers this size cannot be met inside the built-up area, which is why the draft plan proposes redrawing Green Belt boundaries on the edge of Whitley Bay. If you want to influence where those homes go, the Regulation 19 window later this year is the formal chance, and comments at that stage go to the independent inspector who examines the plan.

Murton Gap: 2,700 homes between Whitley Bay and Shiremoor

The borough’s biggest live application is Murton Gap, the open land running from Earsdon (A186) to New York Road and Rake Lane (A191) and from Shiremoor across to Monkseaton. Application 23/00241/FULES seeks residential development of up to 2,700 dwellings: full permission for the first 683 homes plus a new spine road and road bridge, and outline permission for up to 2,017 more, a primary school, up to 1,000 square metres of shops and a new Metro station (North Tyneside planning portal, 23/00241/FULES).

The application was validated in February 2023, amended plans arrived in March 2026, and it is still awaiting decision, with some 990 documents on file. The site has been a strategic allocation since the 2017 plan, so the question before the council is the detail, not the principle. For Monkseaton and west Whitley Bay the practical stakes are the spine road, the school and the promised Metro stop; for commuters, a new station on the loop would be the first since Northumberland Park. Our Metro page covers the current network.

Proposed next: up to 1,250 homes north of Whitley Bay

The draft Local Plan goes further than Murton Gap. Its possible-allocations chapter proposes releasing Green Belt land north of Whitley Bay for around 1,250 homes across two sites: 750 at Brier Dene Farm (site 4001) and 500 at land at Earsdon, south of Hartley Lane (site 4019A). Draft policy AS19.10 would require a new, defensible Green Belt boundary along the Brierdene Burn corridor, protection for Earsdon’s conservation area, flood mitigation, and junction improvements including the A192/A186 Red Lion roundabout, which is already part of the infrastructure package for Murton Gap (Initial Draft Local Plan 2026).

These are proposals in a consultation draft, not permissions. But an allocation, once adopted, makes a later application very hard to refuse, so the Local Plan stage is the moment to engage, not the day the diggers are announced. New supply on this scale is also part of the long-term picture for local house prices.

What is in the applications list this week

The week-to-week flow carries on regardless of the big schemes. Validated in the first week of August 2026, all awaiting decision (weekly list, North Tyneside planning portal):

• Dove Marine Laboratory, Cullercoats Bay (26/01101/FUL): partial demolition and extension of the Newcastle University marine lab, with a new pedestrian access bridge, the most significant coastal application of the summer.
• 35 Brook Street, Whitley Bay (26/01129/FULH): single-storey rear extension, the classic household application.
• Morrisons car park, Hillheads Road (26/01086/FUL): installation of a commercial pod.
• 42 St Georges Crescent, Monkseaton (26/01123/TREECA): tree works in the conservation area.

How to see and comment on applications

With the council’s main website unavailable, the reliable route is the planning portal itself: idoxpublicaccess.northtyneside.gov.uk/online-applications. The weekly list shows everything validated or decided week by week, you can search by ward (Whitley Bay North, Monkseaton, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay South), and each application has a comment tab; you need to register on the portal to submit a comment, and comments are accepted while an application is open for consultation.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes does North Tyneside have to build?

The draft Local Plan works to 995 new homes a year, around 18,400 over the 2025 to 2042 plan period, of which roughly 10,700 are not yet accounted for by existing sites (Initial Draft Local Plan 2026).

What is happening at Murton Gap?

An application for up to 2,700 homes, a spine road, a primary school and a new Metro station between Whitley Bay, Monkseaton, Shiremoor and Earsdon is awaiting decision (ref 23/00241/FULES, amended March 2026). The land has been allocated for housing since 2017.

Is Whitley Bay’s Green Belt being built on?

The adopted plan already commits Murton Gap. The new draft plan proposes going further: releasing land at Brier Dene Farm (750 homes) and south of Hartley Lane at Earsdon (500 homes), with a new Green Belt boundary along the Brierdene Burn. Those proposals were consulted on in early 2026 and are not yet adopted policy.

When can I comment on the new Local Plan?

The first (Regulation 18) consultation closed on 25 February 2026. The next formal window is the Regulation 19 publication draft, scheduled for summer 2026 on the council’s published timetable, ahead of examination and expected adoption in early 2028.

How do I object to a planning application in Whitley Bay?

Find the application on the North Tyneside planning portal, register, and use the comment tab while the application is open for consultation. Material planning considerations, such as design, traffic, overlooking and flood risk, carry weight; property values do not.

Sources

• North Tyneside Initial Draft Local Plan 2026 (Regulation 18 consultation document) for the housing need, plan period, Murton Gap and Killingworth Moor status, and draft policy AS19.10.
• North Tyneside consultation hub: the strategy for sustainable growth for the Regulation 18 consultation dates.
• Lambert Smith Hampton note on the council’s Local Plan timetable for the Regulation 19, submission and adoption dates.
• North Tyneside planning portal: application 23/00241/FULES (Murton Gap).
• North Tyneside planning portal: weekly lists for the current applications.

Planning facts move: applications gain documents, committee dates appear and consultation windows open and close. Check the linked portal record for the current status of any scheme before acting on it. Last updated 8 August 2026.