@ The Castle St Hildas Church Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN Data via plota.co.uk

DC/26/00780/FUL - Full Application Awaiting decision
Change of useSchools, care & communityExtensions & alterationsCommercial premises

Proposal

Change of use from indoor children's soft play (former class use D2) to Day Nursery (Class use E (f)). New doorway/opening in the external wall of a church. Internal alterations and external works to form secure outdoor area. Data via plota.co.uk

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View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
28 Sept 2026
✓
Validated
14 Oct 2026
Decision
Expected by 9 Dec 2026

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicts a decision between 23 Dec 2026 and 24 Jan 2027, from Gateshead's recent changes of use.

Comments are open until 25 Nov 2026

Comment on this application ↗

Documents

View the documents on the council's website ↗

Site constraints 9

2 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Church of St Hilda, Grade II, the postcode pin is inside its outline · 2 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 2 with distances
Historic England ↗
Green belt: Tyne and Wear
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
Registered battlefield: Battle of Newburn Ford 1640
Nationally designated heritage. Its significance and setting carry great weight.
Registered parks and gardens, battlefields, world heritage sites and protected wrecks are designated heritage assets: harm needs clear and convincing justification.
Historic England ↗
Coal mining development high risk area
Recorded coal mining features at or near the surface. Most planning applications here need a coal mining risk assessment.
From the Mining Remediation Authority, formerly the Coal Authority. The development high risk area marks recorded coal mining features at or near the surface: mine shafts and adits, shallow workings, mine gas and former opencast sites. Most planning applications there need a coal mining risk assessment; householder applications, changes of use and some minor works are exempt. Mine entry positions come from old plans and can be out by several metres, and unrecorded workings can exist anywhere in the coalfield.
Coal mining risk assessments ↗
Heritage at risk: Battle of Newburn Ford
On the register of historic places assessed as at risk.
A designated building, monument, park or conservation area assessed as at risk from neglect, decay or development. Proposals that secure its future are looked on favourably.
Historic England ↗
Public footpath about 27 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site: obstructing a path without a diversion order is an offence, and work cannot start until the order is confirmed.
Compiled from highway authority data, not the legal definitive map. A few authorities have not published, so no path shown is not proof there is none.
Also on the record
Inside the Ryton built-up area; Priority habitat about 21 m away: Deciduous woodland; Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) had this area as grade 3, but it predates the buildings here and the current map does not class it as farmland.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 23 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Mining Remediation Authority and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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14 Oct 2026Pending

@ The Castle St Hildas Church Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN

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Important details

Council
Gateshead
Application type
Full Application
Postcode
NE21 4NN
Received
28 Sept 2026
Validated
14 Oct 2026
Ward
Ryton Crookhill And Stella
Case officer
Show
Target decision
9 Dec 2026
Decision level
Delegated Items
Applicant
Show
Agent
PJC Architecture Ltd

Decision outlook

Day 14 of the 56-day target. Gateshead usually decides changes of use by day 99.

Day 1485 days to the predicted decision (day 99)
32%decided within 8 weeks
84%approved
17%go to committee

Plota live figures for changes of use decided by Gateshead in the last twelve months, from validation. Gateshead decision record →

Public comments

No public comments yet.

8 neighbours consulted · Last counted 23 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
25 Nov 2026
Statutory expiry
9 Dec 2026
Env. assessment
No

Historical activity at this location

9 nearby applications on record - archival context, not part of the live application.

Within ~100m

Nearby activity

2024 Decided
Jack And Jo's Nursery Garden Middle Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Proposed retention of existing timber cafe building following, (1) the removal of canopy…
DC/24/01030/FUL
2022 Refused
Jack And Jo's Nursery Garden Middle Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Provision of car park to north west of site (retrospective application).
DC/22/01393/FUL
2022 Refused
Jack And Jo's Nursery Garden Middle Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton Gateshead NE21 4NN
Retention of timber café building (retrospective) incorporating external alterations to b…
DC/22/01187/FUL
2021 Refused
Jack And Jo's Nursery Garden Middle Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton Blaydon On Tyne NE21 4NN
Erection of timber building to provide cafe with associated raised deck and creation of a…
DC/21/00916/FUL
2020 Refused
Jack And Jo's Nursery Garden Middle Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
DETERMINATION OF PRIOR APPROVAL: Erection of timber building to provide cafe/shop and sto…
DC/20/00690/AGR
2019 Approved
Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Conversion from Stable buildings to Dwellinghouse and residential annexe (Class Use C3)
DC/19/00560/COU
2018 Withdrawn
Hedgefield Farm Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Change of use of existing stable buildings to dwellinghouse and a residential annexe.
DC/18/00225/FUL
2017 Approved
Middle Hedgefield Farm House Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Continued use of agricultural building as boarding kennels for dogs (sui generis use)
DC/17/01218/FUL
2016 Approved
Middle Hedgefield Farm House Stella Road Ryton NE21 4NN
Change of use from agricultural building to boarding kennels for dogs (sui generis use)
DC/16/00268/COU
Gateshead
Planning Authority Score
2.4/10
Poor
#255 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Change of use

Gateshead is one of the slowest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #289 out of 296. The council extends the time limit on 67% of applications - one of the highest rates in England. Expect your application to take longer than the standard deadline. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (94%) than the national average (90%).

Among the slowest councils in England
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Gateshead decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
89%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #130 of 296
94%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #107 of 296
26%
Decided in 8 weeks
Below avg (63%) #289 of 296
67%
Extended time limit
Above avg (41%) #282 of 296
58%
Minor dwellings approved
24 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
4 decided (10+ homes)
70%
Change of use approved
37 decided
482
Total decisions
54 refused in the year to March 2026
Source: MHCLG planning statistics · See full council rankings