Member Article

Revealed: £2.5m plans for St Mary’s Island and Lighthouse regeneration

North Tyneside Council is asking the public to back plans to improve St Mary’s Island and Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, as part of the breakthrough £36m Seafront Master Plan.

The council will be putting its plans on display from this week, allowing the public to see and support proposals, as it enters the final stages of preparing a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If the bid is successful, around £2.5m will be invested in the scheme, with work starting in late 2017. The funding will finance improvements including structural repairs, new visitor facilities and the return of the original lighthouse optic, with plans drawn up based on public feedback from previous consultations.

The proposals can be seen at Whitley Bay Customer Service Centre from 8 July to 15 July, and then at St Mary’s Lighthouse from 16 July until 22 July.

The improvement project would include a new single storey extension on the sea-facing side of the Lighthouse to provide improved toilet facilities, a lift and community and school education space. The roof of the extension would provide an outside terrace offering a place to sit, work, watch wildlife, view astronomy and more.

The existing connecting corridor between the Lighthouse and Keeper’s cottage would be re-built, providing a display and exhibition space. The Lighthouse Tower would receive structural repairs to its walls and roof to stop water ingress, and would be re-painted. The original optic would be reinstalled in the base of the Lighthouse to allow visitors to see and learn about how it used to work.

The Keeper’s Cottage, now the visitor centre, would also receive a complete overhaul including the repair and replacement of windows, external doors and guttering. Suspended ceilings would be stripped back to reveal the original features of plaster and lath and all areas would be redecorated and remodelled to improve the visitor experience.

To complement the works, a new activity programme would also be drawn up, and North Tyneside Council is seeking public ideas about what could be included as part of the consultation.

Elected Mayor for North Tyneside, Norma Redfearn said: “We’ve consulted widely on this already and developed some very exciting plans for St Mary’s Lighthouse and Island which would significantly enhance what is already a fantastic and hugely popular visitor destination. I’d like to urge everyone who can to go along, see the plans and support us to secure this funding.”