‘Kittiwake Hotels’ proposed on Tyne Bridge during repairs

‘Kittiwake Hotels’ could be coming to the Tyne Bridge as the £32m repair works on the North East landmark gear up.

A planning application for temporary ‘Kittiwake Hotels’ has been submitted to Gateshead Council by Newcastle City Council to shelter the birds nesting on the bridge for the duration of the repair works. It is hoped the works will be completed by the bridge’s centenary in 2028.

According to planning documents submitted to the council, an assessment of the number of nests which will be inaccessible because of the planned major maintenance works has been made and the ‘mitigation’ measures will offer space for twice as many nests.

The location of the new Kittiwake-friendly scaffold towers for the birds is set for the top of two pylons on the Gateshead Abutment section of the bridge. According to Newcastle Council’s planning application, once work is complete the ‘Kittiwake Hotels’ will be removed, and the kittiwakes can return to their old settlements.

The council will need to consider the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 when deciding the application. The Act forbids the reckless or intentional killing, injuring and taking of any wild bird, as well as the destruction or obstruction of nests.

An ecological survey conducted in 2022 found there were around 900 active Kittiwake nests on the Tyne Bridge alone. The Baltic Museum came a distant second with around 300 recorded nests.

Kittiwakes were first recorded breeding in North Tyneside, in North Shields in 1949. A colony eventually made it across to the Tyne Bridge in 1962 where they have remained ever since.