Former Pub Site Finally Set for Residential Future After Covenant Deal....

The partially constructed bungalows at King Oswy Drive Hartlepool, with the site remaining unfinished for around a decade.

14th July 2026

A long-running legal restriction affecting an unfinished housing development in King Oswy Drive Hartlepool is set to be rectified, after Hartlepool Borough Council reached an agreement with the site’s new owner.

The former King Oswy Public House in Hartlepool which was demolished in 2015

The land, which was formerly occupied by a public house until its demolition back in 2015, was originally sold by the council in 1956 with a restrictive covenant stating that the land could only be used as a pub.

However, planning permission was granted in 2017 for the construction of a number of bungalows on the site, leading to negotiations between the council and the former owner over changing the covenant to permit residential development.

According to a newly published council decision notice, building work began before those negotiations had been concluded and without a formal agreement being reached over the restriction. Construction later stopped after a number of the proposed homes had been built, leaving the wider development unfinished.

Ownership of the land has subsequently changed, and council officers are now said to have reached an agreement with the new owner to modify the historic covenant and formally allow the site to be used for housing, with council officers concluding that proceeding with the modification helping to remove one of the legal barriers preventing the development from being completed.

Council could have refused the change

The council considered refusing to alter the covenant, but acknowledged that the landowner could then have applied to the Upper Tribunal’s Lands Chamber to have the restriction modified or discharged under the Law of Property Act 1925.

Officers also decided that facilitating the completion of the housing development would be in the interests of the surrounding community.

Although the covenant change removes a significant legal obstacle, the decision notice doesn’t provide a timetable for the building work on the site to restart or confirms when the remaining homes could be completed.

Nevertheless, the decision represents an important step towards resolving the future of a development which has remained incomplete since construction work came to a halt nearly a decade ago.