39 Percy Gardens, air raid shelter

This underground structure was reported to the HER by North Tyneside Council's Planning Enforcement team. It is constructed from reinforced concrete and consists of an underground room; the access was not identified. The structure was discovered during building works to construct a rear two storey extension (planning reference 18/01428/FUL), and was flooded, and severely damaged during its discovery. The builder hoped to incorporate it into the scheme.
The structure was interpreted as an air raid shelter, but is perhaps too well constructed to be a WWII domestic shelter. The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map series shows a new square structure in the rear garden of the property appearing between the 1937 and 1955 maps, against the rear boundary and in the location of the new extension. This was in use as a garage at the time of the planning application.