“The National Glass Centre may be closing its doors to the public today, but the fight to save the building goes on”

Campaigners looking to save the National Glass Centre (NGC) have vowed “the fight goes on” after the building officially closed its doors to the public for the last time today (July 31).

Campaigners gather outside of the National Glass Centre as it closed its doors to the public for the last time. | Iconic

placeholder image — Campaigners gather outside of the National Glass Centre as it closed its doors to the public for the last time. | Iconic

The Save the National Glass Centre Campaign Group gathered outside of the University of Sunderland owned building this morning with a banner calling for support to stop the university ‘demolishing the NGC’.

The banner has been signed by hundreds of members of the public, including 1973 FA Cup winner Dick Malone, to go with 49,000 signatures on the campaign group’s petition.

The campaign group has been campaigning against the closure for three years. | Iconic

The group’s chair, Carolyn Basing, said: “There’s a lot of complex emotions standing here today and this is a very difficult day for everyone.

“But we aren’t giving up and the fight goes on. We’ve been saying the same things for the last three years and we are just hoping there’s now enough impetus behind the campaign that those in power are going to start paying notice to us, because we are not going away.

“If you have signed the banner then you are making your views known. This is our heritage, this is our culture and it should be up to the people of Sunderland to make sure the NGC is available to future generations.”

Hundreds of people signed and passed comment on the closing of the centre. | Iconic

The campaign group’s vice-chair Nigel Taylor added: “We’ve lots of evidence to support our case and we will go down the legal route if necessary. The NGC may be closing its doors to the public today, but the fight to save the building goes on.”

Chiefs at the University have reiterated their stance the NGC is not financially viable, citing spiralling repair costs and £800,000 annual running costs - something which the campaign group disputes

Sunderland AFC FA cup winner Dick Malone signed the banner supporting the campaign. | Iconic

Citing a Council meeting which took place in March in which councillors called for an “immediate halt to the NGC’s planned closure and demolition”, Carolyn said: “Councillors condemned the University's decision and said the costs set out were ‘flawed’ and not an accurate representation.”

Also at the gathering was Reform UK’s Roker ward councillor, Cllr Andrew Ramsey.

Cllr Ramsey said: “Ultimately, it will be the university’s decision, but the ideal scenario for us as a party is to maintain this part of our city’s heritage and culture.”

Responding to today’s protest, a University spokesperson said: "It’s been over three years since the University first announced the closure of the NGC. Despite a range of conversations with individuals and organisations, no feasible plan from any group, including those campaigning to oppose the closure, has emerged to meet the significant financial requirement for capital works, or annual subsidy currently funded by the University.

"The University has reiterated throughout this process that nearly 90% of its income comes from student tuition fees. Therefore, the priority, in financially challenging times for the higher education sector, must be to support teaching, research, and knowledge exchange.

"Despite unfounded, and often incorrect, online commentary targeted towards the University during this process, we’ve remained committed to transparency in our decision-making and continue to follow all planning rules and guidelines in relation to closure and subsequent planned demolition of the NGC.”

Article 4

A key question for campaigners is why Sunderland City Council officers have not yet invoked Article 4 under the Town and Country Planning Order 2015, which would remove the university's automatic permitted development rights and force it to submit a full planning application before any demolition.

The National Glass Centre closed its doors to the public for the last time today. | Iconic

The motion calling for an Article 4 directive was overwhelmingly backed by councillors following a meeting in March. Ten days ago, cross-party leaders all backed a joint letter urging Council chief executive Patrick Melia to immediately implement an Article 4 Direction.

Carolyn said: “We’ve a number of questions for Patrick Melia about why the wishes of our democratically elected councillors have not yet been actioned.

“We’ve also asked for a timeline, but despite the NGC closing today, we can’t get a definite date or time period. It’s four months since that motion and we just don’t understand why it’s taking so long.”

A Council spokesperson said officers had been instructed in March to prepare an Article 4 Direction, but stressed any decision had to be supported by robust evidence and comply with legal and planning policy requirements and that work on this was “ongoing”.

The spokesperson added: “This requires a detailed initial assessment and preparation stage to obtain and assess all relevant evidence to determine whether or not a potential Direction can be justified.

“This is in full accordance with national planning guidance which requires any potential Article 4 Direction to be supported by a full and detailed statement of reasons.

“A subsequent request has recently been made by the Leader of the Council to officers for a timeline for the assessment and determination of a decision on a potential Article 4 Direction.

“This preliminary assessment work is underway, including the commissioning of specialist external work to obtain and then fully assess the evidence base in accordance with the relevant legal and policy tests, and an update will be provided to the Leader and the Portfolio Holder in due course once this is complete, regarding whether or not the grounds for a potential Article 4 Direction can be justified.”