Former law offices in Sunderland to remain empty after student flats plan thrown out
Plans to convert a block of former law offices into 30 student flats have been blocked by Sunderland councillors.
Mowbray Villas, in the Ashbrooke area, was previously home to Sweeney Miller Law before the firm’s recent expansion and relocation to larger premises.
Plans submitted last year sought permission to convert the building into “30 studio rooms for student accommodation” with associated external works including window and door alterations and refurbishments.
A planning statement said the plans would bring a long-vacant office building back into productive use, and support students who wish to live within south Sunderland with “clear social, environmental, and economic benefits.”
However, officers had recommended the plan be refused as it clashed with planning policy.
They explained: “Student accommodation numbers need to be managed in line with projected student numbers to ensure the city does not end up with an oversupply of accommodation, which cannot be easily converted to other uses”.
They added the development was “located outside of the urban core” and that “no details have been provided to demonstrate there are no suitable and available sites to accommodate the proposed development within the urban core, or, that there is an additional need for student accommodation in this location.”
A decision was due on the plans in March but developers made a case for the plans to be deferred, which was agreed by councillors.
A representative for the applicant said they had received letters and emails of support from the University of Sunderland and local student letting agents, and asked for a deferral to give planners time to look at the information.
But when the plans recently returned to the council’s planning and highways committee, council planning officers continued to recommend the plan for refusal.
The applicant and a planning agent made a case for the development, noting there was a shortfall in purpose-built student accommodation in the city and adding that the Ashbrooke area sat near the university’s campus.
It was also argued that student accommodation was the only viable use for Mowbray Villas and would secure its future, and that refusing plans could lead to “continued vacancy, accelerated decay and potential demolition.”
However, the comments were not enough to convince councillors.
While noting the benefits of bringing a vacant building back into use and the application site’s “close proximity to the urban core”, council planners said there was still a lack of detail to “demonstrate there are no suitable and available sites to accommodate the proposed development within the urban core”.
They also said that the applicant had not demonstrated that there is “an additional need for student accommodation in this location”.
A council committee report also said the planning use “raises concerns over its compatibility with the desirable suburban residential character of Ashbrooke that is predominantly characterised by houses and self-contained apartments and high levels of home ownership.”
The applicant can challenge the refusal decision by lodging an appeal.
For more information, visit the council’s planning portal website and search for reference number 25/02823/FUL.