Mayor responds to campaign group calls for meeting to discuss future of glassmaking in Sunderland
Campaigners want to know why Article 4 has still not been invoked
North East mayor Kim McGuinness has said she would be happy to bring together organisations to make glassmaking thrive in Sunderland.
The mayor was responding to calls from the Save the National Glass Centre (NGC) asking her to arrange a meeting, including the City Council, University of Sunderland, the city’s politicians, the NGC’s ward councillor, and Sunderland Culture, following the closure to the public of the university owned building at the end of July.
The campaign group have still not given up hope of saving the future of the building and hoped to get all “invested parties around the table for a discussion”, including addressing the group’s question as to why the City Council have not yet invoked Article 4, which would remove the university's automatic permitted development rights and force it to submit a full planning application before any demolition.
Mayor Kim has responded by welcoming the possibility of bringing organisations together, but highlighted her support for a proposed new Glassworks in Sunniside, rather than referencing the possibility of saving and reopening the NGC.
A spokesperson for the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority said: “Mayor Kim has always been clear she wants to see Sunderland’s long history of glassmaking continue and grow after the closure of the National Glass Centre.
“The new Glassworks Sunderland project in Sunniside provides a great opportunity to do that, and the Mayor has backed Sunderland Culture in making it happen.
“Mayor Kim has said she’ll be happy to help bring together all those people who can help glassmaking thrive, at Glassworks and beyond, as an important next step.”
The statement from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority has prompted the campaign group’s chair, Carolyn Basing to write to the mayor asking for clarification as to whether she will proactively be organising a meeting with the requested parties.
Carolyn said the meeting is “important for democracy and to represent the 50,000 people who’ve signed our petition to save the NGC”.
The closure of the NGC on July 31 brought to a head a long-running dispute between the University of Sunderland and campaigners.
University chiefs have cited spiralling running costs and unviable repair costs as the reasons for closure - figures which the campaign group dispute.
Responding to mayor’s comments and the campaign group’s call for a meeting, a University of Sunderland spokesperson said: "Following the closure of the National Glass Centre building, the University no longer has a direct role in glassmaking in the city.
“However, as one of the founding members of Sunderland Culture - along with Sunderland City Council and the Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust - the University is fully behind the plans for the Glassworks project in central Sunderland."
Speaking previously about the time being taken to invoke the Article 4 motion, a Council spokesperson 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”.