Convenience store plans refused for former New Inn pub site in Hetton

Plans to transform a former pub into a convenience store have been refused following council concerns about road safety and “severe” parking impacts.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has blocked plans for the proposed change of use of the New Inn pub site in the Hetton area.

The building sits directly adjacent to the A182 and the Colliery Lane double roundabout and is also located near Hetton Lyons Primary School.

According to a planning application submitted to council officials earlier this year, the pub has been closed for several years.

New plans aimed to give the building a new lease of life by transforming it into a convenience store on the ground floor.

A planning application stated parking levels would not change under the proposals, with three car parking spaces available to the side of the premises.

During a council consultation exercise on the plans, a mix of comments in objection and support were made.

Objections included the “inadequacy” of the parking area, traffic hazards and the need for the development, while supporters noted the site’s potential to provide a new community facility creating jobs.

Hetton Town Council also objected on the grounds of “inadequate space and capacity for deliveries and parking” and road safety issues for drivers and pedestrians.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department refused it on November 28, 2023.

The main reason for refusal, set out in a council decision report, included concerns about pedestrian and road safety in the context of parking and servicing at the site.

This included the proposed shop being based between two roundabouts and roads which already have a “large volume of traffic” associated with a school located nearby.

The level of parking advised by the council was seven car parking spaces, however, the development only proposed three.

Council planners said the proposed development would “lead to the attraction of vehicles to and from the site and, without adequate off-street parking and servicing/delivery facilities, would lead to the creation of conditions prejudicial to pedestrian and road safety”.

It was also noted that there was no space within the site to accommodate manoeuvring, meaning vehicles would “have to reverse onto the road between the two roundabouts”.

Despite the applicant providing details of servicing arrangements to reduce disruption, council planners said there was “no guarantee that the shop would not become part of a chain of stores in the future which would mean the site would possibly be serviced by larger vehicles”.

According to a council decision report, the applicant’s agent submitted a transport statement which concluded that “nearby on-street parking could compensate for the deficit in in-curtilage parking”.

Those behind the shop plan added the development would provide cycle parking and that there had been “no records of accidents within the immediate vicinity of the site”.

There was also the suggestion of a new traffic regulation order, or traffic restrictions, which would be paid for by the applicant.

However, the council noted that on-street parking in the wider area was “out of the control of the developer” and “could not be relied upon to accommodate the demand for parking which the [shop] use will generate”.

Local authority planners also referenced ‘crash map data’ recording traffic accidents over a 23-year period.

The data, which excludes the past six months, noted there had been 20 accidents close to the pub site “mainly within the two roundabouts”, with the most recent in 2019.

The council decision report added: “The [transport] statement does not address the issue of indiscriminate parking which can arise from this type of use as patrons will pop into the shop for a few minutes, e.g. as part of the school run to the adjacent school.

“The site is located on a junction adjacent to two roundabouts where indiscriminate parking would have a severe impact on the surrounding highway network”.

A separate bid for advertising consent to erect new signage at the pub site was approved by Sunderland City Council this month.

However, the change of use from a public house to a convenience store was rejected, meaning the development does not have permission to progress.

The applicant has the right to challenge the council’s refusal decision by lodging an appeal with the Secretary of State.

For more information on the planning application and council ruling, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 23/00334/FUL