Coronavirus delays talks over controversial Sunderland sewage issue

The unfolding Coronavirus outbreak is hampering attempts to resolve concerns about Sunderland’s sewage network.
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Wearside’s planning chiefs promised to probe possible problems, but restrictions in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 look set to delay action.

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“I’m conscious we haven’t got some key players,” Coun Julia Jackson, chairwoman of Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee told at a meeting on March 17.

Sunderland Civic CentreSunderland Civic Centre
Sunderland Civic Centre

“I think we’ve taken this as far as we can with planning and I think we all recognise the limitations of planning.

“I think we have a duty to listen to residents and even though we know there were restrictions we’re not just going to ignore them.”

Coun Jackson added she had sought advice about having the issue taken up by one of the council’s scrutiny committees, which review the policies and decisions made by city bosses.

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Earlier this year a decision on plans to build near Seaburn Camp was delayed after the panel requested an independent survey of the city’s sewage network.

This was rejected and councillors approved the scheme after accepting they had no acceptable grounds to deny permission after Northumbrian Water vouched for it.

And concerns over sewage were raised again on March 9 in relation to more housing proposals in Seaburn.

A suggestion to revisit the issue in more detail when coronavirus restrictions have eased was suggested by Coun Martin Haswell, which the rest of the committee agreed to.

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He said: “We, as a committee, have the ability to report an issue to the full council where we feel it is a huge enough issue and should be debated there.

“As a committee we need to look like we’re standing up and saying something.”

He added: “Could we, for the moment, have it as a rolling agenda item until the Coronavirus issue has stopped and also so as new information comes to light we can follow it up.

“When we have something more structured we can have a discussion about whether scrutiny or full council is the best option.”