Decision day for major Sunderland riverside housing scheme on land waiting a decade for regeneration

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee will rule on plans for land at Farringdon Row, a key city centre regeneration site awaiting development for more than a decade.

The site sits near the recently constructed Riverside Sunderland multi-storey car park and adjacent to the planned Riverside Park at the Riverside Sunderland regeneration site.

Rental developer Placefirst previously consulted on plans for the 165-home rental development and recently exchanged contracts with Sunderland City Council to develop the proposed neighbourhood.

The submission of a planning application earlier this year marked a key milestone for the proposed housing scheme, with a decision on the plan initially expected from the local authority by the end of 2024.

New council documents published this month (December, 2024) confirm a decision on the plans will be made at a Planning and Highways Committee on Monday, January 6, 2025.

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Placefirst previously said the plans would deliver a “high-quality residential neighbourhood” with 67 houses and 98 apartments amongst a network of open spaces, as part of the wider Riverside Sunderland Masterplan.

A range of house types, including “terraced and detached units are proposed, as well as four, six-storey apartment blocks”, which would be “interspersed with green space and communal gardens”.

The Farringdon Row site would offer views over the River Wear and Riverside Park, with a cliff top walkway proposed around the eastern edge of the site, as well as publicly-accessible green space, informal play areas and drainage improvements.

Of the 67 houses proposed, there would be five different house types and 11 of the houses would include ground floor apartments.

The remaining apartments would be based across “four six-storey blocks including communal cycle storage and a management suite”.

Each house would be provided with one car parking space and additional visitor parking would be provided, as well as “70 spaces within the newly-constructed Riverside multi-storey car park [being] allocated to serve occupants of the apartments should they wish to apply for this”.

The management suite on the ground floor of an apartment block at the centre of the site would also “act as Placefirst’s community hub which will accommodate a full-time resident services manager”.

Planning documents submitted to the council said the”build-to-rent” scheme would “not include any affordable housing”, with developers citing the “significant challenge” to financial viability around delivering housing on a “constrained brownfield site”.

During a council consultation exercise on the plans, there were no public comments submitted.

Council planning officers, in a report published ahead of a decision-making meeting next year, have recommended the housing scheme for approval.

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The committee report said that the “significant positive aspects” of the scheme “outweighed” the absence of some planning obligations sought by the council, including a financial contribution towards education to reduce pressure on school places.

It was noted that the developer’s financial viability assessment, used to justify the absence of affordable housing and education contributions, had been “independently reviewed on behalf of the council” and accepted, but that the scheme’s viability and planning obligations could still be”re-tested” in future.

The council committee report added: “Significant positive weight should also be given to the fact the proposals would see the development of a brownfield site with a high-quality housing scheme which integrates good areas of greenspace, landscaping and public access, the development’s accessibility and proximity to sustainable transport options, the development’s heritage benefits in terms of better revealing the significance of nearby listed buildings, and the scheme’s delivery of net gains in biodiversity.

“The proposals are also considered acceptable in relation to matters such as amenity, highway safety, parking and access, sustainable drainage, land contamination and archaeology and, subject to the securement of the contribution to the council’s recreational mitigation strategy, the development will not adversely affect European ecology sites.

“In conclusion, it is considered that whilst it would clearly be desirable for the development to be able to absorb the financial contributions and affordable housing obligations sought by the council and Nexus, the applicant has demonstrated through their viability assessment that it is unable to do so. It is recognised that there is also minor residual conflict with policy NE3 of the CSDP (local plan) in relation to tree loss.

“Significant positive weight must, however, ultimately be given to the delivery of housing at a highly sustainable site which is earmarked for a new residential community by the Riverside Sunderland SPD (supplementary planning document), and which has been identified as available for housing in the SHLAA (strategic housing land availability assessment) and so is envisaged as supporting the city’s housing needs, regeneration objectives and the diversification of the urban core.”

A planning statement previously submitted to council officials said the site “historically formed part of the Sunderland Power Station site but has been disused since the closure of the power station in the late 1970s and its subsequent demolition”.

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It was also noted that Farringdon Row “forms part of a wider riverside area that was historically the industrial hub of the city but has been in decline since the closure of the shipyards”.

The final decision on housing proposals for the site rests with councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee, who will next meet on Monday, January 6, 2025.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5.30pm at City Hall and will be open to the public.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/01984/FU4