Ferry Farm dog kennels near South Hylton could get eco-friendly rebuild under new plans

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for the Ferry Farm site, in Offerton Lane near South Hylton.

The site is home to the Ferry Farm Boarding Kennels & Cattery which, according to its website, offers “personal and friendly service providing day care, short and long-term cat and dog boarding at affordable prices.”

New plans are seeking permission to replace an “existing 18-unit kennel building with [a] new 18-unit kennel building”, including a new “covered indoor exercise area”.

Plans are also seeking permission for “additional support” to an existing rear boundary wall structure alongside Offerton Lane.

Details of the plans are set out in a design and access statement submitted to council development bosses.

It was noted that the existing 18-unit kennel building would be “taken down in stages to allow for the continuing occupancy of this boarding facility throughout its re-development”.

This includes the “internal pod partitioning units being retained until the new units are fit enough for re-occupation”.

Those behind the scheme noted that the “existing rear exercise area will also be cleared of all planting materials present together with a healthy covering of the existing topsoil covering the area, which is to be retained for future re-landscaping purposes”.

Applicants said the proposed new kennels accommodation had been “designed primarily for its energy efficiency and carbon footprint but also for the retention of staff members and their well-being and for the continuing satisfaction/retention of the animals’ owners themselves”.

It was noted that the development would have “modern up-to-date internal partitioning walling systems which will promote hygienic cleansing”.

The design and access statement also confirmed the design of the new building structure had been “directly influenced” by the planning approval of the “recently constructed 11-unit cattery building located to the north of this proposed new building site (application no 23/01648/FUL)”.

Applicants said the kennels development’s design had been “driven by key considerations that include the basic client requirement for the internal spaces, the aim of integrating energy efficiency and low carbon principles in the design and wider context of development in a rural location within the Green Belt”.

Those behind the plans said the new building would not be classed as “inappropriate” within the Green Belt, and would meet “very special circumstances” needed to justify development under planning policies.

This includes the “improvement to the landscape”, the development “arguably contributing to openness given the existing extensive development on the site” and the “innovative nature of the design”, including its “low-level design”.

The design and access statement adds: “With the existing kennels’ external exercise area being included into the new building it is anticipated that the existing staffing levels will be sufficient to manage the additional accommodation together to minimise the carbon output of the entire complex.”

It was also noted that it would be “far more economically viable to build a new structure completely instead of any possible conversion” proposals.

A decision on the planning application is expected later this year following a council consultation exercise.

For more information on the planning application, or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/00196/FUL