Gladman developers learn fate of 255-home plan for Hetton farmland amid raft of problems

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, at a meeting this week, voted to refuse an outline planning application for housing on agricultural land off North Road in the city’s Hetton ward.

The parcel of land sits on the edge of Hetton, to the north of Hetton Academy, with the site’s southern boundary running adjacent to Hazard Lane.

Applicant Gladman Developments Limited applied for outline planning permission earlier this year (2025) to establish the principle of housing on the site with “all matters reserved” until a later date, “except for means of access.”

The outline application sought permission for the “erection of up to 255 dwellings” along with public open space, landscaping, a sustainable drainage system and associated infrastructure and it was noted that final details would be agreed in a future ‘reserved matters’ application if outline plans were approved.

A planning and affordable housing statement noted the same developers were previously refused outline planning permission for housing on the site back in March, 2021.

The application was blocked at the time by Sunderland City Council as it was said to be “deficient in supporting information” on key issues, including archaeology, highway arrangements, ecology and biodiversity matters, such as potential impacts on the Hetton Bogs Local Nature Reserve.

Those behind the revised scheme maintained the site was “sustainably located [with] no known constraints to its delivery for residential development”.

Developers also said they had submitted a “suite of technical assessments and reports that address the previous technical reasons for refusal” and that the previous planning application “was determined in a materially different housing land supply context”.

It was noted that 15 per cent affordable housing would be provided across the development and that the housing estate would be “set within a comprehensive green infrastructure network comprising public open space, structural planting and landscaping, recreational spaces and routes, and formal and informal play provision”.

Those behind the scheme added the site was “sustainably located with a range of services and facilities within close proximity” and said the site was “not subject to any statutory ecological, heritage or landscape designations.”

Sunderland City Council’s planning department, in a report published ahead of a decision-making meeting this week, had recommended the plans for refusal.

After being put to the vote at a meeting of the Planning and Highways Committee on Monday (October 20, 2025) the plans were unanimously refused by city councillors on the panel.

Council planning officers had recommended that councillors refuse the plans on several grounds and a committee report listed the proposed refusal reasons.

The main refusal reason included the development “undermining the settlement break between the settlements of Hetton-le-Hole and East Rainton/Middle Rainton”, failing to “assist with regeneration of the urban area of the city by virtue of the site’s location away from the established urban area” and “undermining the green infrastructure network”.

The committee report also noted the housing plan would be a “major incursion into the open countryside and green corridor and the application has not been supported by sufficient information for the LPA [local planning authority] to assess impacts on protected species”.

Council planners noted that the site was “poorly connected in terms of pedestrian and cycle routes to local services and amenities and is poorly served by public transport” and said that “in the absence of sufficient supporting information, the local planning authority cannot have any certainty that the proposal will not adversely affect highway safety, local network capacity and capacity at key trunk roads and junctions”.

Other reasons for refusal noted the “high residential density levels, of 40 dwellings per hectare, and the sloping topography of the site” and council planners said, in this context, that the “proposals do not give confidence that the development would achieve satisfactory living conditions for future occupiers with regard to privacy, light and outlook”.

Concerns were also raised about the application being “deficient in supporting information in respect of archaeology […] flooding/drainage and ecology and biodiversity matters which means that the local planning authority cannot conclude that the impacts of the development in relation to these considerations are acceptable”.

Another reason for refusal included the lack of a financial contribution from developers to help mitigate the impacts of the proposed housing, namely a financial contribution towards “the provision of early years, primary, secondary and special educational needs places, within education facilities in the area.”

A representative for the applicant Gladman Developments Limited , speaking at Monday’s planning meeting at City Hall, asked the committee to defer a decision on the application to allow outstanding technical matters to be addressed.

The planning agent said the site offered a “significant opportunity to make a sizeable contribution towards meeting the housing needs of the local area” and that the site’s location within a settlement break “should not be treated as a blanket ban on development”.

It was argued that existing landscape features of the site, combined with the location of homes and areas of new landscaping and open space, would create a buffer and ensure a “clear separation” between the settlements of Hetton-le-Hole and East Rainton.

As an outline planning application, developers said the council could determine the “final destiny” of the housing scheme at the “reserved matters stage”.

Councillors were told that the council had not granted an extension of time for the outline housing application and that the developer was willing to provide a financial contribution towards education, subject to further clarification on the sum requested by the local authority.

The applicant’s representative said deferring a decision on the application would allow additional information to be submitted and would give the Planning and Highways Committee a “better informed view.”

Council planning officers said a number of the outstanding technical matters could be looked at but noted the principle of the housing development itself was “fundamentally unacceptable”.

The council’s planning department added the application in its current form should be refused, but noted the local authority was willing to enter a “meaningful pre-application negotiation” with developers in future.

Councillor Iain Scott, a member of the Planning and Highways Committee, outlined his reasons for voting in favour of refusal.

“We have a five-year land supply as outlined in local policies and our Core Strategic Development Plan and we shouldn’t be considering applications that fall outside of that plan, especially where negative impacts of any development will have significant and enduring negative impacts for our residents in the immediate vicinity,” he said.

“While I understand and we welcome that we need housing development in the city, it can’t be at the expense of our planning principles.”

During a council public consultation exercise on the application, there were eight objections submitted raising concerns ranging from privacy, sewerage and access issues, to increased traffic, pedestrian safety, impact on local services, wildlife impacts, flooding and more.

Hetton Town Council also objected to the proposal raising concerns about the “negative impact on settlement break”, traffic, impact on schools and health services and ecology impacts.

The committee report from council planning officers said it was “recognised that the development would deliver new housing and that national planning policy is highly supportive of increasing the supply of new housing in England”.

Council planners added that “the council can demonstrate a five-year housing land supply and so the development must be considered in this context and in accordance with the policies of the council’s adopted development plan”.

The council committee report added: “As there is sufficient land available for new housing in the city, it is not necessary for housing to be located within the settlement break and as explained above, the proposals give rise to significant concerns relating to the erosion of the settlement break, visual amenity and landscape impacts, transport impacts, residential amenity, ecology, flood risk and drainage and impacts on education provision.

“Whilst positive weight should always be given to the delivery of new housing, given the council’s five-year housing land supply position it is considered that this benefit of the development does not outweigh the fundamental conflicts with the council’s development plan and the significant negative issues arising from the scheme as explained within this report.”

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

For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/01432/OUT

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