Housing development planned for former saw pit site near Sunderland's Mowbray Park

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for vacant land at Egerton Street in the city’s Hendon ward.

The overgrown site sits on the junction with Toward Road, near an entrance to Mowbray Park and the Life Kitchen cookery school.

New plans from applicant Fielding Park Projects aim to transform the Hendon site into residential accommodation.

This includes a proposed mix of six townhouses and 16 apartments with associated parking and landscaping.

The plans have been submitted to council officials with a number of supporting documents outlining details of the scheme.

A design and access statement lists the history of the site, which once accommodated a saw pit and laundry building, and then warehouses and a motor works, before sitting vacant for almost 20 years.

Developers say the housing plans would transform the “unkempt” site for the better while making a “positive contribution” to existing housing stock in Hendon.

The design and access statement adds: “The proposal will look to meet policy SP1 by supporting economic growth and meeting people’s needs by delivering new homes, and by delivering a sustainable pattern of development securing regeneration in the Hendon area […] which will contribute to environmental improvements in the area.

“The delivery of new homes will be within a sustainable location with good access to public transport and is a positive use of a brownfield site in this established residential area”.

According to planning documents, the proposed townhouses would be built along Toward Road with each offering three bedrooms.

The apartments would include a five-storey block, behind the King’s Castle Church, with basement level parking and a mix of two and three-bedroom apartments.

Those behind the development added around 15% of dwellings would be affordable, split between ‘affordable rent’ and ‘intermediate tenure’.

It is understood that there would be one allocated parking space per dwelling, as well as provision for visitor parking and secure cycle storage.

Landscaping linked to the site would include “enhanced scrub, shrub planting, native hedges and well-landscaped frontages” to help “soften” the visual impact of parking areas.

Elsewhere proposed new tree planting intends to “mitigate the loss of existing trees – which are proposed to be removed to enable development or due to pre-existing damage from historical fly tipping”.

Access to the development would be taken from one existing, but currently disused, vehicular access on Toward Road at the northern point of the site.

A heritage statement also outlines how the development would be designed to minimise impacts on nearby listed buildings and the Grade II-listed Mowbray Park.

This includes a “high-quality design, alongside sensitively selected materials to create a sympathetic yet contemporary addition to the setting of the listed assets”.

The heritage statement adds: “The height of the proposed townhouses is in keeping with the other terraced buildings along the road, and responds positively to the Grade II-listed lodge opposite.

“The apartment block layout is of a greater mass but is placed at a lower part of the site , which is further away from listed assets.

“The variety of grain and massing is not uncharacteristic of this urban location and adds to the variety of the streetscape”.

A decision on the planning application will be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Information on Sunderland City Council’s website suggests a decision is expected by November 10, 2023.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 22/00931/FUL