Housing plans for The Cavalier pub site in Silksworth at risk over legal agreement delay with Sunderland City Council

Plans to provide houses and flats at the site of a demolished Sunderland pub are at risk of falling through.

Proposals were approved last year by Sunderland City Council’s planning and highways committee for The Cavalier public house in Silksworth.

The application, submitted by CJ Taverns, sought to demolish the pub and provide 14 houses and a three-storey building providing five flats in its place.

The proposals also included car parking, landscaping and a new pedestrian access being provided, as well as existing vehicle access arrangements at the site being “retained and upgraded”.

However, the approval was subject to the completion of a section 106 agreement, which is used to secure funds from developers to mitigate the impacts of developments.

The latest meeting of the city council’s planning and highways committee was given an update from officers on how there has “not been any substantive progress upon the legal agreement”.

The agreement for the development would secure the provision of three affordable units on site and financial contributions towards allotments, equipped play space and open space.

Other financial contributions include around £15,000 to boost biodiversity and funds to reduce impacts on protected coastal nature areas.

City planners noted the application was coming back before councillors so that the recommendation for approval could be amended to provide a final point in time for when the legal agreement must be completed by.

They said this comes following updated guidance and advice from government stating granting extensions of time to come to such agreements and determine applications “should be an exception”.

Therefore a recommendation from officers was put forward that the legal agreement must be completed by June 30, 2024, otherwise, the application will be refused.

This would be because without the suggested contributions the scheme would not be deemed “acceptable” in planning terms.

This was unanimously approved by councillors at the meeting on Monday, April 8, with councillor Iain Scott adding it shows the council “are very serious about section 106 legal agreements” which are “important” for local communities.

Planners noted this is an approach which they will now likely be taking going forward for other applications that need legal agreements following the updated government guidance for “an accelerated planning system”.

At the meeting council officers also provided an update on how since the initial approval was granted last year the public house was demolished in February.

They said this was “for reasons of safety” following a fire at the site at the end of last year.

Council reports noted an agent on behalf of the applicant had said that the local authority’s building control team had been consulted and “the HSE requested demolition immediately as it was classed as an unsafe structure and a danger to the public”.