Major update on plans for new independent school with 21 classrooms in Sunderland city centre

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has approved an application for 45-46 John Street in the Sunniside area near the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

According to the planning listing, the site was once used as office space for a “probation and after care service” but the vacant site has since been put on the market to let.

A public listing from Lofthouse and Partners described the site as “two adjoining and interconnecting four-storey office buildings arranged over ground, lower ground, first and second floors”, along with a rear car park.

New plans for the site from Nulite Properties Ltd, supported by The Education Partnership (UK) Ltd and submitted last year (2025), were seeking planning permission to convert the site into an “independent school.”

Proposed floor plans showed how the school use would be distributed across four floors with around 21 classrooms, kitchen facilities and toilets proposed.

An application form submitted to council officials noted the development was for a “change of use to a private school” and that “no external building operations, alterations, or groundworks are proposed”.

The planning application confirmed that the development “does not include new extensions or structures, changes to hardstanding or landscaping [and] removal or planting of any vegetation” and does not include “any modification to the external fabric of the building”.

The applicant also said the proposed independent school would “implement a robust waste management plan utilising the existing service area/yard at the rear of the property”, or another location if applicable.

Details of “proposed employees” for the school development, set out in the planning application, included three full-time employees and two part-time roles, while proposed hours of opening were listed as 8am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

During a council public consultation exercise on the development there were no representations submitted.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on February 27, 2026.

Council planners, in a decision report, said the proposed use “supports the wider activity of the Sunniside area and Sunderland’s urban core” and would “benefit the economy of Sunderland city centre as a whole”.

Comments from the council’s conservation team noted that “there would be no physical changes to the floor plans and elevations” but stressed that any future changes “beyond like-for-like repair and redecoration such as mechanical, electrical works and new fire doors [and] window upgrades in order to support the use, would require listed building consent”.

As the application site is located in the city centre and is “directly adjacent to residential accommodation”, further information was requested from the applicant around measures to minimise potential noise linked to the new school use and potential odour from proposed kitchen facilities.

Information provided by the applicant, outlined in a council report, confirmed details of the “planned operation of the school” which includes the “school day running from 8.30 am to 4.00 pm during term time, with students allowed to stay at the school till 5.00 pm on a chargeable basis for supervised study or reading”.

It was noted that there would be “no organised pick up or drop off points in the near vicinity around existing residential premises” and that “whilst the number of pupils is not yet determined, they envisage around 70 and the school will be small scale”.

Those behind the scheme also said that an “outside area is planned to be used for breaktimes for the children [which] should be monitored by staff” and that the “kitchens will only operate with microwaves and kettles”, with “no additional odour abatement required for the ventilation.”

Based on the information provided, the council’s environmental health department raised no concerns about the application.

On highway safety matters, the council’s highways department said that “the development is within the S2 City Centre parking zone, whereby parking can be relaxed” and also sits near rail and Metro links.

The council decision report adds: “On this basis, the change of use proposal does not impact upon car parking provision or the highway network and raises no pedestrian safety concerns.”

Under planning conditions, the school development must be brought forward within three years.

For more information on the plan and council decision, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/02386/FUL