Martial arts school plan refused for former industrial unit in Washington

Earlier this year, Sunderland City Council’s planning department received an application for a business unit off Rosse Close in Parsons Industrial Estate in the Washington area.

According to documents submitted to council officials in the planning department at City Hall, the unit was last used for the manufacture of garden furniture but had been sitting vacant for more than a year after the business moved out.

New plans from applicant Blue Wave Taekwondo Ltd aimed to change the use of the unit to set up a martial arts school catering for Washington residents and the surrounding area.

A submitted transport statement noted the development, if it went ahead, would offer group-based activities, with around 20 customers per class attending, and multiple classes being held each evening on weekdays.

It also noted the school would create new jobs.

A “sequential assessment” submitted to council planners showed alternative sites in the area had been considered for the martial arts school but that the Rosse Close site was chosen due to its availability, suitable size, “room for business growth” and “sustainable transport links”.

According to planning documents from the applicant, the site would also serve as a “distribution site for martial art equipment through e-commerce sales”.

During council consultation, no objections were raised from Sunderland City Council’s environmental health or transportation departments.

However, after considering the planning application and assessing it against the city’s planning policies, the council’s planning department decided to refuse it on December 20, 2022.

This was because the plans “failed to meet the criteria” set out in a policy in the council’s Core Strategy and Development Plan, or ‘local plan’, around the loss of an industrial unit and requirements for marketing the vacant site.

According to the council’s website, the application for the martial arts school was received on August 9, 2022.

A revised sequential assessment provided by the applicant noted the industrial unit had been vacant since August, 2021 and that the potential completion date of spring 2023 would “take the site to the 24 months of vacantness”.

This included the site being “internally repaired and ready” for the proposed martial arts school use.

Applicants also argued the site was of “insufficient quality and / or suitability to accommodate existing types of industrial demand” and had been unused for employment uses for around two years “despite having been properly marketed”.

However Sunderland City Council pressed ahead with the refusal with a decision notice setting out one main reason.

This included the “loss of an industrial unit in a key employment area without successful marketing for 24 months”.

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

For more information on the planning application and council ruling, visit Sunderland City Council’s online planning portal and search reference: 22/01788/FUL