Pennywell: Gentoo eyes summer start date for latest phase of major housing development at Chester Gate

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, at a meeting this week, approved an application from Gentoo Group for hundreds of new homes between Chester Road and Presthope Road in the Pennywell area.

Gentoo has been building homes on the site in recent years as part of the Chester Gate development, with phase one adjacent to Chester Road under way and some homes already built out and occupied.

New plans from Gentoo Group, submitted earlier this year (2025), sought permission for 294 affordable homes as part of the next phase of development at the site.

Proposals included a mix of two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes, two-bedroom bungalows and two-bedroom apartments, to help “deliver economic growth” for the city.

Gentoo, in a previous statement, said the development would be fully affordable and low carbon, with homes available for rent and shared ownership, to help households get a foot on the property ladder.

New house types were also planned to incorporate energy efficient features such as air source heat pumps, solar PV panels, electric vehicle charging points and enhanced insulation.

The development is also expected to be Gentoo’s largest affordable development on Wearside to date.

The plans were approved at a Planning and Highways Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at City Hall, with councillors praising the transformative scheme for the largely vacant site.

Gentoo Group, in a statement released after the planning meeting, welcomed the planning approval and confirmed construction work is expected to start in summer, 2025.

Joanne Gordon, homes and development director at Gentoo Group, said the housing association was “delighted” the application had been approved.

“This development marks a significant milestone in Gentoo’s Affordable Development Programme, creating an affordable home for more than 1,500 residents in the city,” she added.

“We are committed to increasing the supply and accessibility of affordable housing by delivering high quality affordable homes in a range of tenures to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing and help meet Sunderland City Council’s new build homes target.

“I am confident this development will transform the local area both socially and economically.

“We will work closely with our partners to support the local area throughout the development to ensure we are creating a space with both new and existing residents in mind.”

The new development is expected to include a large area of open space within the centre of the site, along with footpaths to provide pedestrian access through the site connecting to existing footpath links to residential areas and local amenities.

House types in Gentoo’s affordable homes programme will also be built to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident’s ‘safer by design framework gold standard’, the housing firm states.

This aims to “reduce serious accidental injury in new build homes by making design changes to avoid preventable injuries such as falls, burns or carbon monoxide poisoning.”

A representative for Gentoo Group, speaking at a planning meeting earlier this week, noted the housing scheme was being supported by Homes England grant funding and would be fully affordable and managed by Gentoo as a registered provider of social housing.

This includes 80 shared ownership units and 214 affordable rent units.

Gentoo added the development would have wider social and economic benefits, including providing an affordable home for more than 1,500 people and creating nearly 200 jobs during construction.

Other benefits listed by the housing association included the development “generating approximately £66.8 million economic output during construction” and “additional council tax income of £588,997.”

The latest phase of Chester Gate is part of Gentoo’s affordable homes programme, which aims to deliver more than 700 additional homes to the city by 2029.

The plans aim to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing and help meet Sunderland City Council’s housing targets of more than 13,000 new build homes in Sunderland by 2033.

For more information on the planning application and council decision, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/00057/FUL