Plans approved for new Sunderland Tesco and Cooplands stores on former Southwick Social Club site

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has approved a planning application for the former Southwick Social Club site off Church Bank in the Southwick ward.

This included plans for a retail development housing a Tesco store and a unit for bakery business Cooplands, with the development expected to create more than 20 jobs once completed and let.

In addition, the site would include around 25 new parking spaces, electric vehicle charging points, new boundary treatments and landscaping.

The £2.1million pound commercial scheme has been brought forward by Newcastle-based developer Modo Bloc, who have claimed the plans would benefit the area.

This includes “breathing life and energy back into the location” and helping to regenerate the wider Southwick area.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on April 18, 2023.

Council planners, in a published decision report, noted the plans were acceptable in principle and would help bring the vacant site back into use.

The council decision report added: “The last known use of the land was as a social club; however, the building had been vacant for many years, and was the subject of many enforcement enquiries prior to its demolition [in] 2017 and has been vacant since.

“Whilst it is acknowledged the former use of the site provided an opportunity for social interaction between members of the community, it appears from historic records that the site has not had a community use in excess of 15 years.

“It is considered that the proposed development would bring back into use a vacant site that has been vacant for a number of years and would provide a local facility which would cater for the day-to-day shopping needs of the local community”.

According to council planning documents, the social club was demolished in 2017 after the building fell into a “significant state of disrepair”.

In August 2018, an attempt to convert the site into an “open storage area” with parking was rejected by city councillors following concerns about highway safety, noise and heritage impacts on a local listed church building.

New plans for the site did not spark heritage concerns however, with council planners ruling out any “detrimental impact on the character and setting of the adjacent listed buildings or on archaeological heritage assets”.

Under planning conditions, the Tesco and Cooplands development must be brought forward within three years.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s online planning portal and search reference: 23/00263/FUL