Plans approved for new units at Turbine Business Park

This week, Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways (West) Committee approved plans for land at Turbine Business Park in Washington.

The plans, from Barmston Developments, include four two-storey buildings across several plots.

According to planning documents, the sites will be earmarked for ‘general industrial’ or ‘storage and distribution’ uses.

The new buildings will spring up at the west, north and north east of Brenntag and to the south of Washington Business Centre.

Access would be taken from Turbine Way which, in turn, connects to Nissan Way and the A1231 /A19.

Each building would also have dedicated parking and cycle provision.

The plans won unanimous support at Tuesday’s (October 27) planning meeting, which was held via videolink and broadcast on YouTube.

Planning officer, Ian Birkett, told the meeting: “Overall officers feel the application can be supported.

“It’s industrial development on land allocated for that purpose [and] we have no objections from the majority of the consultees such as highways and Highways England.”

Councillors were told that outstanding matters, including ecology, are expected to be settled via a section 106 (S106) agreement.

This aims to secure funds from the developer to reduce the impact of the scheme, with ‘advanced discussions’ under way.

The application was originally lodged in the summer of 2019 and several extensions of time have been granted in recent months.

A design and access statement from the applicant, submitted in July 2020, said the plans would see the development of a new ‘distribution and production centre.’

It went on to say: “We consider that the design approach embraces the scale and massing of the buildings and responds to their specific settings within the business park and to its surroundings.

“The intention is to create a set of simple, honest, crafted, buildings without overt or applied detailing but to rely on its quality of colour, material, detail and mass.”

Following the planning decision, the application will now be sent to the council’s executive director of city development for final approval, subject to the completion of the S106 deal.

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