Plans rejected for homes on travelling showpeople site in Washington

Earlier in March, 2022, Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways (West) Committee were asked to consider plans for land within the Stephenson Industrial Estate.

This included the construction of four two-storey dwellings in a terraced block on land at 2 Wylam Close, which forms part of an existing Travelling Showpeople yard owned by the applicant.

According to planning documents, the site already includes two dwellings and a static mobile home, with parts of the site used for the ‘open air’ storage of commercial vehicles and fairground equipment.

After considering the application, Sunderland City Council’s planning department recommended it be rejected.

This was because the site was “safeguarded” for Travelling Showpeople in the council’s Core Strategy and Development Plan, or ‘local plan’.

As the new development on site proposed permanent ‘bricks and mortar’ dwellings, council officers said, in a report, that the homes would “compromise the provision of sites for Travelling Showpeople over the remainder of the development plan period up to 2033.”

Council officers added that under the policy, the site had to be safeguarded to “provide space for the transient accommodation to suit the mobile nature of Travelling Showpeople, including for the storage and repair of their equipment.”

The planning application was presented to the Planning and Highways (West) Committee for decision at City Hall on Tuesday, March 1.

Councillor Jill Fletcher, Washington North ward member, attended the meeting as a guest speaker and urged decision-makers to approve the plans.

Cllr Fletcher said a precedent had already been set on the site by allowing the construction of two family homes and that new plans aimed to extend the provision of family homes for the applicant’s immediate family and a long-serving member of staff.

The councillor added that the council would be “doing a disservice to this family” by denying the application.

A representative speaking on behalf of applicant Colin Noble, said the council was “relying on an outdated image of Travelling Showpeople who travel in the summer and live in caravans for the non-show months”.

The speaker also criticised the “unfair restriction on private land” and said that the applicant would have objected to the relevant policy in the Core Strategy and Development Plan if they had been informed about it previously.

Council planning officers confirmed that the existing properties built on the land were built before the council agreed its new Core Strategy and Development Plan.

The formal adoption of the plan in January 2020 followed a lengthy legal process, including several rounds of formal consultation and an examination in public by a government-appointed planning inspector.

Following formal adoption, policies around safeguarding of travellers’ sites now apply to the permanent dwellings being proposed at the Travelling Showpeople yard.

Planning officers also warned councillors that going against recommendations to refuse the new homes plan would run the risk of “undermining” the council’s Core Strategy and Development Plan at an early stage.

Following discussion, councillors on the Planning and Highways (West) Committee voted to refuse the housing plans in line with the advice of planning officers.

This was with the exception of councillor Len Lauchlan, who abstained from the vote.

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