Plans to build new school in Sunderland - this is how it could look

Plans for a new build primary school on Wearside have been submitted to city development chiefs.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for the site of the former Sunningdale Primary School.

The special school, which caters for children with “profound, multiple and severe learning needs” recently relocated, with staff and pupils moving to a £13million new build school at Doxford Park Way in 2022.

Earlier this year, plans to demolish the former school site were given the green light by city development bosses.

A planning and design and access statement submitted to council officials states the now cleared site is earmarked to provide a “replacement school” for Thorney Close Primary School which needs space for more pupils.

It was noted that Thorney Close Primary School would “remain operational” during the construction period and would relocate once the new school is built.

The applicant is listed as Together for Children, which provides services on behalf of Sunderland City Council, and the council is listed as an ‘agent’ for the school scheme.

The design and access statement linked to the proposed new school notes the design would include the “retention of the existing site access, car parking facilities and partial external play areas”.

New facilities would include a “new school building, new football pitch and associated new drainage and landscaping works”.

The design and access statement adds: “The new school proposal will help address an identified need for additional pupil places.

“This will satisfy future demand to accommodate new housing developments and issues in relation to the condition of the existing school”.

According to planning documents, the new site would have a “capacity of 315 places plus nursery provision”, with “an additional 39 nursery places and 12 places for two- to three-year-old provision”.

It was also noted that the new build school had been “future-proofed” to enable it to grow to a two-form entry “if required”.

Elsewhere, a new car park would be located centrally providing “36 regular spaces for teaching staff and visitors, and four accessible bays for staff and visitors”, as well as electric charging bays for four vehicles.

Measures have also been proposed to “ensure drop-offs are managed from within the curtilage of the school”.

This includes a “drop-off zone” with five additional car parking bays to be used for “private drop-offs, nursery parents and service/supply vans visitors where necessary”.

Project bosses said the plans would help tackle parking issues with Thorney Close Primary School’s existing site, as well as “enabling the new school to be built within the catchment area of the existing school”.

The design and access statement reads: “The new building has been moved away from the existing residential dwellings in order to help enhance existing and proposed open space between the various buildings […] surrounding the site.

“Another design benefit with the proposals is that it has a smaller footprint than the previous school [and] a two-story element has been introduced into the design to enable more open space to all sides of the new school and increasing the amount of available land to create distinctive play areas for the pupils to enjoy whilst providing an improved outlook from the residential properties overlooking the school”.

In addition, an independent entrance has been created for the nurseryso “parents can pick up and drop off nursery children in line with the flexible hours offered for early years provision”.

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Information on Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website lists a decision deadline of March 15, 2024.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 23/02498/LP3