Plans to turn Sunderland shop into bedsits thrown out as developers fail to stump up cash
Plans to convert a Sunderland shop into ‘bedsits’ have been rejected by city council planners, after applicants failed to make a financial contribution towards reducing impacts on coastal wildlife sites.
Sunderland City Council’s planning department has blocked plans to transform the Chester News site at 129 Chester Road, near the Chesters pub, into a residential development.
Plans were originally approved by councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee at City Hall on October 21, 2024.
Initial plans submitted to council officials aimed to change the use of the property’s ground floor to three ‘bedsits’ with en-suite bathroom facilities, however the council raised concerns about the “lack of communal space”, prompting amended plans to be submitted.
The amended plans reduced the number of bedsits from three to two and provided a kitchen / lounge area and separate toilet and shower room, along with wider works to “replace the shop front with domestic-style double glazed windows and a domestic entrance door”.
The planning approval agreed by councillors last year was on the condition that the applicant made a financial contribution towards the council’s “coastal mitigation strategy”, helping to “address likely significant effects” on European-designated ecology sites “arising from recreational impacts generated by new residential development”.
This was part of a standard process used by council planning departments to secure financial contributions from developers, with cash earmarked to improve infrastructure and local facilities, as well as reducing impacts of new homes on local nature sites.
A deadline was set for the Chester News site for the applicant to make the financial contribution which, according to a council report, was “£248.72 per additional bedspace”.
A council report stated that if this did not happen by January 21, 2025, the planning application would be refused.
A decision notice published this week confirms the “appropriate coastal mitigation contribution has not been provided” and that “there does not exist a mechanism to require the relevant obligation to be met”.
The decision report adds: “In the absence of a financial contribution towards the council’s strategic mitigation programme, the development will result in an adverse effect on the integrity of the European-designated sites, in conflict with the requirements of adopted Core Strategy and Development Plan policy NE2 and the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework)”.
Councillor Ehthesham Haque, a Barnes ward councillor, spoke on the plans when the application was discussed by the Planning and Highways Committee last year.
The councillor previously said he was “really concerned” about the application and potential parking impacts from the number of tenants living in the “tiny property”.
Cllr Haque, welcoming the recent refusal of the Chester Road plan, said: “Both me and my ward colleague Cllr Tobin are pleased to hear about the HMO application not being taken forward.
“We had concerns around how this proposed HMO would affect parking in the area, so we raised our concerns at a planning committee meeting.
“We believe the area around Chester Road is heavily congested and we will continue to look closely at applications to ensure they do not impact the parking situation negatively.”
According to planning documents discussed by councillors last year, the building’s ground floor commercial space is vacant and the first floor is a residential flat linked to a kitchen area located in part of the ground floor.
Council planners previously said the application had been considered against the council’s house in multiple occupation (HMO) policies, and would not result in an “overconcentration” of HMOs in the area.
For more information on the planning application and council refusal decision, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/00480/FUL