Plans withdrawn again for new convenience store on former Sunderland social club site

Plans to convert part of a Sunderland social club site into a convenience store have been withdrawn again by developers.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department received an application in 2023 for the Red House Workmen’s Club, off Rawmarsh Road, in the Redhill ward.

Proposals included changing the use of the building’s ground floor to ‘food retail’, along with external alterations and the creation of a new shop front.

In addition, plans included first-floor windows to serve the existing workmen’s club to the front elevation, ‘bricking up’ existing openings to the side, a new deliveries entrance to the rear and an access ramp and car parking.

Plans were initially submitted for the site in 2022 sparking several objections from neighbours during a council consultation, and the application was withdrawn by applicants in June the same year.

At the time, around five public objections were posted on the council’s planning portal website raising concerns about increased traffic, the loss of part of the social club as a ‘community use’, parking pressures and more.

Resubmitted plans from the same applicant PL Group Developments aimed to create a local neighbourhood convenience store on the ground floor and to retain the building’s first floor as a social club.

The new planning application included the addition of a two-metre-high acoustic fence linked to an “external plant compound”.

During a council consultation exercise on the plan, two public objections were received raising a range of concerns.

This included the need for the development, increased parking issues, anti-social behaviour, litter and more.

The application was due to be decided by August, 2023, however, several extensions of time were granted by Sunderland City Council.

During the planning application process, amended plans were submitted to the council in November, 2023, along with a transport statement.

On January 19, 2024, it was confirmed that the planning application had been withdrawn by the applicant.

This followed a consultation comment from the council’s transport department, posted on the council’s website, which raised concerns about the development.

Despite amendments to the convenience store plan, council officers said that “previous objections for this application remain valid”.

This included the site being based in a residential area “where cars appear to predominantly park on the roadside” and the impacts of additional traffic.

It was argued that the site had “unsuitable car parking provision” and that extra traffic “may exacerbate existing congestion and access issues further in the locality”.

The consultation response added: “Additional traffic may lead to an increase in risk of accidents or endanger the safety of road users, including cyclists and pedestrians; it must be borne in mind the site is adjacent to a Schools Safety Zone”.

A ‘planning sequential assessment’ document from developers, submitted to council planning officials last year, stated the new shop would create jobs and benefit the area.

This included helping to “secure the future of commercial activity at this location by acting as an attraction for residents and enhancing the day-to-day convenience retail offer in the local area”.

Planning documents also suggested the future occupier would likely be a “national scale convenience retailer”

Following the withdrawal this month, further convenience store plans at the site would require a new application to Sunderland City Council.

For more information on the withdrawn planning application, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 23/01108/FUL