£400,000 plans for Sunderland's Jacky Whites Market 'have been developed' - but council chiefs remain tight-lipped on details

Spending plans for 2020/21 have allocated up to £400,000 to overhaul the shopping space.

But despite requests, Sunderland City Council chiefs have refused to be drawn on what shape the proposals could take.

“On Jacky Whites Market, these plans have been developed, The Bridges are involved and these plans will be taken forward, said Jon Ritchie, the city council’s executive director of corporate services, when asked.

Ritchie was speaking at last week’s meeting of the council’s Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee, where he took questions on budget proposals.

According to spending plans, refurbishment of the market will ‘improve the physical fabric and viability of the market and provide an enhanced provision for traders and visitors’, but offers no further detail.

The market, which is located in the Bridges Shopping Centre, is run by the council.