Sunderland city centre apartments plan refused for beauty academy building

Earlier this year, Sunderland City Council’s planning department received an application for the Bella Marie Training Academy at Borough Road in the Hendon ward.

The academy is reassuring clients it is still trading from the building after the planning application was submitted for its premises.

Proposals for the building included change of use and conversion of the its ground floor to four apartments.

Each apartment was proposed to have a kitchen/living room, a showerroom and a double bedroom, as well as a communal bin store accessed internally.

As part of the scheme, external alterations were proposed for window works and changing the entrance doorways to Borough Road and Tatham Street to windows.

The application from Sterling Property Assets Limited also indicated that the apartments would be for market housing.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department refused the planning bid on November 9,2022.

Council planners, in a decision report, listed several issues with the proposals including the ground floor apartments providing a “sub-standard level of accommodation and amenity” and a “sub-standard level of outlook, privacy and space”.

Other issues included “inadequate provision” for bin storage, no provision for cycle storage, heritage concerns and the lack of a noise assessment linked to the proposals.

A council decision report adds: “Although residential accommodation in this location is acceptable in principle, the proposal represents the overdevelopment of the site.

“There is no provision for the storage of cycles contrary to sustainable travel aims [and] inadequate facilities for the storage of refuse within the curtilage of the site, that will inevitably lead to the storage of refuse bins within the highway, which is not acceptable from a highway safety or a visual amenity point of view.

“The quality of the accommodation to be provided is inadequate in terms of the internal space available to the potential residents and the poor outlook and privacy levels offered by the only windows to the apartments, and no information regarding the impact of noise has been submitted.

“Additionally, insufficient information has been provided to ensure that heritage assets will be conserved and enhanced.

“The proposal is therefore considered to be unacceptable.”

The building is classed as a ‘non-designated heritage asset’ and sits adjacent to the boundary of, and a gateway into, the Sunniside Conservation Area.

According to planning documents, the property was “originally used as an auctioneer’s rooms and later, in the Depression, as the employment exchange”.

In terms of heritage significance, it is seen to have “significant group value along with a number of other red brick buildings around the junction”, as some fall within the conservation area.

Council planners, in a decision report, also noted that windows were “key features that define the building’s character” and that no heritage statement had been submitted detailing replacement windows and other external works.

The applicant has the right to challenge the council’s refusal decision by lodging an appeal with the Secretary of State.

For more information on the apartment plans and council ruling, visit Sunderland City Council’s online planning portal and search reference: 22/02065/FUL