Sunderland's Roker Park bandstand 'repairs and restoration works' plans submitted

Plans to repair and restore the Grade II-listed bandstand at Roker Park have been officially submitted to city development chiefs.

Sunderland City Council is seeking planning permission to refurbish the 144-year-old bandstand in Roker Park, which has been closed for years.

The structure was once the stunning Victorian centrepiece of the coastal park but has since fallen into a state of disrepair and was fenced off in summer 2021, with warning signs put in place.

At a council meeting in March, 2022, council bosses said work on the bandstand was due to be completed within 12 months, however the project has since been pushed back due to other park developments.

The local authority said delays were due to works on a new café in the park, which is now in operation, as well as other works to restore the park’s water features including a boating lake.

Regeneration works are part of a wider project to improve facilities at Roker Park, and a planning application was approved in early 2023 for amphitheatre seating near the bandstand with a view of making it the “beating heart of the park once again”.

At the time of writing, the bandstand is still closed to the public and surrounded by security fencing.

In recent weeks, Sunderland City Council submitted an application to its own planning department proposing “repairs and restoration works” to the bandstand.

Supporting planning documents submitted to council officials note parts of the structure suffer from corrosion and staining, as well as “signs of rot to the timbers around the [roof] perimeter”.

Proposed works include a range of roof and metalwork repairs, as well as the “full redecoration” of the structure’s central dome or ‘cupola’, with a view of opening the bandstand to the public.

Works also include “installing new tiles to cover the bandstand’s existing concrete floor”, which is described in a submitted heritage statement as “stark and inappropriate”.

The heritage statement adds proposed restoration and repair works would be “in line with good conservation techniques” and would “reinstate the bandstand to its intended use through the application of sensitive restorative design”.

According to its official Historic England listing, the bandstand structure dates from circa 1880 and is recognised for a range of features, including its “corniced base with panelled patterns”, “ornamental railings” and “central cupola raised on pearced iron band with iron cresting”.

A decision on the listed building consent application for the bandstand will be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website lists a decision deadline of July 23, 2024, for the plans.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/01011/LB3