Victoria Viaduct: Network Rail's crackdown on trespassers and vandals wins approval after death warning

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has approved an application for the Grade II*-listed Victoria Viaduct, which crosses the River Wear between Fatfield and Penshaw.

The structure, originally known as the Victoria Bridge, was completed in 1838 as part of the Durham Junction Railway and has a 120ft drop at its highest point to the river below.

No train has crossed the structure since the early 1990s and it has been mothballed ever since, with the viaduct track removed, steel gates erected at each end and access only allowed for essential inspections and maintenance work.

In recent years, there have been reports of vandalism at the viaduct with rail management organisation Network Rail, which has responsibility for the structure, warning trespassers to stay away and noting the potential “fatal consequences”.

Plans approved by city councillors back in November, 2022, aimed to replace existing palisade fencing with “anti-trespass fencing”, to improve security at the site and to try and resolve issues of “trespassing onto the bridge by foot and motor/quad bikes and associated vandalism and anti-social behaviour.”

New plans from Network Rail submitted earlier this year (2025) sought council permission to remove and replace the existing “trespass prevention measures” and to improve security at the structure.

This included removing “palisade and mesh fencing, secured palisade gate, concrete barriers and Cheval de Frise” and installing “new bollards, revised 2m high steel fencing, anti-trespass fins and the addition of anti-climb paint to existing handrails”.

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The arrangement was also expected to be duplicated at “both the east and west ends of the viaduct to prevent access to the structure.”

A design, access and heritage statement submitted with the plans said there had been “recent instances of vandalism to the structure and also access with quad bikes which has precipitated the need to review and revise the measures on the structure”.

It was noted that the “prevention of access to the structure is considered critical not just for the preservation of the structure itself, but also for the safety of those attempting to access it, given the low parapets and height above the valley floor below”.

Network Rail added that conserving the structure was important as a “designated heritage asset”, a “quintessential example of 19th century British railway engineering” and “a touchstone for exploring the area’s local history”, with the viaduct described as an “integral feature within the James Steel Park, and wider symbol of the area and town of Washington”.

Those behind the scheme said the replacement anti-trespass measures “would improve the appearance of the deterrence measures by making them seemlier and less of an eyesore to the many people who frequent the park.”

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on May 14, 2025.

Council planners, in a decision report, said the proposal essentially “replicates” the previous planning permission for the site for replacement fencing, but with the “addition of bollards in front of the fencing”.

The council report said that the “application is a balance between minimising the visual impact of the security measures on the listed building whilst resolving the evident problems of trespassing onto the bridge by foot, associated vandalism and anti-social behaviour”.

It was noted that “the works replace existing measures that have been previously approved and it was considered that the public benefitwould outweigh the harm to the listed building and as such would be acceptable in principle”.

The current site’s concrete blocks and palisade fencing were described as “visually intrusive and particularly unsightly as a result of their uncoordinated installation, damaged and vandalised appearance and ad-hoc approach to repairs”.

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Although it was noted that the proposed fencing would “inevitably have some negative effect upon the views along the bridge on the upper level along the railway line” it was noted the proposals would improve the visual appearance of the existing site and security measures.

The council’s conservation team also commented that the proposals would “result in minimal harm” to the “significance” of the Victoria Viaduct, and that the benefits of public safety would “outweigh the harm.”

Previous planning documents from Network Rail stated the preservation of the viaduct was important in the context of “local aspirations” to “bring the Leamside railway line back into operation”, which could see the viaduct “come back into use” in the future.

The heritage statement argued the plans would “deliver a more harmonious and secure replacement” of the current security measures, both “protecting the Grade II*-listed viaduct from trespass and vandalism, all whilst more suitably complementing the asset’s historical, evidential, aesthetic, and communal values.”

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The Victoria Viaduct sits within the Washington East ward and the applicant for the new security measures is listed as Network Rail Infrastructure Limited.

The viaduct was previously the focal point for the campaign to restore the Leamside Line, which ran between Ferryhill and Gateshead, to its former use.

It is more than 30 years since it carried freight and no passenger train has used it since 1964 after the “Beeching Axe”.

Supporters of reviving the line have previously said the Leamside Line could improve rail links on Wearside, by bringing the Metro to Washington and Houghton.

Under planning conditions, new security measures at the Victoria Viaduct must be brought forward within three years.

For more information on the plan, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/00377/LBC