Washington: Councillors urged to give plans for new flats and bungalows hit by legal wrangle another chance

Back in October, 2022, Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee approved plans for land west of Moorway and south of Havannah Road, near the A182 Washington Highway.

This included the construction of a ‘T-shaped’ three-storey building providing 84 extra care apartments and 13 bungalows, along with ancillary support services, parking, drainage and landscaping.

Plans were previously submitted by applicant Esh Construction Limited and Gladglider Projects Limited, and were expected to be operated by a registered social landlord and aimed at older people, with on-site care and support.

Applicants had hoped to start work on the site in summer, 2023, subject to a legal agreement being completed and other planning conditions, however no building works have taken place, with the site remaining overgrown and partially covered by woodland.

A report presented to council decision-makers earlier this year (2025) said the previous legal agreement aimed to secure some affordable housing, along with the submission and approval of a detailed landscaping plan and a condition for “localised highway improvements”, to make the extra care scheme acceptable.

At a meeting on March 3, 2025, councillors on Sunderland’s Planning and Highways Committee were asked to approve the application again on the condition that the legal agreement was completed by a deadline, along with the submission of updated ecology reports.

Council planning officers confirmed the affordable housing contribution could “only be sought from the proposed bungalows” and “not the extra care accommodation”, due to a difference in planning classes.

Councillors agreed an initial deadline for the legal agreement to be “satisfactorily completed” by April 25, 2025, with the threat of the housing scheme being refused if this deadline was not met.

However, the stalled planning application was tabled again at a Planning and Highways Committee on March 31, 2025, with councillors agreeing to extend this deadline to June 6, 2025, to get the plans moving.

Councillors were told that the proposed deadline extension was linked to “quite a few landowners” who needed to agree to the legal agreement and that Sunderland City Council planners were still comfortable to recommend the housing plans for approval.

A new report published ahead of a decision-making Planning and Highways Committee next week is again recommending that councillors extend the deadline for the completion of the legal agreement.

The council meeting is scheduled for June 9, 2025, which falls after the deadline previously agreed, and will see the planning application discussed at a public planning meeting for a fourth time.

Councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee will be asked to approve a new extended deadline for the completion of the legal agreement of July 25, 2025.

A report prepared for councillors states: “There has been some progress drafting the legal agreement and the applicant has recently submitted an updated ecology survey.

“More time will, however, be required to complete these outstanding matters than the previously suggested deadline of June 6, 2025.

“Officers would therefore recommend that the deadline be extended until July 25, 2025.

“Officers have also been made aware that up to 100 per cent of the proposed bungalows may be affordable, secured via a legal agreement under the Town and Country Planning Acts.”

The amended recommendation includes a legal agreement listing “the provision of affordable housing (up to 100 per cent of the proposed bungalows), a detailed landscape plan for the land to the south (including maintenance schedule) and a mechanism for the maintenance thereafter (potentially a financial contribution)”.

The legal agreement also includes the “submission of updated ecology reports, to the satisfaction of officers” and planning conditions, and if points are not “satisfactorily completed” by the new deadline the scheme would be refused, planning documents state.

Legal agreements are a standard process used by council planning departments to secure financial contributions from developers, with cash earmarked to improve infrastructure and local facilities, as well as reducing impacts of new homes on local nature sites.

A similar approach of issuing deadlines for legal agreements has been used for other delayed developments on Wearside to help move progress, including housing plans for The Cavalier pub site in Silksworth which led to a positive outcome.

However, the approach can also see plans blocked, with recent plans for bedsits on Chester Road refused by council planners after the applicant failed to make a financial contribution towards the council’s “coastal mitigation strategy” by a set deadline.

The extra care and bungalow plans in Washington were initially given the stamp of approval at a meeting of Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee on October 31, 2022.

This included apartments set amongst communal landscaped gardens and an on-site social hub featuring a bistro-style café and a well-being and hair salon, helping to create a sense of community and combat social isolation.

Sunderland city councillors will discuss the planning application again at next week’s Planning and Highways Committee on June 9, 2025, at City Hall.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5.30pm and will be open to the public.