Sunderland's Crown Works Studios development works to force council salt store relocation

Sunderland City Council has submitted an application to its own planning department for a site described as the 'Beach Street Council Depot' in the Deptford area.

The site was once used as a waste recycling centre before services moved to a new state-of-the-art Household Waste and Recycling Centre at Pallion Industrial Estate in 2022.

New council plans are seeking permission to change the use of the vacated Beach Street site to a salt store to help the local authority keep roads safe during the winter period.

Sunderland City Council's primary salt store is in Houghton which "manages most of the winter operations for the whole of the city", according to a transport statement submitted to council planners.

It was noted that an "additional salt store is required to provide strategic resilience in the east of the city, should snow fall prevent vehicle movements through Houghton cut".

The current salt store for the east of the city, at Shorts Quay, is "located within an industrial unit on the site of the proposed Crown Works Film Studios development that obtained planning permission in March, 2024", planning documents state.

However, the industrial unit needs to be vacated due to enabling and development works on the film and TV studios development, with Beach Street earmarked as the new location for the salt store.

Submitted plans describe the development as a "proposed salt heap" and noted it would be 10.4 metres in height.

Sunderland City Council is only applying for a temporary change of use for the Beach Street depot, for a "maximum of five years", to "accommodate" the salt store, along with "the erection of 2.4m high palisade fencing and gates."

The transport statement notes the replacement storage facility "needs to be provided at an alternative site and to provide a suitable replacement salt store in time for the 2025/26 salt ordering and winter maintenance operations".

To "ensure parking is regulated and enforced effectively", the council will "introduce a series of traffic regulations in the Deptford area in 2025 [to] prevent any indiscriminate parking that may cause access issues to the salt store".

Proposed traffic regulations cover parts of Beach Street, Farringdon Row and Hanover Place and mainly include new double yellow lines and a mix of 'pay by phone' and 'limited waiting' parking bays, with full details set out in council planning documents.

The transport statement adds: "To stock the initial salt heap, it is anticipated that there will be a maximum of 175 deliveries of salt during late summer months with a maximum total delivery volume of 7,000T of salt.

"These operations would be carried out during daytime hours over a two-week period.

"Following the initial delivery, when there is a requirement to use the east of the city operations during heavier snow fall, there is likely to be potential bursts of activity for 2-3 hours through the daytime and the same again through the evenings.

"Winter maintenance operations are provided by the council from October 1 through to March 31 each year.

"As a currently unoccupied site, no current traffic survey [data] is available, however it should be noted that transport operations, servicing and vehicle movements for the former public use of the site were significantly greater than that anticipated for the proposed salt store use."

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made following a council consultation exercise.

Sunderland City Council's planning portal website lists a decision deadline of August 4, 2025.

For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit the council's planning portal website and search reference: 25/01022/LP3