Sunderland City Council approves plans for housing association ‘community hub’

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has approved an application from Home Group for a property in the city’s Barnes ward.

Home Group has a large number of properties across the city and new plans, submitted earlier this year, aimed to change the use of 103 Portland Road into an office use.

A design and access statement submitted with the plans outlined Home Group’s existing operations across Sunderland, including responsibility for more than 1,500 rented properties, a specialist mental health service and a newly-created STEP service, which supports those with complex needs to live independently.

It was noted that the closest commercial Home Group office is at a site in County Durham, around 15 miles from Sunderland.

New plans aimed to create a Sunderland “community hub” with new offices allowing Home Group staff to be “closer to communities” while “providing a space within the city to manage our general needs, customers’ properties, and also our supported customers”.

Those behind the scheme said there was a “large demand” for Home Group’s STEP service within the city, with “25 units dedicated to providing support in the community”.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on July 24, 2024.

As part of the planning permission, the new office use was only granted for a “limited period of two years”.

Planning conditions noted that before the expiry of this period, the office use must be “discontinued and the premises reinstated to their former condition, unless the permission is renewed”.

Council planners, in the decision notice, said this temporary planning permission complied with planning policies and aimed to “review the situation in the light of experience”.

Another planning condition added the development can’t be occupied until “details of the car parking arrangement, which will serve the office use, have been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority”.

The previous design and access statement from the applicant confirmed Home Group intend to use the property as a “base for our housing managers and our STEP services”.

Planning documents noted that Home Group has four housing managers and around seven “supported colleagues” who will use the space to “drop in and work from whilst they are visiting their customers’ patch”.

While staff would still use Durham offices for “dedicated office days”, Home Group said the Sunderland community hub would have a number of benefits, including “the proximity to customers and the ability to deal with issues quickly”, as well as staff being “visible in the community”.

The application has previously been welcomed by Barnes ward councillor Antony Mullen, who left a comment on the council’s planning portal website earlier this year.

Cllr Mullen said Home Group “lacks a presence on Plains Farm” since it closed its office several years ago and that there had been issues around “land maintenance” and communication since.

The Barnes councillor added: “The plans to return an office to the estate will help to tackle a lot of these problems and improve the estate as a whole.”

For more information on the plans and council decision, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/00811/FUL