£17million-plus bid to transform eyesore Sunderland station to go to Government

A bid for £12.6million of funding towards the cost of a new £14million railway station concourse, and £4.5million towards the cost of a £5million car park to serve it, have been confirmed for inclusion in the region's bid for Department for Transport Transforming Cities Funding.

The decision was taken by the North East Joint Transport Committee at its meeting this afternoon in South Shields Town Hall.

Sunderland City Council leader Coun Graeme Miller said: “I'm delighted  our plans have been included as part of this ambitious £377million regional bid to transform the way people travel around the North East. 

“We have been working closely with our partners Nexus and Network Rail for some time to realise this long-held ambition and this is an important milestone in the process.

“A new station concourse providing Sunderland with the kind of transport gateway it deserves, is an important part of the transformation plans for the city centre which will see £0.5billion of investment ploughed into the area by 2030.

“The council’s own investment – which will see regeneration and acquisitions across the city centre – will spearhead change. It will drive a transformation that will make our city centre a place to be proud of with more people working and visiting it, and more and better homes, with new housing on the former Vaux Brewery site and in the long-term on the Civic Centre site. 

“Alongside a new railway station on the current site with a new car park to serve it, we will also see better connectivity in the form of improved road links and a new footbridge across the river connecting the stadium with the city centre, new leisure developments and a stronger daytime and night economy."

The car park would be built on vacant land at the bottom of Holmeside and, depending on the level of funds allocated, could take the form of a surface car park, or a 160-space multi-storey with retail at ground level.

A final funding announcement expected next year, with those schemes which are approved being delivered between 2020 and 2023.