Planners rule on controversial Sunderland self-storage development with more than 100 public objections
Plans for a large self-storage hire development on Wearside which faced more than 100 public objections have been rejected.
Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee considered an application for land off Ferryboat Lane in the city’s Castle ward in the North Hylton area at its latest meeting.
Applicant O’Brien Container and Storage (Holdings) Ltd was seeking permission “for the storage of containers relating to self-storage hire, including associated access, landscaping and boundary enclosures.”
Supporting planning documents noted “the end users are members of the public using the containers for private or business storage purposes only” and the site would “make provision for 170 standard 20ft containers.”
During a council consultation on the development, there were 105 objections from members of the public.
Concerns ranged from impacts on residential amenity and wildlife impacts, to highway safety, heritage impacts on Hylton Castle, landscape impacts and more.
Councillor Denny Wilson, Castle ward representative, also noted the number of existing self-storage facilities in the ward and described the proposed scheme as “overdevelopment.”
Councillors at the latest meeting of the city council’s planning and highways committee (on Monday, November 24) voted to refuse the application, in line with recommendations from local authority officers.
Cllr Andrew Wood highlighted how Ferryboat Lane is a “heavy traffic route” and the site would have “a small entrance way into what would be a very large development” located opposite residents.
Meanwhile Cllr Stephen Foster added the road “is so tight” and he doesn’t think the site is “built for this project.”
The report from planning officers noted the “development is unacceptable in principle given that it represents the operation of an employment use outside a designated employment area and will be detrimental to open space provision”.
In total there were six reasons for refusal outlined in the document, with other reasons including “potential impacts upon wildlife and the management of proposed landscaping” and crime concerns.
Another was that the development “would create a road safety issue and increase the severity of injury should a vehicle or vehicles be involved in a collision at this location.”
A representative on behalf of the applicant, speaking at the meeting, said they have “worked hard to address concerns raised” by the council and argued the refusal reasons “look to have been recycled” from a previous scheme.
He said: “We consider some of these reasons to be insufficiently justified and points that with further discussion could potentially be resolved.
“We would ask members to consider the benefits of the scheme in this context and give serious thought to whether they feel they could support the proposal.”
Similar plans for a self-storage development on the site were previously proposed but withdrawn by developers in March, 2025.
Council planners had recommended the scheme for refusal after raising concerns about noise, impacts on wildlife, the loss of open space and traffic impacts.
A planning and design and access statement submitted with the new plans for the site said the resubmission “represents a sensible and proportionate response to the comments provided to the previous application for the change of use of this site”.
This included reducing the number of containers on site from “200 to 170 [to] offer a site with greater room for vehicle manoeuvring.”
Those behind the self-storage scheme noted the site had been designed so “customers can let themselves in and out as necessary” and it would be “managed by staff on the adjacent Tenon House site as this proposal represents an extension of that successful commercial operation.”
The applicant’s planning, design and access statement added: “On average, workers who have storage on site for business purposes visit 2-3 times per week; domestic customers on average visit once every 3 months after loading.
“This places in some context any previous highways concern regarding the level of use that will be generated by this new access on Ferryboat Lane, as this will clearly be limited in terms of numbers and is likely to be spread out across the opening hours.”
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