Statement from the city council

The council has been in a lengthy dialogue with Washington United for several years about pitch provision.

The dialogue is continuing as the council is now progressingwiththeSunderlandParklife programme, subject to funding from the Football Foundation (FF).

The Parklife Programme scheme is about securing major new investment and upgraded facilities for all local and grass roots players with the assistance of the foundation.

The council on its own does not have the funding for large investments in grass roots football and is working closely with the foundation to secure development and funding.

Planning applications have been submitted for three football hubs at Ford Quarry, Downhill and Northern Area playing fields, Washington. These applications will be considered on their merits and in line with local and national policies.

Subject to planning approval and funding, the Hub site in Washington would enhance all football facilities and opportunities within Washington. It would look to replace some natural turf pitches with artificial turf pitches, and be open for use seven days a week from 10am until 10pm.

No decisions have been made on the future of the southern area playing fields at this time.

Following Government and national guidelines to identify possible future development sites, the council began consultation for drafting the city’s Core Strategy and Development Plan.

This closed in October and the council received several thousand representations and comments.

It was one of the biggest consultation exercises ever completed by the council and more than 6,000 representations were received.

The council is very grateful to everyone who took part and, as was said when the consultation got underway, the whole exercise was about gathering and gauging views and opinions on future economic growth and housing development.

Nothing was definite, nothing was set in stone, and responses from individuals, groups and businesses, are being reviewed and taken into consideration.

It’s anticipated that more details on the next draft of the strategy will be publicly available in the early summer.