‘Sketchy’ city plans refused
“Sketchy” plans for a storage facility on the former site of the Southwick Social Club have been refused.
If approved, the site on the corner of Church Bank and Sunderland Road, which has already been flattened following the demolition of the club, would have been fenced off and had 48 parking spaces and a “single Portacabin” installed.
However, meeting on Tuesday, members of the North Sunderland Development Control Sub-Committee agreed with planning officers’ recommendation to refuse the application.
Concerns raised included impact on traffic and the “character and amenity of the locality”.
Principal planning officer Andrew Browning told the panel: “The [planning] department has tried to seek further information form the applicant, but they have been sketchy about what they have in mind.
“It could be a car storage facility or car showroom, but they’ve just proposed a storage facility.
“The information they’ve given gives to another concern, which is how cars would move around the site.”
Southwick Social Club, across Church Bank from the Grade-II listed Holy Trinity Church, was demolished in 2017 after falling into disrepair.
A similar application for the land was submitted last year, but withdrawn on January 17.
This was the day after planning officers used a meeting with the applicant, named in documents as Tony Mordew, to raise concerns over the “appropriateness of the land use and the fact that no indication was offered as to type/nature of storage proposed”.