Home Bargains £10m store bid
Plans for a multi-million pound Home Bargains store in Sunderland creating dozens of new jobs have officially been submitted to city development chiefs.
Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for land to the south of Leechmere Road in the Grangetown area.
Plans for the site, which sits near an existing Asda superstore, include the demolition of a “reservoir structure” which once served a nearby paper mill and landscaping to makewayforahugeretailunit.
The £10million development, first revealed by Fintry Estates and Hargreaves Land in 2022, includes a Home Bargains store with 2,804 sqm gross floorspace and new access arrangements.
Those behind the scheme have said it will regenerate the former industrial site that has beenvacantformanyyearsand blighted by fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
According to planning documents submitted to the city council in January 2023, the proposals are expected to create around 60 full-time equivalent jobs and other “spin-off
employment”. This includes local businesses and others in the supply chain, and construction employment.
A planning and retail statement submitted to council officials notes the plans would provide 162 parking spaces (including10accessiblespaces andaround10parentandchild spaces), as well as pedestrian links, cycle parking and electric vehicle chargers.
It was also confirmed that developers had looked at other potential sites for the Home Bargains store in the Grangetown and Ryhope areas but ruled them out as they were unsuitable.
This was because of issues relating to “size, location and existing and proposed uses”.
The planning and retail statement added: “The proposed development would regenerate a previously developed and vacant site, which is overgrown and has been subject to anti-social behaviour.
“It would also generate a range of other economic and sustainability benefits, by creatingnewemploymentopportunities and enhancing the range of retail provision for residents”.
Developers, in a design and access statement, added a service yard has been positioned to the rear of the proposed Home Bargains store, to help “minimise the impact” on neighbours and to “ensure that it does not dominate the development”.