Dental practice is refused permission to expand site
Plans to boost facilities at a Sunderland dental practice have been refused by council development chiefs over design, parking and highway safety concerns.
Fulwell Dental practice at 162 Fulwell Road applied for planning permission to build a two-storey extension into a rear yard area to make way for new facilities.
Original plans included a new ‘consulting room’, disabled toilet, a new waiting area and a meeting room on the ground floor, as well as a new staff area, waiting area and office space on the first floor.
However amended plans proposed a ground-floor garage
space, a small porch projecting into the space to the sideoftheextensionandanadditional office, meeting room and store on the first floor.
The applicant was listed in planning documents as Lynwood Healthcare Ltd with the number of employees on site expected to remain the same.
During consultation on the plans, however, one objection was submitted raising concerns about existing parking issues in the area being “exacerbated” by the development.
Sunderland City Council transportation officers shared a similar view and said theschemewouldreduceparking and “intensify” traffic associated with the site, creating “furtheroverspillontothesurrounding streets which have parking restrictions in place”.
It was also noted that the developmentwould“preclude the future use” of part of the rear yard for parking, with the development“consideredtoinvolvethelossoftwocarparking spaces”.
After considering the planningapplicationandassessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department refused it on February 15, 2023.
One reason for refusal, set out in a council decision report, included the “attraction of vehicles to the site without adequate off-street parking, leading to traffic congestion within the vicinity of the site, to the detriment of highway and pedestrian safety”.
Other refusal reasons focused on the “height, massing and positioning” of the two-storey extension, with council planners stating the developmentwouldintroduce an “overdominant and obtrusive element into the street scene”.
According to the Fulwell Dental website, the practice offers NHS care, with the exceptions of orthodontics and sedation, as well as emergency and out-of-hours care.