Sheepfolds demolitions planned

MORE buildings at a Sunderland industrial estate could be demolished.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for factory units in the Sheepfolds Industrial Estate area.

In recent months, several applications have been approved by the council to bulldoze buildings in the area.

This includes factory units and a former fish and chip shop, and buildings once linked to printing giant Edward Thompson.

Although ‘economy and health and safety’ were cited by the council as reasons for demolition in many cases, council planning documents last year also referenced wider regeneration plans for the Sheepfolds Industrial Estate.

This included proposals to “demolish and then redevelop the wider site at Sheepfolds, in accordance with the aspirations set out within the [council’s] Riverside Sunderland supplementary planning document”.

A report noted there had been a request for a screening opinion from the council for the “phased demolition, remediation and engineering works to create development platforms elsewhere at the Sheepfolds Industrial Estate”.

New plans submitted by Sunderland City Council this year aim to demolish building blocks, referred to as blocks 1B and 1C, which were once linked to the wider Edward Thompson factory site.

The building blocks, located on the north side of Richmond Street, include a single-storey factory unit comprised of workshops, offices, welfare facilities and storage areas.

A planning application from the city council states demolition is proposed on the grounds of “economy and health and safety”.

Demolition works are proposed to start later this month and to finish by March 15.