Seaside dog wash station is approved

SUNDERLAND’S seafront is set to get a ‘self-service’ dog wash station after city development chiefs gave the plans the thumbs up.

The planning department of Sunderland City Council has said yes to a planning application for land near the Marine Walk council car park in Roker.

NE Dog Wash, who put forward the plans earlier this year, want to install a dog wash facility with service connections including power, water and waste.

The company already runs similar stations in Blyth, Whitley Bay and several country parks.

These stations offer cycles including shampoo, rinse, conditioner, ‘further rinse’ and warm blow dry. According to the NE Dog Wash website, the stations also have a quick ‘disinfect tub’ mode which is used to prepare the station for the next user.

Plans were recently approved for a dog wash station at the Harbour Drive South Car Park in South Shields.

The applicants said a new facility in Sunderland would “encourage more and longer visits” and “raise the status of adjacent attractions and facilities”.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on March 27, 2024.

A council decision report noted the plans would “enhance the quality of tourism for the public to the area whilst only using a small area of open space”.

It was also noted that the unit could be removed “if no longer required” and “as such it is not considered that the loss of open space is significant in this instance and the benefit outweighs the small loss of the space”.

Elsewhere, there were no objections from the council’s ecology team and no issues raised around design or negative impacts on residential amenity and the local conservation area.