This is an epic development, so we’d better get it right

Sunderland councillors have approved plans to build 950 homes in the south of the city. Let’s hope they’ve got this right. The development includes shops, a primary school, medical centre, sporting facilities and more. They aren’t messing about and it’s big business. The development plan mentions 3,000 new homes in total. If the homes are worth an average of £200,000 a pop, a figure scientifically produced from the top of my head, that’s £600 million worth of housing.

The idea has been muted for some time. The every-bit-as-dullas-it-sounds, 82-page “infrastructure delivery study” was published in January 2016.

It refers to land “currently in the ownership of the Homes and

Communities Agency”, which was actually replaced by Homes England three years ago. It also refers to three sites totalling 227 hectares – about 300 football pitches to use the proper unit of measurement. First up will be homes on fields on the north side of Burdon Lane. The news hasn’t been universally well received and it will be interesting to hear what ecologists have to say. Maybe they won’t mind.

Ryhope and Doxford Park will come considerably closer to being the same place, while swathes of greenery and open space will disappear forever.

However, there is a cogent economic case for new housing. Jobs will be created and the homes are expected to sell. Major schemes such as this are presumably not undertaken on a whim and its feasibility has been extensively studied.

It would seem preferable for new homes to be built in Sunderland’s not inconsiderable brownfield sites, especially if this injected new economic life into the city centre.

Who wouldn’t prefer Holmeside, for example, to be a smart residential street than to remain in its present state? But it isn’t that easy. Brownfield sites have to be cleared, or existing buildings utilised. This is more difficult and expensive. Existing homeowners or businesses might object. There is less space for gardens and buying land can be a legal and financial nightmare. Putting it simply, it’s much easier and cheaper to start from scratch. Considering the sheer scale of the plans for Burdon Lane, Cherry Knowle, Chapelgarth and South Ryhope, they’ve a relatively low profile up to now.

Far be it from me to take sides, but we should all be watching this with great interest.