Sunderland City Council has been asked for a “scoping opinion” to help inform a planning application for a huge housing development in the Washington area.
Scoping opinions are sought from local planning authorities to establish which technical matters should be “scoped in” to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) prior to the submission of a detailed planning application.
EIA documents aim to look at the potential environmental effects from proposed developments and can also look at the cumulative effects of developments, when considered in the context of other proposals.
Applicant Miller Homes has applied for a scoping opinion for a “residential development of approximately 485 residential homes” at “land east of Sulgrave Road” in Washington.
The housing developer has requested an “EIA scoping opinion to determine the scope of the environmental statement” for the future housing development.
Documents submitted to Sunderland City Council’s planning department, and published on the council’s planning portal website, set out further details of the development, named in planning documents as “Washington Meadows”.
It was noted that “it has been determined by the applicant that the proposed development should be subject to EIA to ensure that any likely significant effects can be identified, and mitigation and monitoring measures specified as required”.
The scoping opinion documents aim to “assist the council and consultees in forming an EIA scoping opinion”.
It was noted that the site includes 39.4 hectares of agricultural land and is bound to the west by “safeguarded disused railway alignment” the Leamside Line and also sits near The Severn Houses Nature Reserve and Bramston Pond LWS [local wildlife site] and Local Nature Reserve.
Developers noted a future planning application for the site would seek “hybrid planning consent for approximately 485 residential homes” with the “first phase applied for in detail” and that a “mix of housing types will be provided including terrace, semi-detached and detached properties with two to five bedrooms”.
Primary vehicular access and pedestrian access to the site is expected to be taken from “the A1290 to the south, routing north through the site via a central road to access housing to the east and west on secondary internal roads” and a “pedestrian and cycle access is also proposed to the west
of the site from Sulgrave Road, connecting via a footpath across the site to the A1290.”
It was also noted that “the layout of the proposed development would avoid built development in the north-east corner of the site (within Flood Zone 3), and an attenuation-based sustainable srainage system (‘SuDS’) is proposed with basins in the north, centre and south of the site”.
In addition, “green infrastructure is expected to provide public open space and additional landscaping around these basins” with the site’s boundaries “landscaped with a green edge and existing boundary hedgerow and trees retained”.
The environmental impact assessment scoping report, submitted on behalf of Miller Homes, adds that construction could “commence in 2027 subject to planning approval” and that “for the purposes of scoping, it is assumed that 75 dwellings will be constructed per year over a seven year construction period”.
The supporting document lists areas that should be “scoped in” to the environmental impact assessment as landscape and views, ecology and biodiversity, traffic and transport, water environment, socio-economics , noise and vibration, air quality and climate change.
Potential mitigation measures listed in the report include “an open space area located at the north of the site, as well as the retention of some boundary vegetation and tree corridors within the site”, measures to reduce ecological impacts during construction and to promote biodiversity, and measures to reduce noise and vibration, including “considering filtered mechanical ventilation systems for the most exposed homes”, although final details would be proposed in a future full planning application.
The environmental impact assessment scoping report notes “the site is the only location identified for the proposed development as Miller Homes is in
full control of the land within the site” and that developers aim to contribute to meeting Sunderland City Council’s “housing need” with “consideration to the site’s prior identification within the draft A&D [allocations and designations] plan as safeguarded land”.
It adds that “the applicant has not given, and will not be giving, consideration as part of the EIA to other sites for the development at a similar scale.”
A decision on the EIA scoping opinion linked to the proposed housing development will be made in coming weeks following a council consultation.
