Paddy O'Dors
Striker
In fairness I’m not sure the council could have bought the site before 2011 as an agreement in principal was only reached in 2010, however most of the funding I believe came from One North East and Homes & Communities Agency anyway.
Sunderland City Council buys former Vaux brewery site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wear-12577135
That is not to say that the council chose not to acquire the site in the 1998/98 when it closed and we’re happy for Tesco or someone else to development the site at that time. if that was the case then that is the labour council of that times fault. After that then they are always playing catch up but it is not the same labour council now as then. Equally would the other parties at the time acquired it? Who knows?
But you are right it’s time for people to move on from that and look to what is now being delivered.
The council had a 15 year plan/development plan that they were required by law to have back in the early 2000's. The sudden availability of a lot of prime land in the centre of Sunderland threw a bit of a spanner in that tbf.