citybythesea
Winger
Shame the desire to build ambitious things like this in Sunderland never took off.
Is Sunderland a city of the future?
- Thread starter Kingdom Bhoy
- Start date
42
Striker
Don't forget the civic car park is being demolished, so it's a part replacement for that
It's all well & good shouting about over ambitious developments. But you also need to be careful to not end up with a massive (expensive) white elephant
Osklen
Winger
Viability?
Site ownership?
Isn’t this car park related to providing long stay car parking to support the station? Also we’ve lost c. 600 spaces through the demolition of the civic centre car park.
Sunderland central station to be transformed - Stunning plans unveiled as city council leads central station upgrade - Network Rail
Transformational plans to revamp Sunderland’s central train station are full steam ahead, with a £26m boost that will ‘give Sunderland the rail station it deserves’.
www.networkrail.co.uk
Helvellyn
Full Back
We have introduced many white elephant projects over the years in Sunderland, but our council seem to have captured the zeitgeist of the city. I will say they have made a miscalculation in the development of Seaburns footpaths in high summer, but overall they are performing well and to the beat of public consciousness.
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citybythesea
Winger
Viability?
Site ownership?
Isn’t this car park related to providing long stay car parking to support the station? Also we’ve lost c. 600 spaces through the demolition of the civic centre car park.
Sunderland central station to be transformed - Stunning plans unveiled as city council leads central station upgrade - Network Rail
Transformational plans to revamp Sunderland’s central train station are full steam ahead, with a £26m boost that will ‘give Sunderland the rail station it deserves’.
No one ever visited a city for a car park
Osklen
Winger
Not sure anyone is saying someone would visit a city for a car park or that this one has been designed for that purpose. I’d assume it’s been designed and delivered to replace the civic centre car park and/or to service the train station.
Pete the Pirate
Midfield
Saying that, the redevelopment of the seafront has been an overwhelming success.
Kingdom Bhoy
Striker
Very true.
Tin of Sardines, which made headlines when it opened the world’s smallest gin bar in Durham, is set to open a third site, on Sunderland’s seafront, with a landscaped outdoor terrace hanging over the iconic Roker Pier.
Boasting stunning panoramas of the pier and its two blue-flag beaches, the venue will stock over 200 varieties of gin and 50 mixers, as well as an array of locally produced snacks and meals.
Founded by father and son business partners Lord Trevor and Ben Davis, the pair opened the first ever Tin of Sardines venue on Durham’s historic Elvet Bridge in 2017, with the venue holding just 16 people and stocking hundreds of varieties of gin.
The concept proved such a success that the pair opened a second venue in Trevor’s hometown of Poole, a popular seaside town on England’s south coast, renovating a former newsagents and contributing to the conservation and restoration of the town’s famed shoreline.
Trevor and Ben – alongside business partner Bethany Jane Hardy – are now hoping their first foray into Sunderland with Tin of Sardines will follow in the success of their previous two sites and help contribute to the ongoing transformation of the city’s seaside.
The Davis Family, who hail from Sunderland and count a number of successful leisure venues among their portfolio, have signed a 10-year lease for the former Roker Toilet Block on Pier View – adjacent to the Bungalow Café – creating 12 jobs.
This follows a £250,000 investment from Sunderland City Council, assisted by grant funding courtesy of The Coastal Communities Fund, to ensure the premises was ready for a tenant to move into.
The income from the lease will also support the Sunderland Seafront Trust, which operates the Roker Pier and Lighthouse tours, and the new income will help it to organise a range of seafront events and activities.
Sunderland City Council has spent more than £10m on seafront regeneration and improvements over recent years, with award-winning environmental and street-scene enhancements helping attract developments such as Seaburn Stack, the Seaburn Inn and a host of new businesses to Marine Walk.
tunstallhill
Striker
i'm sometimes wish that SCC would be more active through a FB/Twitter feed - with the comments turned off of course
just a quick statement like - current car parking spaces in the town centre is X amount, with the closure of civic centre its down to X amount, with the addition of the new station car park at sinatras and the multi story up by gill bridge it will be increased to X amount.. this is to take the anticipated extra footfall in the city over the coming decade due to all of the developments going on.
simple and effective and would shut up 60% of the nonsense traffic on the echo comments sections
also, something on business rates like - 'SCC is dedicated to bringing private enterprise to the city, we currently have X amount of empty units in the city centre, we are campaigning to central government to allow us to reduce the business rates for new companies' or something like that.
and sell themselves more. it feels like you have to go looking for details of all of the new developments. they should be shouting about it from the rooftops
also plenty of events going on that they could be advertising.
Osklen
Winger
I guess it’s always the dilemma of as soon as you come out to address peoples thoughts ans comments it just raises more questions and where would it stop, but get your point.
In terms of events do they not advertise them? I’m on LinkedIn and The council / Sunderland Bid are never off it. Sure they must use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook…
Teed
Striker
Stunning plans.Viability?
Site ownership?
Isn’t this car park related to providing long stay car parking to support the station? Also we’ve lost c. 600 spaces through the demolition of the civic centre car park.
Sunderland central station to be transformed - Stunning plans unveiled as city council leads central station upgrade - Network Rail
Transformational plans to revamp Sunderland’s central train station are full steam ahead, with a £26m boost that will ‘give Sunderland the rail station it deserves’.
Helvellyn
Full Back
Without doubt, another feather in the cap. I wonder if Julie Elliot has brought forward a question to PMQ's asking if Boris Johnson agrees with her that Labour are delivering for the city; I suggest she does, she would make political capital whatever Johnson's answer.
citybythesea
Winger
Stunning plans.
It looks like the tesco at the wheatshealf
Guess we’ve had such a terrible station for so long now, theyre perhaps banking on anything being better than the current one
Just think holmeside is such a run down part of the city centre, a carpark isnt going create a catalyst for improving the appearance or vitality of the street. Its also an opportunity cost as another development site is used up. And people using it for the station are outward commuters.
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Osklen
Winger
But to have attractions you still need car parking so it needs to go somewhere? Unfortunately there is never a particularly good site for them. Ideally the car park would have sat on the software centre site to free up Holmeside. Other issue I guess is do you do nothing on a site and wait for something to come forward or get on with some form of development - I can imagine it being a dilemma.
I wonder if having a Car park linked to the station supports putting further routes from Sunderland?
brir
Striker
citybythesea
Winger
Mmm? It’s an unusual proposal given there’s a push to reduce traffic in city centres. Holmeside is essentially going to be a bottleneck given the bus gate they’re planning . The general flow of traffic around the centre is inhibited with bus lanes and one way systems.
I’ve No idea how influential a car park is on train services
Osklen
Winger
Me neither but most train stations have a dedicated long stay parking facility?
As for location it’s not ideal but then again if it is to serve the station not sure where else you could put it other than on top of the station or knock down the block to the south but presumably that would cost a considerable sum and difficult to construct.
As for parking generally, whilst I agree in an ideal world there would be a reduction in parking however in order to attract business, retail and leisure to the city centre there will still be a large reliance on cars and thus parking. The U.K. has spent the last 40 something years promoting the use of the car and haven’t invested in public transport meaning it will remain the predominant mode of transport for the foreseeable future.
citybythesea
Winger
Hopefully they’ve got the foresight to make the majority……if not all the parking spots with electrical charging points. There may be a logic in it afterall if they do this, as EV will be the predominant cars on the road in the next ten years
I don't really see why Sunderland Station needs long stay parking. Where are people exactly meant to be going? Commuting to Newcastle...? It's Durham that needs the parking not Sunderland. Any car park for Sunderland should be outside of Sunderland for people going into Sunderland imo.
Sunderland is a secondary feeder station*, it's lucky it's getting any money spent on it. It doesn't have any important services bar a 5 a day Grand Central service and never will neither as Newcastle and Darlington are the principal stations in the North East then Middlesbrough and Durham are the level below with Sunderland the level below again and that won't change regardless to as much jumping up and down Sunderland wants to do as it's in the wrong place.
*according to DFT.
