(10 Mar 2024, 8:13 pm)Storx wrote See, any plans with housing I could imagine being completely toxic considering all the fields near the railway line are green belt which never goes well.
Even known it's only 2.5 mile, if that's going to a take a large chunk of the budget for no benefits it won't be going anywhere. £700m is a lot of money being spent for 2 stations at East Washington, as it's completely useless for the Galleries or anywhere west of the A182.
If I'm right, the feasibility study hasn't been done yet and it'll be interesting to see the results as I have a feeling it won't be too positive.
If we're really being ambitious, I'd rather see the line extended down to Rainton/Hetton with a new town built between Fenceshouses, the Raintons and Hetton. It's not exactly the most difficult, with proper planning - which won't happen as it's England.
They're not, though.
In the case of Washington Meadows specifically, this was removed from the green belt and added to the list of safeguarded land under Sunderland's Core Strategy and Development Plan 2015-2033. See here. Policy SS3 covers safeguarded land, pg38-42 specifically the area I'm writing about. You can also see a report on the land: see here.
There's a further PDF that I've seen (which I can't find in the public domain, so won't share), and that lists a more formal plan for the site. I'll try and get an update on it, but the consultation was only last year and no planning application has been submitted yet.
It's also worth pointing out that since closure, there's been housing built right along the line. (Most of) Sulgrave, Barmston, Teal Farm and (most of) Fatfield, didn't exist.
"Even known it's only 2.5 mile, if that's going to a take a large chunk of the budget for no benefits it won't be going anywhere." - I'm not sure that I understand this point? It's a railway, not a bus. It doesn't have to stop every 500 yards.
I'm not suggesting this will go ahead by the way, I just know there's been a lot of people who have spent a lot of time on the project, so to even get the Govt to put money into this study is a big step forward.