Brewery site saga takes a new twist
Sep 23 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
THE ROW over Sunderland’s derelict Vaux brewery site took another twist yesterday when supermarket giant Tesco announced a bid for a contract to develop the land it already owns.
Regeneration company Sunderland arc wants to buy the eyesore city centre site from Tesco, which bought the land from the brewery in 2001 after it closed down.
It has been empty since then, with Tesco and arc chiefs submitting rival plans for the site in a row which seemed to be near an end last month when the chain became involved with plans for another site on the other side of the River Wear.
The Government last year backed the arc’s plans for the site, which aims to create more than 3,000 jobs through new offices, homes, a hotel, and potentially new law courts. A planning inspector also ruled that there should be no large-scale retail development on the land for years to come.
The arc will tomorrow formally launch its search for a developer to take on the project, with development agency One NorthEast prepared to force through a Tesco sale if negotiations fail. But Tesco chiefs yesterday attempted to throw a spanner in the works by announcing that they would put a bid forward to the arc to be its “development partner” for the site.
Michael Kissman, corporate affairs manager for Tesco, said: “We own the Vaux site and are the only developer in a position to deliver the scheme. Tesco has always said it will work with Sunderland arc and we have already undertaken a significant amount of work on developing a viable scheme.
“No other developer can match our knowledge and experience of the site, and as we own it we are also the only company that can implement the project.
“Tesco is committed to making a significant investment into Sunderland and to the regeneration of the Vaux site. We look forward to working with Sunderland arc to deliver this important project for the city.”
David Walker, chief executive, Sunderland arc, said: “Tesco has owned the Vaux site for six years and there is still no prospect of them building a store on the land given current Government policy and the planning framework for the city.
“To our knowledge Tesco schemes elsewhere in the country are always underpinned by a large scale supermarket and so any such proposal for the Vaux site would not be acceptable.”
Mr Walker said the planning application for the Sunderland Retail Park, for which Tesco has been named the ‘preferred operator’ would be “much more appropriate”.
He added: “What Sunderland arc and its founder members of Sunderland City Council, One NorthEast and English Partnerships are seeking to do on Vaux is to maximise the regenerative impact of the site.
“In support of this we are in the process of approaching developers to deliver a high quality, employment-led scheme that will create thousands of jobs and transform the economics of the city centre.”
