£1m funding bid made for Sunderland seafront

Jun 30 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

A BID is to be made for £1m in funding to kick-start the regeneration of Sunderland’s seafront.

If successful, Sunderland City Council will add another £500,000 for the heritage-led regeneration of Roker’s Marine Walk, which includes the listed pier and lighthouse.

The seafront, which includes the resorts of Roker and Seaburn, is classed by the city council as being of key importance as a recreational, cultural, environmental, commercial and historic resource.

But a council study says the seafront is generally perceived as an area of unfulfilled potential in all of these respects. A community survey showed the seafront is the most frequently visited and most important green space in Sunderland with 94% of respondents considering it to be very or fairly important to their quality of life.

But the survey also revealed the seafront is considered to be one of the city’s green spaces most in need of improvement.

A Seafront Project Group, set up to prepare and steer regeneration proposals, has carried out a public consultation which sparked a high response rate with 2,455 people completing a consultation form and almost 200 participating in workshops.

But the council says the regeneration of Roker and Seaburn does not currently feature in regional funding priorities. Now the decision has been made to bid for £1m from the Sea Change Fund which is administered the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

The Government has allocated £45m for coastal resorts from 2008 to 2011 under Sea Change.

Chairman of the Seafront Steering Group Bryan Charlton said: “Although we’re up against stiff competition for Sea Change funding it’s an opportunity we can’t afford to miss.”