Hearts will sink at ‘soulless grey boxes’ planned for High Street West redevelopment

Responding to the publication of Sunderland Council’s plans for redevelopment of High Street West in the city centre, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Opposition Councillor Paul Edgeworth said:

“Local people’s hearts will sink to see artists impressions of yet more identical soulless grey boxes planned for High Street West.

“Of course any plans to regenerate the town are welcome, but we are crying out for the Council to show some ambition and not just replace existing shops with yet more identical boxy office blocks that will age badly.

“Council bosses should also come clean about how much Council Taxpayers’ money they are planning to allocate to pay for fitting-out units and subsidising rents in order to attract new shops, bars and offices into these buildings. We need to know how much these plans are really going to cost us.

“Questions also remain about any Sunderland Council plans to change lanes and layouts along St Mary’s Boulevard just a few years after they spent £millions installing a new dual carriageway!”