North East leaders hope to 'rocket boost' regeneration

NORTH

- DANIEL HOLLAND

Mordey and North East mayor Kim McGuinness

East leaders hope to put “rocket boosters” on a vast regeneration of Sunderland’s riverside including the building of a landmark film studio.Plans designed to accelerate the building of thousands of new homes and a revitalised stretch of the Wear between the Northern Spire bridge and the coast by 2040 were agreed by North East mayor Kim McGuinness and council chiefs on Tuesday.

The area will be designated as a new Riverside Sunderland Creative Mayoral Development Zone (MDZ), which it is hoped can also speed up the start of building work on the promised Crown Works film and TV studios as the search for a new investor in that flagship project continues.

Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey said that he hoped that Wearsiders would see the city go “even further and faster” after the transformation of the old Vaux brewery site over recent years and the building of the new Keel Crossing bridge.