City leaders have agreed the next steps for a “transformative” film studio development on the banks of the river Wear.

Sunderland City Council’s cabinet of senior councillors, at a meeting this week, discussed funding to ‘enable’ the site earmarked for the Crown Works Studios.

The long-vacant former Coles Cranes site in Pallion, which sits in the shadow of the Northern Spire bridge, is expected to become one of the largest film-making complexes in Europe creating thousands of jobs.

FulwellCain, a joint venture between global entertainment company Fulwell 73 and Cain International, and Sunderland City Council have been spearheading the bid to pave the way for the £450 million film and TV studios for some time.

Full planning permission for the first phase of development was approved by councillors at a meeting in March, 2024, and since then, work has been progressing to move the project to the next stage.

Funding arrangements for the film studios are linked to the “trailblazer” devolution deal with the new North East Combined Authority (NECA) as part of the last Spring Budget, to “empower local leaders with new funding and tools to deliver local regeneration priorities”.

Sunderland City Council’s Labour cabinet received a report on Thursday (July 18) on the next steps for project funding and arrangements to prepare the site for development.

It was noted that the council had submitted a funding application to NECA for a £25 million grant to “prepare and enable the site for its future redevelopment, laying the ground for development of the studio facilities, and progressing the design of the proposed film studio development through the technical design […] to further de-risk the project”.(Image: Crown Works)

Senior councillors agreed to accept the grant of £25 million, subject to “final approval” by NECA, for the “delivery of site enabling and preparation works”.

These works include permissions to “procure consultants and contractors to deliver, prepare and enable the site for future development”.

Cabinet also backed recommendations around agreeing the conditions of the NECA grant and entering into a funding agreement with NECA, as well as taking “all necessary steps to procure the delivery and completion of the works”.

The report was originally listed in the private section of the cabinet meeting, which is normally reserved for items that are commercially sensitive.

However, the item was presented at the end of the public section of the cabinet meeting by councillor Michael Mordey, leader of Sunderland City Council.

Cllr Mordey said that delivery of the proposed works was “the critical first step to prepare and enable the site and create a development platform to support the future delivery of a major strategic economic development and generate significant new employment opportunities for the city and wider region”.

The report was welcomed by several members of the cabinet, including councillor Kevin Johnston, cabinet member for housing, regeneration and business.

Cllr Johnston welcomed the “fantastic report” and the “opportunities that [the development] is going to bring for people in Sunderland and across the North East”.

He added: “Despite some of the ridiculous comments in the press earlier, it will be built in Sunderland and we’re going to be leading on that and it’s going to help everyone across the North East in securing those jobs for the future”.

Councillor Michael Butler, cabinet member for children’s services, child poverty and skills, added: “This is a phenomenal opportunity for the residents of Sunderland, not only of this generation but for future generations.

“I’m particularly excited about the skills academy and hopefully some of those learners can go on and actually work on some of these in the future.”

The £25 million grant was broken down into categories of spend in a cabinet report.

This included £16.275m for “site enabling and preparation works”, £5.475m for “design and professional team fees” and a £3.250m “contingency”.

The report to cabinet said the wider proposals “presented an opportunity to secure £25m of external funding to prepare and enable this key development site, which has lain dormant for several years, to support its future development”.

The report added that the alternative option not to accept the grant would see the council lose external funding and the associated benefits of the film studios.

This included “unlocking an anticipated £450m private sector investment” with the “potential to create up to 8,450 jobs in the NE region comprising a combination of full-time, part-time, freelance, direct, indirect and induced”.

Council leader Cllr Michael Mordey added the development was expected to have a “transformative impact on Sunderland”.

He told the meeting: “It has the potential to create around 8,500 new jobs that kids coming through primary and secondary schools in the city can access and will access.

“It’s not just actors and all the glitz and glamour and the celebrity world, this will require joiners, electricians, make-up artists and set design”.

The council leader also thanked those involved for their “brilliant work driving this forward” and said he was “really excited to see the project come to fruition in future years”.

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The cabinet report noted that “subject to the necessary approval from NECA”, the grant funding for the works would be confirmed the week commencing  July 30, 2024.

This confirmation would then “require the council to enter into a funding agreement” with the new mayoral combined authority.

Caption: CGI images of how Crown Works Studios in Sunderland could look