Residents Meeting

9th September 2025

Springwell Village Social Club

Present:

Angela Silk Chairperson

Liz Reid Vice-chairperson

Christine Brown Secretary

Mark Curry Treasurer

George Martin Committee Member

Pauline Cooper Committee Member

Alison Nairn Committee Member

Deborah Gallagher Committee Member

Keith Nairn Committee Member

In Attendance: Gareth Giles MMB Contracts Manager

Donna Rawlinson Northumbrian Water

Paul Wood Northumbrian Water Projects Manager

Amanda Hunt Northumbrian Water

Bethany Oakley MMB Customer Liaison

Apologies: Lesley Pickup Committee Member

Martin McKeever Committee Member

Dorothy Trueman Ward Councillor

Harry Trueman Ward Councillor

1. Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded. Approved.

2. Update on Reservoir

Donna Rawlinson gave an update, starting with issues raised at the previous

meeting.

a) Why was the Project taking so long? Donna said that the work should be fully

completed by Spring 2026. Testing of systems continues. It took longer than

expected to fill the reservoir, partly due to the very hot dry summer.

b) Backfilling the site has commenced and should be done by the end of January.

The fencing should be installed by February. Landscaping is planned for February

and March. Cabins will be removed in April. Updates will be available on the

Northumbrian Water website portal.

c) Dust in the Village continues to be a problem. Northumbrian Water has asked

MMB to look for better ways to keep the dust down. This will be monitored but

the backfilling requires a lot of soil to be moved around which cannot be

avoided. The roadsweeper continues to be used.

d) Weeds have been removed from the bund as requested by residents and the

bund will be removed in December. Northumbrian Water continues to work with

Sunderland Council about the reinstatement of the roads upon completion.

e) A site visit had been arranged following the last meeting. About 20 residents

attended. They were shown what the fencing will look like and had discussions

about where it will be sited. They will write to residents when a decision has

been made. Planning permission will be needed for any changes.

f) The permanent road access to the site will have to be tarmac due to

maintenance needs.

A discussion ensued covering the following issues:

a) Weeds on the bund – They were removed but have now regrown and need

removing again.

b) Road surface – temporary repairs have been made but drivers are just using the

middle of the road due to the road surface crumbling at the edges. This is

dangerous.

c) Siting of fencing – residents noted there had been 2 proposals, at the top of the

site and half way up and wanted to know if a decision had been made about that

and also the height of the fencing. Was it going to be reduced to 1.8m or staying

at 2.4m? Donna said the fence would have to be 2.4m for security reasons.

Residents pointed out that this would look awful for the residents of Angel Rise

and they felt they were just being ignored. Paul Wood then informed the

Meeting that the fencing would be at the original position for operational

reasons. Residents asked if this meant the fencing would be higher than the

reservoir itself? Paul replied that communications about this would be

distributed soon.

d) The issue of roads in Eighton Banks by the Waggon Inn and Thomas Street was

raised, asking if they would be restored also. Paul replied that potholes would be

filled in but as it included private roads, permission to restore it was legally

complicated.

e) Residents said strongly that they felt they had been lied to by Northumbrian

Water from the beginning. The underground reservoir was not underground, it

would not protect the Green Belt as promised as the roof will be black granite

and the fencing will be very obvious even with shrubs. There had also been no

mentions of all the cabins and different sites around the Village during the

original consultations. It was noted that bedrock had been hit once the project

started which meant the reservoir was higher than intended. The bedrock issue

had been pointed out to Northumbrian Water in the very early consultation

stages by ex-workers at the local quarry but had been dismissed.

f) Residents asked about plans for bad weather for keeping roads clean and safe,

suggesting sandbags may be needed in heavy rain.

g) Landscaping plans were discussed noting that mature trees and shrubs were

needed both for the planned fencing and to replace the mature hedging that had

been removed. Donna said it was planned to be done in February and the plans

would be shared. It was pointed out by local gardening experts that it would be

better to plant in autumn so that they would benefit from autumn/winter/spring3

rain. It was also pointed out that maintenance – including watering particularly

when trees and shrubs were first planted – is very important. Paul said they

would not be using mature shrubs and trees as they were restricted as to what

could be bought. It was pointed out that mature trees and bushes can easily be

bought – they just cost more. Paul said landscaping plans were available but he

didn’t know which plants etc would be used. Donna offered to hold a

consultation session about this for residents to see the plans.

h) The colour of the access road was discussed. Residents felt strongly that there

were plenty of alternatives to black tarmac which could be used even if grassed

concrete was felt to be unsuitable. Residents also questioned why this plan had

changed to black tarmac at this late stage as Northumbrian Water must have

known what the weight requirements for the road were from the beginning of

the Project. The covering for the roof was also discussed. Residents had been

told a grass roof was suitable at the beginning then half way through told that

industry standards had been changed and black gravel was going to be used. It

was pointed out that other reservoirs and buildings have grassed roofs (the

example of a reservoir in Durham was cited as being entirely underground

within a very short distance of the city centre and other buildings) and also that it

was water companies – including NWL- who had decided on the industry

standard. Residents felt that decisions were being made purely on cost basis

regardless of the needs and wishes of the people who will have to live with the

reservoir for the next hundred years. And strongly felt they were not being given

the same consideration as an area such as Durham.

i) It was suggested that an early meeting should be held in 6 weeks to look at the

landscaping plans and that 3D models would be a great help. A vote was taken

and the proposal agreed – NWL agreed.

The Chairperson thanked Paul and his colleagues for attending.

3. Thompsons Quarry

Thompsons have sold the quarry to the Ashcourt Group based in Yorkshire. Ashcourt

Management at the Quarry no longer respond to contacts from the Residents

Association about operational matters apart from noting that monitoring will

continue as in the past.

Residents noted that had been an increase in activity at the site. Work now

commenced at 7am and often made tremendous noise moving things around the

site. Diggers and loud machinery can clearly be seen and heard working at 7am as far

away as Heugh Hill. Road conditions (dust etc) continue to be very bad, especially for

pedestrians.Residents were advised to send complaints including photo and video

evidence to the Environment Agency. Contact details will be put on the Residents

Association Facebook page. The Ashourt Group will be formally invited to the next

meeting.

4. Solar Farm

There is little to report. A Planning Inspector has still to be appointed and they will

have over 800 documents to read (over 500 from residents). Discussions had been

held with the Planning Inspectorate as they had allowed the appellants (Boom

Power) to add extra evidence after the deadline had closed but were told there had

just been a delay in entering them into the system.

5. Seldom Seen Park

A resident , Kevin Wright, approached the Council about the state of the Park. A

meeting was planned for Thursday the 11th September to discuss options, including

local volunteers resuming responsibility for some of the work. This had been the

original arrangement when the Park had been refurbished (2002 – 2005) under the

Doorstep Greens Project. It had proved difficult to get and keep volunteers, leaving

all of the work to 3-4 volunteers. Liz had spoken to Cllr Harry Trueman who said

there was still money in the Community Chest which could pay for equipment etc.

Kevin will keep the Residents Association informed of the outcome of the meeting.

6. Traffic.

It was agreed that traffic issues would be placed on the Agenda for the next

meeting.

7. Date of Next Meeting

This will be held in 6 weeks time.