Sir Bob Murray speaks to Jeff Brown on Sunderland Council's plans for Sheepfolds area

Transcript

00:00So Bob, you've called the council's plan a disgrace, why do you believe it's damaging

00:09to Sunderland's future?

00:11I don't believe it is, I know it is Jim, I know for a fact that, you know I've done

00:16Wembley, I've done St George's Park, you know I know a great deal about property and property

00:22matters and planning and this is very very harmful, it's final, it's fatal, it's

00:30You know when I built the stadium, I provided the land around it so it could easily be extended

00:35We've looked at the buffer zone that the club needs and the council's just withdrawn that

00:42Now the council says shops with flats above could replace that buffer zone, so why do

00:47you think that's not a credible solution?

00:49That is so wrong, it's untrue, they obviously haven't done the homework, there's no buffer

00:55between the proposed south stand and Sheep Falls.

00:59I welcome the bridge, I welcome regeneration, you know I want to see Sunderland power on but

01:05this is such a vast major error.

01:07I would like to ask them to retract their planning and have consultation with experts rather

01:13than build on the buffer zone.

01:15It's very upsetting because I care deeply about the city obviously and the club, you know and

01:21I think what's been achieved at the club lately is fantastic and it needs to be built on, not

01:26destroyed. I know it's a distraction for the club at the moment at a very important point

01:31and the resurrection of this great club.

01:35You were in charge obviously when Sunderland Football Club was at Roker Park, so what parallels

01:41do you see with the problems you had at that ground and what lessons should we learn from it?

01:45We all know the amount of residential terrace housing that was right on the stadium and it

01:51was impossible to extend that ground, it was impossible to do anything with it. It was just,

01:55you know, a time war.

01:58And your worry is the same thing could happen to the stadium of life?

02:02We've had transposed onto the south stand, south stand extension and it comes within a

02:08matter of feet of these properties. So therefore if these properties are built,

02:14the stand will never take place. I'm not against Sheep Falls, I'm massively supportive of it.

02:20I love to see regeneration and the restaurants there and housing as well, but in the right place

02:28with everything being able to happen, not just destroying the stadium.

02:33That's something I just can't be quiet about.

02:37The time to object is now, you get this one chance and the deadline is the 15th of August this Friday.

02:46So if you follow these instructions, I would please ask you to believe in what I'm saying and object.