Residents in Penshaw opposite Herrington Country Park say they fear they will not be able to leave home when the A183 Chester Road closes for three days this week for Radio 1's Big Weekend. Sunderland City Council will shut almost two miles of the road, from the A19 to Chistlehurst Road, from 08:00 until 01:00 each day between May 22 and May 24.
Joan Everett, 51, said the disruption would be hard to manage and argued there was nowhere nearby to park if residents needed to get out. She said the road closure left people with permits but no practical way to use them. Bill McGlen, 32, was equally blunt, saying the scene would look like chaos as visitors arrived in cars without realising the road was shut.
The scale of the closure matters because about 100,000 fans are expected to arrive for the event, which is returning to Wearside after more than 20 years. The council says the restrictions are needed to manage access safely, and it is issuing two permits per household for surrounding roads. A letter to residents also advised people to park in the streets behind and not on Chester Road if they want to reach their cars.
That reassurance has done little to ease local frustration. Residents said the decision to close the road now feels hard to justify because, when the event was held previously, the road stayed open. They say the new plan leaves them trapped by a crowd they will not be part of, even as the event is promoted as a major return for the city.
The pressure is not only on households. Businesses including Penshaw Farm Shop and Tea Room, and Love Lily, have said they will not be able to trade for most of the three-day event. Tea room bosses said the scale of the closure meant they could not fully open, turning a weekend that should bring traffic into one that shuts trade down instead.
For Penshaw, the answer to the immediate question is simple: the road will close, and daily life will be forced around it. What remains unresolved is whether two permits per household and a safety plan can prevent the kind of bottleneck residents say they are already bracing for.
