Doxford Park is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, located to the south-west of the city centre. Doxford Park is also the name of a wooded area of land located within the suburb. Doxford Park has been built up in stages from the mid-1960s onwards, original proposals calling the area "Silksworth Township". It is surrounded by the A19 to the west, farmland to the south, Silksworth to the North, and Tunstall to the east. It is bisected by the B1286 Doxford Park Way dual carriageway. Many of the houses in Doxford Park were becoming unsafe and uneconomic to repair so Gentoo is undertaking a massive programme of renewal to redevelop the estate. Renamed 'Beckwith Green' the development has been split into 6 phases with phases 1 to 3 of the project now complete. Plans for a new £11.6m retirement village on the Beckwith Green development were announced by Gentoo, and will be phase 4 of the regeneration program. Work is due to start on this phase in March 2013 and be completion in mid-2014. The plans for Phase 4 include 40 extra care apartments, 40 apartments and 14 bungalows. The aim is to create a village where residents can continue to live independently but with support always to hand. Planning permission for phase 5 of the regeneration program was submitted to Sunderland Council in Nov 2012 - however there has been no confirmation from Gentoo as to when construction on phase 5 will commence. At the centre of the suburb lies a shopping centre built in the late 1970s and initially named the President CarterShopping Centre, after it was opened by U.S. President Jimmy Carter during an official visit to the region in 1977. Following redevelopment in mid-1990s the centre is now a large Morrisons supermarket. Doxford Park is home to one school Mill Hill Primary School and an adjoining nursery . The Portland School for children with special needs was opened in the nearby Chapelgarth area in December 2001 by Prime Minister Tony Blair. For secondary education, most children from the area go toFarringdon Community Academy in the nearby estate of Farringdon. The Doxford International Business Park is located less than a mile away from the estate.
