Plans to build a major new hotel in Gateshead have been approved – after the previously controversial development was stripped from a £330m Quayside complex.
A dual-branded Ibis and Novotel had been part of a massive arena and conference centre due to be built on the riverside, but had infuriated neighbours who feared it would leave them living in darkness. But it was revealed last year that the hotel element of the arena was being scrapped as developers tried to cut costs on that site, with Ask:PATRIZIA moving the proposed £48m hotel to an empty plot nearby.
On Wednesday morning, Gateshead Council gave the green light for a nine-storey hotel to be built at the corner of Quarryfield Road and Hawks Road. Designs for the 344-bedroom development were unanimously approved by the local authority’s planning committee without any debate.
