Warring sides in a lengthy battle over a riverside flats development in Newcastle are now awaiting a critical verdict.
A dispute over the future of the vacant Plot 12 site on the Quayside shifted to the Court of Appeal on Friday, as developers try to get approval to build a 14-storey apartment building. The £40m plans had initially been rejected by Newcastle City Council in 2021, but have since been the subject of a protracted legal fight.
Developers Packaged Living and Robertson Property successfully challenged the council’s decision at a public inquiry last March, much to the dismay of neighbouring residents who have claimed the 289-flat block would “devastate” their living conditions. But that was quashed by a High Court ruling in November, where a judge ruled that planning inspector Claire Searson had made a legal error.
In an attempt to rescue their proposals for a second time, the applicants launched a new challenge in the Court of Appeal, which was heard on Friday. At the close of Friday’s crunch hearing, the court heard that judgement would be reserved on the matter – with the Senior President of Tribunals, Sir Keith Lindblom, saying that the judges had been given “plenty to think about” before issuing their decision.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, the developers would then be left with a choice of either going through a second public inquiry on the Plot 12 plans, redesigning the scheme and submitting a new planning application, or abandoning the project entirely. They have argued that the controversial development would be a major boost to the Newcastle economy and represent the only realistic prospect of regenerating a site that has lain vacant for decades, making it one of the last empty parcels of land on the Quayside.
But the design of the block has been branded “painfully poor” by opponents, with worries that it would “devastate living conditions” for residents of the St Ann’s Quay building next door and “decimate” views to and from the nearby St Ann’s Church. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities did not challenge the High Court’s decision to quash its planning inspector’s decision from last March.
After last year’s High Court hearing, Mr Justice Holgate upheld the council’s challenge on the grounds that Mrs Searson did not pay sufficient attention to the harm that would be caused to the Grade I listed church and, in doing so, caused “genuine and substantial prejudice” to the council and the St Ann’s Quay management company’s case. Paul Tucker KC, representing Packaged Living and Robertson, had claimed that the council was delving too deeply into “legalese” details in an attempt to pick apart the decision and that Mrs Searson had been entitled to judge for herself how harmful the development would be.
No timescale was given for the Court of Appeal verdict.
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