An inquiry into contentious plans to build hundreds of new flats on the Newcastle Quayside will begin next week.
Developers are contesting Newcastle City Council’s decision to reject a £40m scheme for a 14-storey apartment block on the vacant Plot 12 site.
The “brutal” proposals were rejected last year amid a backlash from Quayside neighbours.
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More than 300 objections were made against the scheme, from builders Robertson and build-to-rent developer Packaged Living, with fears that the 14-storey block would harm the Tyneside skyline, damage views to and from the historic St Ann’s Church, and block light to residents of the neighbouring St Ann’s Quay building.
After a hearing which lasted more than four hours, planning committee members voted by an 11 to one margin to refuse permission for the project last March – going against the recommendation of the council’s planning officers.
But the developers appealed the decision to the government’s planning inspectorate, in the hope of having it overturned.
An inquiry lasting up to seven days, led by inspector Claire Searson, will open at Newcastle Civic Centre next Tuesday, March 1, to decide a final ruling on the highly controversial plans.
Ahead of the hearings, Fr Allan Marks of St Ann’s Church has again warned that the 289-flat development would "destroy an historic and significant setting".
In a letter lodged with the city council, he wrote that the role of the picturesque church as a place of rest and relaxation has become even more important during the pandemic.
Louise Richley, director of the St Ann’s Quay management company, urged the firms behind the building plans to “radically rethink” the scheme and said that Plot 12, one of the last undeveloped patches of land on the Quayside, “deserves better”.
In their submissions, the appellants say that the benefits of the project “demonstrably outweigh” the harm that would be caused to the church’s view, saying that the scheme “preserves the historical relationship between St Ann’s Church and the river”.
It is claimed that the scheme could create more than 700 construction jobs and boost spending in the local economy by an estimated £4 million a year.
Following early opposition to the designs, the massive apartment block had been redrawn to reduce its height by two storeys, move it 1.5m further away from St Ann’s Quay, and remove a ‘nib’ from one corner to improve views from the church.
The developers also say that, while there will be “some deviation from the daylight and sunlight guidelines” for both residents of St Ann’s Quay and the Plot 12 complex itself, they deem this “typical of most large urban development projects”.
The city council has accused the project of being of “poor design” an says that something of “more modest scale could be accommodated”.
The local authority added: “The council acknowledges that there are public benefits which will be delivered by the proposal.
“However, it is council’s case that the public benefits proposed by the appeal site are not sufficiently great enough to outweigh the harm that the proposals will have upon the designated and non-designated heritage assets around the site.”
