A judge has quashed a Government decision to approve a controversial block of flats on the Newcastle Quayside.
In the latest twist in the saga over the Plot 12 site, city council bosses have succeeded in their appeal to the High Court to overturn a verdict granting approval for a 14-storey housing development. The plans to build 289 flats on the long-vacant site had been rejected by Newcastle City Council’s planning committee in 2021, but were granted on appeal by a Government planning inspector following a public inquiry earlier this year.
But, after the local authority challenged the decision in a High Court hearing held at the Moot Hall in October, a judge has now ruled that inspector Claire Searson made a legal error. Mr Justice Holgate wrote, in a judgement published on Tuesday, that her decision “must be quashed and the appeal redetermined afresh”.
