Time may have run out for ambitious hopes of building Europe’s biggest ferris wheel in Newcastle.
Planning permission for the huge Whey Aye wheel development officially lapsed at midnight today (Friday), after years of uncertainty surrounding the project. City council chiefs have refused to comment on what the future now holds for the publicly-owned former Spillers flour mill site, while the firm behind the £100m plans says it is exploring “a number of options” to revive the scheme.
The World Wheel Company’s vision for the vacant riverside plot was revealed in 2019 and touted as “the most exciting project in the UK”. But the lofty proposals have been in doubt for some time – with no sign of construction work starting amid repeated delays that were pinned on the massive disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.
