A scrapped plan to spend more than £3m of public money on a hugely controversial development next to St James’ Park was “absolutely perfect”, a top official has claimed.
The North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) had looked set to pump £3.5m into a much-debated transformation of Strawberry Place in January, before a last minute U-turn that saw mayor Jamie Driscoll shelve the proposal. Just days later, it emerged that Newcastle United FC had bought back control of the land – much to the relief of football fans who had long opposed the development of flats, offices and a hotel on the site.
When the decision to defer the award of cash from the NTCA’s Brownfield Housing Fund was made, Mr Driscoll said there were “economic ramifications that don’t stack up” for the project and later that it was “not the sort of development that we wanted to fund” due to its lack of affordable homes. But combined authority officers this week came to the defence of the abandoned scheme as they were grilled over how it had come so close to being given a multi-million pound boost.
