Fate of controversial Newcastle Quayside flats to be decided after High Court hearing

A High Court hearing to decide the fate of a controversial development in Newcastle has been held.

The 14-storey block of flats are set to be built on Plot 12 of Newcastle Quayside.

The long running saga surrounding the began development began in 2021 when Newcastle City Council rejected the plans -which was overturned by a government planning inspector during a week-long public inquiry.

The council then lodged a challenge against the Planning Inspectorate verdict and a statutory review into the decision, which began on Wednesday 12 October, finished today.

It had been claimed that the £40m building, set to be developed by the company Packaged Living and Robertson Property, would “devastate living conditions” for residents next door and “decimate” views to and from the historic St Ann’s Church.

But inspector Claire Searson ruled in favour of the developers in May, and said that there was “no justification” to deny planning permission in order to wait for an alternative design to come forward.

She added that the site is exceptionally difficult to develop.

Anjoli Foster, representing the council at Wednesday’s hearing at the Moot Hall, told Mr Justice Holgate that local authority chiefs were “at a loss” to understand how the inspector reached her conclusion.

Ms Foster added that the inspector failed to pay sufficient attention to the impact on St Ann’s Church and concerns raised by Historic England.

The council’s barrister also criticised Mrs Searson’s decision to ignore complaints that some future residents of the building would be forced to live in flats that do not meet required minimum space standards.

Victoria Hutton, representing the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, responded that the viability of the development was clearly a material concern given the “long history of failure of delivery” on Plot 12 over the years.

She said there was “nothing unlawful” about the decision and that the question of whether the housing scheme can be delivered was never challenged by the city council during the planning inquiry in March.

Ms Hutton added that the government inspector’s disagreement with Historic England was “clearly explained”.

She also said that the level of harm caused by a development was objective and at the discretion of the decision-maker.

In the closing session of the hearing on Thursday morning, the developer’s lawyer claimed that the council was “nitpicking” and made a “daft” point in its criticism of planning inspector Claire Searson’s judgement.

Responding to Ms Foster's argument, Paul Tucker, KC, representing Packaged Living and Robertson Property, said 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.

He added: “She had competing views from Historic England and from different heritage witnesses. She addressed the reasoning behind those views and came up with a view that she was entitled to come up with.”

Ms Foster had also argued that the inspector had paid too much attention to the built-to-rent 14-storey block having shared working areas, bookable private dining facilities, and a gym that would help make up for the lack of space within some flats, claiming there was no guarantee of what facilities will be installed by the developer.

Mr Tucker retorted that the council had never asked for a condition specifying what amenities would be introduced and that doing so would be like telling a new supermarket what it must stock for fear of them “just selling beans”.

He said the council’s point was “daft” and “the sort of level of criticism that comes into nitpicking”.

The judge, Mr Justice Holgate, will now consider whether or not to quash the decision to allow the Plot 12 development to go ahead.

He said both sides had presented “very helpful and good submissions” and did not set a timescale to deliver his verdict.

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