Two striking apartment blocks will be built in Newcastle city centre, despite neighbours’ fears that the ‘monolithic’ development will damage their quality of life.
Newcastle City Council’s planning committee gave its approval on Friday for New Estate Investment Ltd Yu Group to redevelop land in Pitt Street and Wellington Street, next to the Newcastle Helix site.
The 133 studio flats across the two buildings - which will be on the sites of two disused warehouses - will be made available for sale to young professionals and graduates.
However, Kevin Malone, representing residents of Barrack Court, told the committee that the ‘monolithic’ buildings would dominate the street scene, with one being nine storeys high at its tallest point.
He said that neighbours would lose daylight and sunlight because of the ‘out-of-scale’ new development and claimed that the council had ‘massively underestimated’ the impact.
Jonathan Yu, representing the applicant, said that the scheme had been designed specifically to help first time buyers and would be affordable for people earning as little as £15,000 a year.
The committee also heard that both buildings had to be built in order to make the project financially viable and that it had been a ‘difficult’ site for development because of its shape and the proximity to other buildings.
Some committee members also raised concerns over the small size of the studio apartments, which prompted councillors Stephen Powers and Felicity Mendelson to vote against the plans.
The council’s cabinet member for employment, Coun Ged Bell, said: “Newcastle is a growing city, and it’s vital that if it is to continue to grow it has a wide range of housing to suit all pockets.
“These studio apartments will be aimed at young professionals which will help us retain the graduates who come to study at our excellent universities, and in some cases, go on to start businesses and create jobs.
“Our planning department has worked, and will continue to work, very closely with the developer to try and allay any outstanding concerns that existing residents may have in the area.”
